Exclusive: Bloomberg Media tops 500k subscriptions

In a significant milestone, Bloomberg Media now has over 500,000 subscribers, the firm's chief digital officer Julia Beizer told Axios.

Why it matters: Most U.S. national news outlets are eyeing politics or consumer topics, like wellness, to fuel subscription growth. Bloomberg is leaning into niche professional audiences and international users.

• "Where we do best is with business decision-makers, particularly in finance and tech and [telecommunications]," Beizer said.
• Bloomberg Media is also looking to attract modern business leaders outside of finance that it hasn't historically engaged, like HR leaders.
• The firm introduced its $34.99 monthly digital subscription in 2018.

By the numbers: The majority (60%) of Bloomberg Media's subscribers are in the U.S. The rest are in Europe and the Middle East (20%) and Asia Pacific 20%.

• Those numbers, Beizer notes, are consistent with the company's traffic patterns. Bloomberg Media has pushed aggressively to expand its audience abroad, even outside of major financial centers.
• Beizer declined to say how many of Bloomberg Media's subscriptions are enterprise — meaning they are sold to companies instead of individuals — but said the firm is looking to expand in that area. (Bloomberg only began selling enterprise subscriptions in May 2022.)

The big picture: Now that Bloomberg Media's subscription business has reached a critical mass, Beizer said the company is focused on making it more sustainable.

• "We've been bringing users on for longer terms — people who want to stay with us for annual plans as opposed to monthly plans," she said.
• Improvements to the user experience, like removing programmatic ads, better payment processes and tinkering with its paywall, have helped make the product stickier.

What's next: Asked when Bloomberg expects to hit 1 million subscribers, Beizer said, "I don't have a timeline for it, but I know it's not going to take another five and a half years."