- Bloomberg Media is merging its social video news and digital video news platforms to launch a brand called ‘QuickTake by Bloomberg.’
Bloomberg Media is merging its social video news and digital video news platforms to launch a new brand called ‘QuickTake by Bloomberg.’ This brand is launching ahead of Bloomberg’s OTT news streaming channel 2020.
A couple of years ago, Bloomberg launched a news platform called TicToc — which happened to have similar branding to the rapidly growing social video app TikTok.
Now Bloomberg is revamping the brand and integrating it into the digital video operations arm of the company. And a group of producers and editors are joining the newsroom to work on the project.
“With a combined editorial video studio and greater resources, QuickTake by Bloomberg will continue to innovate the way news is delivered to cover the modern social news cycle at the pace of global news today,” said Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith in a statement. “Streaming video is a key priority for Bloomberg Media’s growth strategy as we see bright opportunity in the OTT space, especially in the world of news.”
Ever since TicToc launched with Twitter in 2017, the service has been reaching over 90 million monthly views across platforms and gaining an audience that is global with 46% being international viewers. In the last year, it saw a 79% increase in audience size.
“We think TicToc fits well with Bloomberg QuickTake. Both brands deliver smart, concise context to explain the news,” added Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. “We also think our newly aligned QuickTake digital video studio will be a powerful asset in a world where the number of platforms for high-quality video is multiplying.”
Bloomberg shut down the TicToc name already. And Bloomberg will also still produce and distribute on-demand programming across multiple platforms and publish a daily newsletter.
“We obviously see the similarities of the names,” explained Jean Ellen Cowgill, general manager of QuickTake by Bloomberg via Variety. “The other TikTok has been there and has been a factor (in the rebranding decision), but it’s more about leaning into a new name that represents what we’ve become.”
TicToc originally launched on Twitter and then it expanded to social platforms, Amazon Alexa, and the web a couple of years later. And The QuickTake brand is based on Bloomberg repurposing the series of explanation videos it launched for Bloomberg Terminal and print subscribers.
Bloomberg’s QuickTake group will comprise of the 60 person staff at TicToc along with a 20 person Bloomberg Digital Video team led by Tre Shallowhorn. Along with Cowgill, QuickTake will also be led by Mindy Massucci and Shallowhorn. You can follow Bloomberg QuickTake at @QuickTake on Twitter and Instagram.
