Outsell has selected the following innovative companies as our “30 to Watch” for 2009. These companies exemplify the theme of “ No Guts, No Glory” and shed light on where new competition and threats are emerging. Keep an eye on these companies to see where the information industry is headed!
Click on a company name for more information about the company and why Outsell selected it, or click here to show details for all companies.
Because it remains our inspiration for all things with “elegant design” and the iPhone continues to shake up how we will deliver, seek, use, receive, and buy things and information. It’s also interesting to watch the Mac computers’ market share grow as a result of Apple’s integrated approach. Besides, we love the Mac vs. PC ads and they’ve proven that TV commercials can still be memorable.
Outsell's profile of Apple
Because it and Bizo, another new entrant, are ad networks specifically targeting business audiences. By partnering with 24/7 Real Media and four big players in the B2B publishing world, BBN will have access to a large, high-quality audience. Bizo is a spin-out from Zoom, and is still in the early start-up stage. Together, BBN and Bizo will provide critical lessons about the success of evolving ad networks.
Outsell's profile of BBN
For teaching book publishers that you can create effective, one-off, highly illustrated tangible books via the web, to very high quality standards.
Outsell's profile of Blurb
It replaced lost revenue streams after the market was turned upside down by the UK government, was early online, and continues to be a venerable organization (and brand) that reinvents itself. BMJ is a key model for how to leverage a brand consistently and into global niches. Witness its recent deal with Epocrates.
Outsell's profile of BMJ
Because it is showing that the integration of TV, web, and mobile is real and it is starting a newswire in an already crowded market.
Outsell's profile of CNN
Because it created new methods in search and discovery and for its application in legal and scientific segments. Key to Collexis’ success in 2009 will be how it moves to operating profitably as it scales.
Outsell's profile of Collexis
For creating a real user-generated content business model that compels financial service users to buy back their own data, intermixed with their competitors’ data, at a premium price, which allowed the company to grow 110% this year. This model, in this downturn, will be essential to watch.
Outsell's profile of Data Explorers
Because it has demonstrated how to be successful in multiple vertical markets with user-generated content, not only reducing traditional cost-of-goods models, but also generating more revenue per employee and revenue growth than industry benchmarks.
Outsell's profile of Demand Media
Because of Illumin8, Scopus, and other workflow solutions as well as its potential to take an out-of-the-box leadership stance that creates breakthroughs in the open access argument and arena.
Outsell's profile of Elsevier
Because it has a very clear focus on its mission and benefit, and is a valuable demonstrator of how digital can sit alongside print. It is growing and adding new customers at an impressive rate.
Outsell's profile of
Its circulation is bucking trends and its digital performance is record-breaking, too. The development of Guardian Professional over the past couple of years has shown what a newspaper company needs to do if it is to maintain growth and maximize its brand value as the rest of the industry collapses. Guardian American is a development that will demonstrate how to move into other markets, even those that appear saturated. We also like its acquisition of PaidContent and its lift to a bigger mission in the media space media classifieds in particular.
Outsell's profile of The Guardian
Because it’s Google. It’s not only the largest search engine, ruling online advertising, but it also remains on a cosmic mission to make all the world’s information accessible and it’s doing this in the face of its first downturn.
Outsell's profile of Google
Because of its disruptive potential in semantic search and because it’s always fun to root for the little guy.
Outsell's profile of Hakia
Incredible traffic growth, high-quality content for next-to-nothing, great commentary and analysis, traction with advertisers, and niching beyond politics make this a clear mantle for the first “internet newspaper.” It is blazing new ground and will need to cease its reliance on venture capital to ultimately prove its model. How and if it does that will hold critical lessons for its news publishing brethren.
Outsell's profile of Huffington Post
For emphasizing that there is no inherent reason why YouTube needs to rule the world. Hulu’s ability to monetize its ownership of premium content, the use of video, and the potential upset to YouTube all make this worthy to follow.
Outsell's profile of Hulu
Because it is one of the largest engineering information firms integrating multiple acquisitions while targeting users and verticals and geographies. It has a complex re-organization emerging and its success will have important lessons.
Outsell's profile of IHS
For its professional community growth and addition of new services (e.g., market research) and its ability to profitably blend free and fee business models, including those that are paid by members of the community.
Outsell's profile of LinkedIn
Has expanded beyond a typical online market research firm into what it calls “customer insight management.” The company continues to grow and remains one of the more innovative players in the online market research space. It has launched several innovative products, including TrueSample, Mom’s Insight Network, and Idea Networks.
Outsell's profile of MarketTools
Founders of (among other things) OpenWetWare and OpenCourseWare initiatives. By opening science communications up to the community, it is challenging scholarly publishers to think about their audiences.
Outsell's profile of MIT
Because it continues to grow and innovate in Second Life, its foreign language translation services, and its evolution of Nature Jobs all while continuously showing up as a top scholarly brand.
Outsell's profile of Nature Publishing Group
Because its PLoS One model of pooling “lightly” peer-reviewed scholarly articles is making money and points the way to new processes in science communications.
Outsell's profile of PLoS
Because of how it has innovated around technical audiences and created new channels by embracing born-digital delivery and blended business models such as downloading book chapters to iPhones via a subscription model. Also for new ways of leveraging its relationship with authors in a mutually beneficial way.
Outsell's profile of Safari
Because it is still integrating a major merger at the same time one of its major markets is experiencing calamity. It also continues to innovate in workflow areas in all of its sectors and invest in technology experimentation such as Open Calais.
Outsell's profile of Thomson Reuters
It has unique data, value-added analysis and services, a deep (and deepening) footprint in energy, and a good history of growth while using M&A to strategically acquire and divest assets. Its ability to execute while linking strategy to product and marketing execution is a terrific model for other pure-plays to follow.
Outsell's profile of Wood Mackenzie
Because of how it creates content from the open web, collates it automatically, and then adds real value through tools and services, which are then sold in an array of free-to-fee services that sensibly align with one another.
Outsell's profile of ZoomInfo
As a first-mover into clinical workflow, it will be interesting to see how it keeps its first-mover advantage, which has lessons for all innovators.
Outsell's profile of Zynx
A note on methodology: Outsell’s industry analysts regularly track and analyze over 7,000 firms within 12 information industry segments and provide coverage of major announcements, revenue mix, and growth of over 1,000 of them. We provide in-depth coverage of the top 300, consisting of the market share leaders and disruptors that are most interesting to the space. We distilled this list from those 300.
