What’s behind Bloomberg Media’s new mobile app

Scott Havens, Bloomberg Media’s global head of digital, and Jed Sandberg, executive editor for Bloomberg Digital, sent out the following message to employees about its new mobile app:

Today marks the launch of our new consumer mobile app experience and more importantly, an increasingly critical component of our future digital growth.
We believe that native apps across mobile and connected devices are essential to a successful future in publishing, which is why we’re investing in a new slate of apps to serve our audience of global business professionals. There are a number of reasons why we are taking this strategic approach – not the least of which, is that according to a recent study, mobile users are now spending 90% of their time in apps. We’ve also seen with our users that in-app digital engagement outpaces the mobile web by a 7:1 ratio. Finally, we are both buoyed – and challenged – by the fact that since 2014, the number of apps reaching 5 million + users has grown by 40%. This is the future of digital engagement.
Apps provide users with a deeper, data-driven, personal, and seamless cross-platform experience, which in turn allows publishers to have a far greater relationship with its users. And so we set out to create a mobile experience for our on-the-go global executives that is essential, delightful, fast, smart, and simple to use – attributes of many of today’s most successful apps.
Our new app includes a streamlined, fast, clean, modern design powered by our industry-leading market-moving news, analysis and data – across text, video, audio – and personalized to meet the needs of each individual. New features include:
Personalized, regionalized, and dayparted content:
– We have a dedicated editorial team curating news to reflect the time of day (mornings/afternoons) no matter where are users are in the world
– We have built a powerful algorithm that will provide regionalized content for executives in all regions of the world
Enhanced video experience that brings the second screen to life:
– Building on our leadership in digital video, we’ve created a new video experience where users can pop into live TV or add shows/content to playlists for on demand viewing.
A continuous, cross-platform experience:
– Users will be able to experience content that originates on all of our platforms: digital, TV, video, radio, print and live events. Content adapts and gets smarter on each visit.
Ultimately, our goal is for our new flagship app to be an essential part of our users’ daily routine and the centerpiece of their digital relationship with Bloomberg Media. We have, and will continue, to focus our teams on creating unique, rich, and cross-platformed connected experiences that drive more direct and meaningful relationships with our users both on our digital platforms and across others.

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.

Next Chicago's Booth School seeks business journalists for 10-week program »

Previous « Business Insider using Google Chrome to attract more readers

View Comments

Deano says:
December 16, 2016 at 7:25 pm
REALLY???!! Is this a test of people's sanity? This is very likely the worst update to an app in the history of apps. Functionality completely destroyed. It's atrocious. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE? It's now about as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe. DO NOT UPDATE, or you'll regret it.