Opening Cross: The End of an Era, and the Start of a New One

Inside Market Data was founded in 1985 as the fortnightly Micro Ticker Report, and over the years chronicled the changing of the guard as vendors like Quotron, ADP, Monchik-Weber and Telerate fell by the wayside as newcomers like Bloomberg, Interactive Data and FactSet rose to take their place. Over the years, our format and coverage changed, sometimes reflecting these changes within the industry—such as spinning out our burgeoning coverage of the reference data market as the standalone Inside Reference Data in 2006—and sometimes reflecting changes within our own publishing industry, as well as changes in reader demand. And as I pen the final column to appear in this format, we’re on the verge of another such change, as the print editions of Inside Market Data and Inside Reference Data merge into one monthly, glossy magazine called Inside Data Management.

Why are we doing this now? Our research shows that how our subscribers consume information has changed—not just from when Micro Ticker Report was first conceived, but just in the past few years. Like market data, consumers now expect to receive time-sensitive news as via the fastest means possible—which means online and via apps—with printed publications reserved for longer articles that provide deeper analysis. You may have noticed that in IMD, we often publish a short, timely news item as soon as we receive the information, and update it online over the following days, and publish a longer, more complete version in the following Monday’s print edition. Inside Data Management is the next evolution of this, adding longer-form analysis articles, features and profiles. 

This doesn’t mean IMD and IRD are going away. Our websites will continue to bring you daily news just as they do today. In fact, if you subscribe to just IMD, you’ll also get access to IRD—and vice-versa—free of charge until your next subscription renewal. And in the meantime, you’ll receive Inside Data Management in place of the IMD and IRD newsletters. Print journalism isn’t dead, as is often reported; it’s evolving, just as the industry we cover is evolving. 

And we couldn’t be ending IMD’s print run on a better note to illustrate the pace and breadth of that evolution: the rise of data science, as evidenced by Domino Data Lab’s new funding round, and by the pointed discussion at WatersTechnology’s European Trading Architecture Summit; Thomson Reuters identifying new ways to leverage content from across its different divisions to create innovative new datasets that deliver competitive advantage; and BATS Europe staking its claim as a legitimate rival to established index providers. All these stories demonstrate that creativity and disruptive forces are alive and well within our industry, and are the fuel that will drive Inside Data Management’s content for years to come.

You might say I’ve already spent a childhood—even an adolescence—on IMD. And now I get to start over and nurture something new from infancy to maturity. I hope you’ll all join me in welcoming Inside Data Management into the world, and watching it grow and flourish.