Bloomberg has installed software that allows its website stories to load 30 percent to 50 percent faster, reports Lucia Moses of Digiday.
Moses writes, “In tests, Bloomberg said it cut page load time by 30 percent to 50 percent depending on the test. (The company wouldn’t say to what, saying load time varies based on multiple factors like location, browser, connection speed and amount of content on a given page.) If it performs as hoped after launch, Bloomberg plans to roll out the template to the rest of its portfolio: the flagship Bloomberg and Bloomberg Markets, Bloomberg Politics and Bloomberg Pursuits.
“‘Our inspiration largely comes from this big push from Facebook on Instant Articles and Google AMP, with this idea that the mobile web needs to run faster,’ said Bloomberg Media’s global head of digital Scott Havens. ‘We don’t disagree with the premise that the mobile web needs to be faster. We’ve had a low page load time, but you can always be faster.’ Bloomberg.com, for its part, rated ‘poor’ in mobile and ‘fair’ on desktop when we ran it through Google’s speed test tool.
“Other publishers have been working to shave load time off their sites and participating in Facebook and Google’s fast-loading mobile page initiatives. The drive for speed is mounting as people are doing more of their reading on smartphones (especially on Facebook’s app, which is built for speed), where they have less patience for slow-loading pages. Publishers also are sensitive to the reality that readers are increasingly using ad blocking software because ads are often at the root of slow-loading pages. The Washington Post, Vox Media and GQ are just a few publishers that have significantly cut page load time.
“Havens said Javelin wasn’t designed in response to ad blockers, although Bloomberg hopes that by improving the user experience, people won’t feel the need to block ads on the site. As for improving ad load time, he said the publisher plans to work with clients on that front.”
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