Skip Navigation

Information Industry Segments

The information industry is a rich collection of companies, business models, formats, media, and aggregation and delivery channels. It also serves a variety of markets and audiences. Here's an overview of key information industry segments.

B2B Trade Publishing & Company Information

About This Segment

Companies in B2B Trade provide content on topics in applied trade fields that are narrower than general interest. Company Information providers deliver company profiles, executive biographies, list information, and competitor sets.

Sample Companies

  • Reed Elsevier
  • International Data Group (IDG)
  • United Business Media plc
  • VNU Group B.V.
  • Emap plc
  • McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
  • The Hearst Corporation
  • CNET Networks, Inc.
  • Vogel Media GmbH & Co. KG
  • infoUSA, Inc.

IT & Telecom Research, Reports & Services

About This Segment

Companies in IT & Telecom Research provide research focused exclusively on information technology and telecom topics, vendors, buying institutions, and markets (excluding IT training and IT news and trade). Information supplied includes demographic data, industry data, market analysis, pricing, and product and brand information.

Sample Companies

  • Gartner, Inc.
  • International Data Corp (IDC) (IDG)
  • Forrester Research, Inc.
  • Telephia, Inc.
  • AMR Research, Inc.
  • Ovum, plc
  • Yankee Group Research (AMR)
  • Current Analysis, Inc.
  • TowerGroup
  • iSuppli Corporation

Legal, Tax & Regulatory

About This Segment

Businesses in the Legal, Tax & Regulatory segment provide legal and regulatory information such as administrative decisions, case law, law review articles, policies, public records, regulations, risk management, statutes, tax information and compliance, and trademark registration.

Sample Companies

  • Thomson Legal & Regulatory
  • LexisNexis
  • Bureau of National Affairs
  • Sin-Nippon Hoki Shuppan K.K.
  • US Investigations Services
  • American Bar Association (ABA)
  • ALM Properties
  • Practising Law Institute (PLI)
  • William S. Hein & Co., Inc.
  • Business and Legal Reports Inc.

Market Research, Reports & Services

About This Segment

Companies in Market Research typically provide information about one or more markets. Information supplied includes demographic data, industry data, market data, market analysis, pricing, and product and brand information.

Sample Companies

  • VNU Group B.V.
  • TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres) plc
  • IMS Health, Inc.
  • WPP Group plc
  • GfK AG
  • Ipsos
  • Ingenix
  • Information Resources, Inc.
  • Aegis Group plc
  • IFR Monitoring

News Providers & Publishers

About This Segment

Companies in the News Providers segment provide general interest news, facts about recent events, and information relevant to special interest groups. Information is delivered in many ways, including general news magazines, newspapers, real-time news feeds, press releases, and online portals.

Sample Companies

  • Gannett Co., Inc.
  • The Tribune Company
  • News Corporation, Ltd
  • The Asahi Shimbun Company
  • The Yomiuri Shimbun
  • The New York Times Company
  • The McClatchy Company
  • Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT)
  • Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Nikkei)
  • Trinity Mirror plc

Scientific, Technical & Medical

About This Segment

Companies in the Scientific, Technical & Medical segment offer content such as chemical properties or geophysical data; patents; standards and specifications; and other scientific, technical, or medical information.

Sample Companies

  • Elsevier
  • Thomson Scientific & Healthcare
  • Wolters Kluwer Health
  • Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck Gmbh
  • Springer Science + Business Media
  • American Heart Association, Inc.
  • WesternGeco
  • IHS, Inc.
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Search, Aggregation & Syndication

About This Segment

Companies in Search & Aggregation offer search, aggregation, and syndication services that span large collections of information and multiple information types. Typically these companies do not own the data they distribute.

Sample Companies

  • Google, Inc.
  • Yahoo! Inc.
  • Microsoft Corporation
  • Follett Educational Services
  • AOL LLC
  • Dawson Holdings PLC
  • Royal Swets & Zeitlinger
  • Ingram Book Group
  • Source Interlink Companies, Inc.
  • Thomson Gale

Education & Training

About This Segment

Companies in Education & Training provide education content developed and/or delivered by providers external to the buying institution, such as courseware, books, academic journals, classroom programs, and instructor-delivered training materials.

Sample Companies

  • Pearson Education
  • SRA/McGraw-Hill
  • Scholastic Corporation
  • Thomson Learning
  • Harcourt Education
  • Houghton Mifflin Company
  • Educational Testing Service
  • Kaplan, Inc.
  • ITT Educational Services
  • The College Board

K-12 Education

About This Segment

Companies and organizations in this information industry segment deliver products and services to the US K-12 education market (business-to-institution), including instructional materials (basal, supplemental, reference, and assessment), technology infrastructure (computer hardware, enterprise software and technology services), and education services (professional development, tutoring and test preparation, and outsourced public school administration).

Sample Companies

  • McGraw-Hill
  • Pearson Education
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • Edison Schools
  • Education Testing Service
  • Scantron
  • Canter & Associates
  • Kaplan K-12 Services
  • SchoolNet
  • Florida Virtual School

Postsecondary Education

About This Segment

Companies and organizations in this information industry segment deliver products and services to the US postsecondary education market (primarily business-to-institution), including content (textbook, custom, reference, and assessment), technology (academic, administrative, infrastructure solutions with the hardware, software, and product-related services), and institutional services (administrative, academic, and auxiliary).

Sample Companies

  • ANGEL Learning
  • Blackboard
  • Datatel
  • Halyard Education Partners
  • John Wiley & Sons
  • McGraw-Hill
  • Pearson Education
  • Sallie Mae
  • SMARTTHINKING
  • Sungard Higher Education

Libraries

About This Segment

Sample Companies

    Credit & Financial Information

    About This Segment

    Businesses in the Credit & Financial Information segment provide financial instrument pricing information, credit reports, fundamental and descriptive data, investment research reports, and financial news and analysis products to brokers/dealers, investment managers, custodians, investment bankers, and large corporations.

    Sample Companies

    • Reuters Group PLC
    • Bloomberg L.P.
    • Thomson Financial
    • Moody's Corporation
    • Experian
    • TransUnion LLC
    • Equifax, Inc.
    • ChoicePoint, Inc.
    • The D&B Corporation
    • Fidelity National Information Solutions, Inc.

    Yellow Pages & Directories

    About This Segment

    Businesses in Yellow Pages & Directories provide residential, professional, and business listings with names, addresses, and phone numbers at the local, regional, and national levels. Government Directories provide digital and print listings of government departments at the local, state, and federal level.

    Sample Companies

    • Verizon Information Services (SuperPages)
    • Yell Ltd.
    • BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corp.
    • Seat Pagine Gialle S.p.A.
    • AT&T Yellow Pages
    • Dex Media
    • PagesJaunes
    • Yellow Book USA, Inc.
    • Sensis Pty Ltd.
    • R. H. Donnelley Corporation