Bloomberg Media’s Smith believes subscription revenue will become significant

Justin Smith

Digiday editor in chief Brian Morrissey spoke with Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith about the business news operation.

His forecast is that subscriptions will make up a rising and significant part of Bloomberg’s revenue, especially as income from advertising diminishes.

Bloomberg started its subscription business in May 2018, and Smith credits its “first phase” growth to the long brand-building that preceded it.

“The introduction of our paywall benefited from 25-30 years of Bloomberg LP growing out one of the largest newsrooms in the world, creating amazing content,” Smith said.

His outlook for future revenue also lies in live events, and he’s confident that the events business “will come back very, very strongly” once it’s safe to convene in big groups again.

“There’s a big opportunity to capture more market share as we go through this lost year in events — to come back with a much more aggressive slate of event programming and also a whole new range of opportunities tied to virtual events, which will become much more of a complement to the live event experience.”

To listen, go here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.