Global spending on financial market data, analysis and news topped $28 billion in 2017, with Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters both losing market share to smaller, cheaper rivals.
According to TP Icap-owned consultancy Burton-Taylor International, overall global send was up 3.6%, the greatest year-on-year growth since 2011.
Despite seeing increased revenue, Bloomberg's market share dipped from 33.4% to 33.2%, while Thomson Reuters saw its slice contract from 23.1% to to 22.5%. Moody's Analytics led year-on-year growth, although this was partly due to acquisition, while smaller player FactSet saw its share rise to 4.5%.
The weakening of Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters' dominance comes as smaller rivals push software and browser-based alternatives to their expensive desktop terminals. The terminals have become less attractive as clients migrate to alternative chat services such as bank-backed Symphony - something Bloomberg recently sought to address by unbundling its chat service.
Risk and compliance users again were the fastest growing customer groups in 2017 and have now delivered a whopping 9.7% compound annual growth rate over the past five years. Pricing, reference and valuation products and portfolio management and analytics products were in highest demand, growing an average of eight per cent and 6.% per year, respectively.
"The financial market data/analysis story continues to be one of unending demand for the information and tools necessary to ensure regulatory compliance," says Douglas Taylor, MD, Burton-Taylor. "Moreover, the continued posturing of global exchanges and traditional market data vendors to serve those data demands is causing significant "hand-wringing" around the industry."