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The New Exclusive: ALM's Deal with
Thomson West Changes the Balance of Aggregation |
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1 May 2006 |
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Exclusive content deals may seem like a throwback to a
simpler era of commercial agreements, but with the
emergence of publishers pushing rich data solutions we may
expect to see more of these emerging in key market sectors.
With the open Web providing more ways for publishers to
market their value-add rich data content directly to
targeted audiences there's less of an incentive to
relicense content except where partners can add the most
value possible through their services. Add in the value
that subscription database services can add to the Web
sites of publishers and there are more reasons then ever
for such exclusives to create unique content services in
both enterprise and online markets. |
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If recent developments in
online publishing have taught us anything it's that you cannot
expect to succeed by trying to be what you're not. Magazine and
journal publishers have struggled over the past decade to
resolve their identity in an increasingly online-driven
publishing world, with many of them challenged to
transform themselves into publishers that can service online
audiences with more than just traditional editorial content.
For business publishers this solutions-oriented movement
focuses often on "rich
data", the process of adding content from users and
databases to add value to their online content. But there is a
burning question that confronts these publishers: if developing
rich data is the key to greater profits for publishers trying
to provide more valuable online services, how do you manage
competition with content and technology solutions providers
already integrated into enterprises with rich data capabilities
of their own?
ALM, a leading
provider of law journals and online legal information services,
has decided that one answer to this question is to take a new
view towards relationships with third parties. ALM has
announced that as of today Thomson's
West
legal division will the the exclusive third party distributor
of their online magazine and and database content for legal
markets. It's a two-way deal that offers a great deal of value
to both partners. West gets same-day access to ALM's key news
sources from its broad array of legal magazines and journals
but also access to ALM's expanding collection of databases,
including its popular
VerdictSearch database that collects verdict and settlement
from trial lawyers and other sources. In turn ALM will get to
integrate content from West publications into their online
stable of publications and databases.
The
Westlaw database product is the key target for ALM
integration, an aggregation of a broad array of sources from
business publishers, governments and their own proprietary
databases tuned for highly efficient access. With a large
installed base of Westlaw users in the legal community, ALM
gets access to audiences already using rich data services
without having to commit themselves to licensing content via
multiple partners that may take more than they give from their
enhanced content. At the same time Thomson gets access to
media-focused audiences that relate to legal markets via ALM
publishing via the open Web and print in ways that a database
publisher cannot easily manage.
This is a major realignment in a major market sector that
has many implications for publishers and aggregators of
business content making business publications available to
enterprises. Here are a few of the major points to consider in
looking at the ALM/West deal and applying it to your own focus:
- Publishers are redefining the rules of how to work
with aggregators. The days of subscription services
providing general aggregation of news and research
publications for enterprises is being pushed to a close by
more even-handed content licensing relationships exemplified
by this deal. Publishers are serving up more ad-supported and
subscription content to enterprise audiences directly via Web
search engines and developing rich data services to service
those audiences. In such an environment why assume a passive
role with a subscription database partner? Subscription
database providers need to adjust rapidly to publishers more
willing to develop far more than traditional text-oriented
content and to recognize that the rich data game will call
upon them to meet audiences wherever they want to be met -
including on the portals of publishers who license content to
them. .
- With rich data, exclusives take on a new meaning.
Going for an exclusive third-party distribution agreement has
been a risky affair for most publishers, a balance between
per-user revenues and overall market penetration. But with
direct Web access to their data-enriched online publications
already in place the dangers of losing market penetration via
third party exclusives can be limited more easily. Third
party distribution deals can be used more selectively in this
environment to focus a publisher's development and marketing
resources on fewer third party applications and more on
making their own rich data-driven applications succeed with
our without third parties. As standardized Web services
packaging evolves calculating such trade-offs from formally
negotiated licensing agreements may become less critical to
publishers. But for now exclusives offer the leverage to
develop value-add relationships with enterprise content
service providers that go beyond one-way distribution deals
to more value-add positioning in front of specific audiences
for both parties.
- The world of online media is becoming fair game for
traditional content aggregators. Although the details of
what ALM will get to draw out of Thomson's West resources are
slim, part of the high-level motivation for this deal has to
be the desire of Thomson to rediscover an effective
positioning for its content in ad-supported and subscription
online media markets. When Thomson pitched most of its
print-driven properties a few years ago it missed out on the
surge of print publications converting themselves into richer
online properties with robust online ad and subscription
revenues. Working with a sophisticated media partner such as
ALM offers Thomson the ability to expose its database content
to the media marketplace via a high-end media partner while
keeping focused on high-end value add services for
enterprises.
As more relationships such as those seen in the ALM/West
deal emerge we're likely to see a continuing evolution of
The New Aggregation, one in which companies with a media
focus complement companies with an enterprise services focus to
channel content in the most efficient manner possible to
distinct but overlapping audiences. Both publishers and
aggregators will evolve to provide rich data services tuned to
the outlook and commercial frameworks of these two distinct
environments, with each leveraging the other's business models
to maximize the value of their content while minimizing risk
and expenses. Exclusive deals may not work well in every
instance, but they're a powerful tool to expose a content
product's complex virtues to an audience that needs more than
just good search tools to get content in the most valuable
context possible.
-
John Blossom
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