Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Norman Pearlstine: Bloomberg's Consumer Media Properties Have Not Always Had The Bottom Line In Mind



(image via redroom)

Media superheavyweight Norman Pearlstine, the chief content officer of Bloomberg, was the spotlight speaker at the second annual Future of Business Media Conference. The former editor-in-chief of Time Inc. spoke of his mandate in the newly-created position at Bloomberg, which is vying become a powerhouse in business news. From Paidcontent:

"Pearlstine, who has only been at Bloomberg since June, said: 'I asked the Chairman what the goal was, and like a good former Carlyle person, I asked whether it was to increase cash flow, or to be the most respected source of business and financial information, and they said yes. It’s part of the mandate to be the most trusted source of information—for both business and financial. I think our consumer media properties have not always been run necessarily with a bottom line in mind—they were branding exercises—and we see opportunities to run them as businesses.'"


And of Bloomberg TV, which reaches 57 million viewers but, miraculously, garners little to no buzz outside of the occasional mention of Al Hunt's "Political Capital," Pearlstine said:

"I’m happy with some parts of it. A couple of my colleagues from Bloomberg Television are here, and they’ve done some terrific work in building the size of the domestic audience… A lot of focus has been on speed and automation, but there was a feeling that it was a similar business as a terminal business, not a recognition that personalities matter, that programming pacing can matter. That’s where we can do a lot of focus. Last week, we announced a new CEO of our multimedia division, and I think his decision to join us suggests that we are making some significant changes."


More here.

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