• by Wayne Friedman , November 8, 2020

Jumping on the sharp rise of overall news consumption via traditional TV media and new streaming platforms, business-focused Bloomberg Media will launch a 24-hour/7 day-a-week business news streaming network with broader appeal — Bloomberg Quicktake.

Starting November 9, the network will offer a wide range of content — business, technology, culture, society, personal finance, politics, climate, and the business of sports, food, travel and entertainment.

It will initially offer 10.5 hours of original programming -- 10 original documentary-style series and four live daily news shows. The documentary series will run in prime time as 20- to 30-minute episodes followed by post-show segments.

Bloomberg Quicktake has distribution on virtually all major streaming and OTT platforms, including Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV and Amazon Fire TV, through the updated Bloomberg App.

Quicktake will launch on Tubi, the Fox Corp.-owned, ad-supported streaming platform, later this year -- and on Xumo, the Comcast Corp.-owned, ad-supported streamer that will start in the coming weeks.

The app will allow viewers to choose between Bloomberg Quicktake or the original Bloomberg TV, the business/finance news platform, either live or on demand. 

In its previous iteration, starting in 2017, Bloomberg Quicktake began as a 24/7, social video news network in partnership with Twitter.  In three years it has expanded, resulting an audience of more than 50 million monthly unique viewers.

American Express and AT&T Business are two launch founding sponsors on Bloomberg Quicktake.

Over the last four years, the top three cable news networks have seen rising viewership compared to previous periods. That's due to a strong focus on the Trump Administration and political news, and more recently, the economy and issues around the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest.

For October, the top three cable TV news networks' average prime-time viewership spiked 71% to 10.1 million Nielsen-measured viewers in the live program-plus-same day time-shifted viewing metric, versus the same month a year ago.