In New Report, Outsell, Inc. Forecasts Single Digit Growth for the Information Industry, Reaching $358 BILLION
- Leading Information Industry analysts are first to forecast the industry's performance in eight different segments; cite Yahoo!, Google, Greenfield Online, HealthStream Inc., Blinxx and other innovative firms as behind the growth
(Burlingame, CA, September 19, 2005) -- Outsell, Inc., the leading Information Industry research and advisory firm, today released FutureFacts: 2006 and Beyond, the market's first-ever comprehensive forecast of the trends and drivers fueling the Information Industry. The report pegs the Information Industry to reach $358 billion by 2008, lending credit to innovative companies like Yahoo!, Google, Baidu, Interactive Data Corporation, Greenfield Online and, HealthStream Inc. for growing the market.
In an industry first, FutureFacts forecasts eight key industry segments: Company, Credit and Financial; Education and Training; Search, Aggregation & Distribution Services; Market Research, Reports and Services; News and Trade; Scientific, Technical and Medical; Legal and Yellow Pages and Directories.
Outsell's analysis places the Search, Aggregation & Distribution Services segment ahead of all others, with a forecasted 17 percent growth over the next three years. This segment is driven by red-hot search players like Yahoo! and Google.
The next growth segment is Market Research, Reports and Services at 11.6 percent. Outsell discusses hot companies in the segment, including Greenfield Online, Health Grades and MarketResearch.com.
Lagging the rest are the Yellow Pages segment at a sluggish 3 percent growth, and News and Trade continuing its anemic pace with a mere 5 percent growth. The News and Trade segment is most impacted by end user and technology trends, as revenue models shift from subscriptions and transactions to ads, and from print to online. Its strongest competition is from free Web content, as well as social publishing phenomena such as blogs, citizen journalism, and peer-to-peer and social networks.
As part of the forecast, Outsell also identified seven scenarios that underscore the overarching themes and shifts that cut across all sectors.
"Growth is there for the taking for companies that are in synch with the new forces in the industry and have adapted to them," said Outsell Chief Analyst Leigh Watson Healy, who presented FutureFacts today at the firm's signature event, Go! "Companies that haven't turned the corner on change and renewal face a future that looks less and less like the comfort zone they are used to. "
The report draws extensively from Outsell's unique industry metrics and analytics, as well as Outsell's daily contact with leaders across all segments of the information industry, and the deep industry experience of its analytical staff. The firm tracks and sizes 4,000 industry firms that create and aggregate information and make it commercially available (across all business models), and has six years of information-user buying and usage statistics, including in-depth interviews with over 40,000 information consumers since 1998. It also draws upon enterprise information management benchmarks and best practices that tracks staffing, budgets, content spending and enterprise content management, in global 2000 organizations and federal agencies. .
Outsell analysts are available to explain the trends in FutureFacts. Journalists wanting to arrange an interview should contact Dawn Ringel, Warner Communications, 781-449-8456 or dawn@warnerpr.com. This report is also available for download at www.outsellinc.com
About Outsell, Inc.:
Outsell of Burlingame, CA is the leading research and advisory firm providing actionable market analytics for the information industry. Founded in 1994, Outsell helps publishers, commercial information providers, and content software technology vendors identify, maintain, and grow markets and revenue streams. Outsell also works with information management executives in top corporations, government agencies, and educational institutions to benchmark spending, optimize performance, and demonstrate best practices. Outsell invests heavily in unique information industry data assets that form the core of its high-quality, fact-based research, analysis, and recommendations for clients worldwide. For more information, see www.outsellinc.com.
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