Page 41 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2012
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STRATEGY
|
THE CHANNEL
communications professionals and
the key newsmakers we attract as
interview guests.
We started a large video push on
our Bloomberg.com Internet page
earlier this year and we now have
some pieces of video that are
getting up to 500,000 hits over a
few days. It’s because we are trying
to cut and write that video
specifically for a larger consumer
audience which is also interested in
business and finance.
Iʹll give you one example ‐ we
had a debate on linear TV between
Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize
winning economist, and Ron Paul
who was running as the Republican
presidential candidate in the US.
They are both compelling figures
and the programme was well
watched. When we cut it and put it
on the Internet, it became the most
popular piece of video we had ‐
ʹPaul versus Paulʹ got more than
270,000 hits.
Of course we won’t abandon
linear TV but it could be that the
explosive audience growth comes
from the Internet, mobile and
tablets.
When is that likely to occur?
Itʹs occurring right now. If you take
those hit numbers on a single piece
of video on our website, it
outweighs the number of people
tuning into a pan‐European news
and business channel during any
half‐hour period. If you add up all
those hits onto our pieces of video
itʹs a heck of a lot of people
watching Bloomberg content.
We are in the fortunate position
at Bloomberg that we control all the
modes of production and delivery.
The mobile app was designed three
floors up from me here in London
by Bloomberg people, the Internet
site and tablet app was designed by
Bloomberg people. We can
determine what we are creating,
where we are putting it, plus we
have done this with the original
teams by expanding their briefs, so
that for us is a good position to be in.
Are you moving away from
distribution onto cable, satellite
and IPTV platforms?
No, certainly not for the foreseeable
future. Linear TV pulls in revenue
for us, and linear is a good
experience for lots of people who
watch us. But secondly, we also
now have a number of joint venture
partners taking the linear TV
content.
We have long‐standing joint
venture partnerships in India with
UTV and with Bloomberg HT in
Turkey and have recently signed a
content deal for Africa. The JV with
Prince Al Waleed in Saudi Arabia is
scheduled to start airing next year
across the MENA region which will
see a five‐ to six‐hour block of
Bloomberg branded content in
Arabic integrated into the channel’s
weekday schedule.
Which markets are you looking at?
We already have a foothold in
Russia. We have an agreement with
Russiaʹs largest independent
business network RBC to provide
them with Bloomberg TV in
English 24 hours a day and they
use chunks of it in their existing
programming.
We actually see excellent
opportunities across the EMEA
region and we’re exploring several
new agreements with partners who
are keen to expand. What the
partners see in us is a globally
recognised, trusted brand with
which they want to be associated.
How are you going to attract the
wider public?
There are very few consumers who
have any disposable income at all
who are not interested in the world
of finance. They may not know it,
but they are interested. And they
are interested because it affects
their pensions, their livelihood,
their mortgages. I think it is our job
to take the top end of that
consumer demographic ‐ the non‐
financial professional consumers ‐
and to reveal to them why they are
interested.
With a compelling headline that
draws users into watching pieces of
video that tells them about aspects
of their world that they may not
have known. That could be the
Greek pools story, or a debate
between two really smart but
interesting people who are
speaking in plain English. And itʹs
doing that so often and I hope with
increasing effectiveness that it
creates a momentum. I donʹt think
we are going to catch this top
demographic by next Tuesday but
if we keep doing this weʹll get there
in time.
What's on your wish list?
To relax at some point, and to
watch the Springboks win the
Rugby World Cup.
Malcolm Fried, thank you.
It's our
job to re-
veal to
them why
they are
interested
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THE CHANNEL
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ISSUE 2 2012
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