When I was looking for funding for GigaOM nearly three years ago, I had a very simple, four-slide PowerPoint presentation that I showed to potential investors. Two slides focused on the past, but the other two — the “money slides” — focused on my plan to build the company. It wasn’t exactly a complicated plan. All I wanted to do was build multiple revenue streams from our core competency of analyzing key technology trends and business news.
Even back in 2006, it was fairly obvious that you couldn’t build a next-generation media entity by relying on advertising as your sole revenue source. But unlike some of the larger media companies, we didn’t want to charge for our existing offerings, aka our blogs. That just doesn’t make sense. Instead, we wanted to do what we do best: provide analysis and context, and offer you more content — content that is worth paying for.
We started out with our main offering, GigaOM, and have since grown into a network of seven ad-supported blogs. In 2007, we started our expansion into events with the launch of NewTeeVee Live, and we now host four major conferences and a handful of smaller events every year. Today, we are taking the next step, with the launch of GigaOM Pro, our subscription-only research and analysis service.
Our goal has always been to provide high-quality content that addresses the needs of our community. Many have privately told us that there’s a need for long-form analysis that is more in-depth than current blog posts, that offers a 360-degree view of the technology landscape. What folks weren’t looking for was another research firm — there are already dozens of them doing a fantastic job, so why compete with them?
So I tasked our team with developing a new kind of offering that would allow us to leverage the on-the-ground expertise and insight of our current GigaOM Network sites to enable deeper conversations with our community. The result is GigaOM Pro.
Using WordPress’ BuddyPress social platform, we have created a research-driven platform that allows informed insiders, our community of readers and our network of analysts, editors and reporters to engage on an ongoing basis. We want this to be your one-stop shop for getting a grip on some of the newer technology trends. We are kicking it off by following some of the most rapidly changing sectors of the technology industry — Infrastructure, Mobile, Green IT and Connected Consumer — and will add more in the coming weeks.
As always, the quality of the offering comes down to the people involved.
We watched many of the top analysts with deep domain expertise become free agents over the past couple of years, either to work as consultants or start boutique firms specializing in the emerging technologies on which we’re focused. Michael Wolf, who heads up our research effort, helped put together a strong line-up of those experts, including occasional GigaOM contributors Juergen Urbanski, George Gilbert and Chetan Sharma, as well as new additions Rachel Happe, Steve Hawley and Clint Wheelock. Their experience and insight into their markets, as well as their work with their individual clients, make them uniquely qualified to deliver fresh, original research on the trends you want to hear about. As of today, we’ve got 17 research pieces that are available for download as PDFs if you subscribe for the service. (Check out “Social Media in the Enterprise” and “Will Storage Go The Way of The Server?“) In the next few weeks, we’ll be adding new reports in all of our topic areas.
Here’s what else you can find on GigaOM Pro:
What: GigaOM Pro, a subscription-only service that allows you access to research and analysis by a team of GigaOM analysts, editorial curators and our in-house editorial team. The service is being introduced at $79 a year and is available at http://pro.gigaom.com. We are keeping the introductory price low enough to include a larger number of people so we can foster stronger conversations within the new site.
Details: GigaOM Pro is a new approach to research focused on delivering timely, high-value reports and analysis for technology innovators and insiders at a fraction of the cost of traditional market research vendors. Organized around technology verticals, GigaOM Pro provides subscribers with in-depth market research on emerging technologies, including Green IT, Infrastructure, the Connected Consumer, and Mobile, as well as daily insight into developing trends and events.
GigaOM Pro is divided into four verticals. Each vertical offers:
- Briefings: classic research reports that focus on future growth opportunities offered by new technologies and trends in addition to helping you understand the disruptive impact of these technologies on various businesses.
- Notes: analysts’ deeper dives into more-focused topics such as IPTV market dynamics, Google’s mobile app strategy, and VMware’s vSphere announcement.
- Long Views: written by our in-house team, these editorial features look at key new developments in our markets, with a view to helping you spot tech business opportunities.
- Quarterly Wrap-ups: reviews of previous quarter’s news in each domain, organized by themes and big events, based on blog posts from the last quarter. These wrap-ups provide larger context to the Green IT, Connected Consumer, Mobile and Infrastructure sectors we cover.
- Weekly Updates: highlights of the weekly important news, emerging trends, and critical issues within each topic area.
- Curated Links: Hand-picked links from around the web relating to each vertical. They provide you a quick, easy way to get a handle on some of the key developments in all the verticals we track.
Congrats on the launch Om!
Thanks Allen.
Yeah congrats on the launch, you’re really taking a chance on this one – I don’t know what your investment is and I’m sure it probably isn’t a considerable since you already have the manpower and are generating this content with GigaOM’s own articles but I wonder if there’s a real market for this type of service.
Anyways Good Luck and don’t forget the tiny people along the way.
Congrats Om, nice job taking the lead on this one. It’s a brave move…hope you’ll share a rough tally of the number of subscribers you get at some point
So far, I like what I see. Rachel Happe’s report on social media in the enterprise seems pretty meaty, and $79 for a one year subscription is a steal!
Congrats on the launch. Im very interested to hear your results from this.
I will keep you post. Thanks for your kind words.
Congratulations and Best Wishes
I wish you all the best, but how do you expect people to pay for what they can get for free? Especially Tech news. There’s nothing on the four verticals that can’t be readily disseminated in real time without cost to the consumer.
Benjamin
It is not tech news, it is a research service. The information is what you will pay $000s for if you wanted to buy it from established research houses or individual analysts. This is an add-on to the blogs, not what you can get from the blogs.
Not the takeaway from your interview with New York Times. What information (from the interview – as quoted) can I not get for free?
(NYT-Bits) “3-page report on the smart energy home or a 65-page briefing on social media in the enterprise. There are quarterly and weekly wrap-ups and closer looks at certain companies in a sector, such as a report on whether Google will lead the way in mobile app innovation and an analysis of Cisco’s acquisition of Pure Digital. Analysts also publish collections of links to relevant articles from around the Web.”
Gig. is a fantastic blog, it’s not Gartner or Forrester Research. Apples to oranges. Taking a “very bloggy approach” sounds like a blog.
I’m a huge fan of Gig. and an avid reader. I wish you the best.
Benjamin
These are the nine full length reports that come with the subscription on day one:
Social Media in the Enterprise
Will Storage Go the Way of The Server?
Coming Soon: The Evolution of Over-the-Top Video
The Future of Pay TV Services
Home Energy Management: Consumer Attitudes and Preferences
Networking the Smart Grid
4G: State of the Union
The Smart Energy Home
U.S. Wireless Data Market: Q4 and Year-End 2008
I have to agree with Benjamin. Unless you’re providing proprietary information that isn’t just reportorial but actually policy papers on digital technology, what value are you really providing?
I can’t get over the price for this. It’s something I can afford as an individual rather than as part of a large company. Many many thanks.
Well I hope you sign up and enjoy. The idea is to have more folks like yourself sign-up and add to the value of our community & conversation.
I’m totally calling a bet that, the future of social networks will be smaller but more valuable networks.
I’ve always wanted to run an ‘unconference’ like BarCampNYC4 BUT…. only invite people that i know (and maybe to get it viral), each invited person gets to bring one additional person.
Basically smaller groups but with higher value. If gigaom pro can get dialog to occur ‘between subscription paying participants’ that is a step up in signal to noise ration then all the better.
Cheers,
Dean Collins
http://www.Cognation.net
Congrats on the launch OM…certainly a unique idea and it seems you’ve got some great minds on board!
Congratulations, Om. Its about time GigaOM did something like this, given the domain focus you guys have over there.
good luck!
seems all industry sites do this, didn’t paidcontent do that as well, and techcrunch reports?
wonder how it will affect the quality of the blog since a lot of what you list is what should be expected from a trusted indsutry media anyway, so it sounds more like a premium industry media rather than a ‘research service’ per se
JT
Here is a list of research reports on the site at present.
Benjamin
These are the nine full length reports that come with the subscription on day one:
Social Media in the Enterprise
Will Storage Go the Way of The Server?
Coming Soon: The Evolution of Over-the-Top Video
The Future of Pay TV Services
Home Energy Management: Consumer Attitudes and Preferences
Networking the Smart Grid
4G: State of the Union
The Smart Energy Home
U.S. Wireless Data Market: Q4 and Year-End 2008
Welcome to the subscriptions world, Om — I think you’ve pitched it just right. I’ll be signing up shortly.
Ewan
Thanks Ewan. I appreciate the support and hopefully we will keep you informed and educated and live up to your expectations.
excellent idea, and hope that it blossoms – only request would be to consider a “weekly top stories across GigaOm network” post for those members who may no longer go the regular content sites quite as regularly (in the event that they gravitate to pro only content)…
Thanks dave. That is a good suggestion. We would most certainly do that.
Om, congratulations. It’s a brave move, being the canary in this particular coalmine, but a well-considered one. The world has evolved to a point where news is a commodity, but insight certainly is not (yet).
Om,
Congrats man. I’m sure the service will be successful and others will try and emulate it and ultimately fail. Since, reading your blog you always seem to be running a tight ship around expenses and thus offer a quality product that people like me can actually purchase.
Congratulations Om! I can’t say I’m surprised to see such an enterprising and exciting new product offering coming from GigaOm. I wish you all the best with the new endeavor.
Om,
congratulations! It shows that business plans don’t have to e complex and long if the investors have a lot of trust in the guy running it! Good luck with it, I’m sure it will be a huge success!
Alexander
Congratulations, Om. I’m confident you will show your peers how this can be done. Just let us cheapskates continue to get a little taste, now and then. 🙂
How will the content of the research and analysis be divided among, say, Web, Broadband, Infrastructure, Mobile and Voice? If I am only interested in one of these areas, help me understand the value for money.
Tim
At present those verticals constitute about half of the total work. We will be adding more to this as we go along.
Many times I find more substance in comments than the article itself at Gigaom. May be it attracts a very talented audiance. I think Pro subscription (done by individual or team of 2-3) can not provide better analysis that people do here with the medium of comments but may be proved wrong with the time. Good Luck
dude, $79/year is almost embarassingly cheap .. surely you can add enough value to justify 10-50 times that price
As long as we get more people to participate, it would be great. As Sam said, we want to get a community going as well on GigaOm Pro.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog and I’m sure there are many firms and individuals will be interested in your new research service. Best wishes
all right i love this idea OM ! $79 a year ! wow i love it , finally something within my budget ! i will sign up for it next week !
Congrats, Om. Wishing you lots of good luck. And nice name too — kind of like FootnotedPro 🙂
But wow — $79 — way too cheap!
cheers,
Michelle
Congrats Om, best luck in this new venture.
I have to say it like the others, $79.. is too good!
Congrats!
Om, will pro subscribers have an opportunity to suggest research topics? i’m pretty sure i know the answer from what i’ve seen on the free blog so far, yet would appreciate clarification.
i plan to contribute to your pro community either way.
congrats!
@jasonspalace – certainly. Feel free to ping me direct @michaelwolf on Twitter or email me. I’d love to hear suggestions for research and will take good ones into consideration (good ideas are my main requirement 🙂
I’m in. Congratulations on the launch Om!
This is great! Count me in.
I enjoy GigaOm; admire anyone with guts, smarts and plans; would consider going Pro… if there was a reduced rate for the unemployed.
(Gotta say the intro piece reads in parts like an effort was made to focus on marketing-speak 2.1: “…build multiple revenue streams from our core competency.” What, no “monetizing dynamic synergies?” 😉
OM – good for you, and the GigaOM team – logical next step in taking the GigaOM Genre to the next level. While it comes with its own set of challenges – you seem to have rounded up a good team. Even if the early going is rough – hang in the there – you have what it takes to make it happen. All the best – Cheers!
I just signed up for the annual subscription; incredible value. Congrats.
being a tech info junkie I have to get this service, just signed up!
thanks monal. appreciate the love.
Wow!! I was just looking for this kind of affordable service. $79 is a steal.. I was missing Forrester/eMarketer world after leaving MS. Going to sign-up soon.
Congratulations.
In my experience, real analysis requires two-way communication. Analysts at Gartner accomplish this through lots of airline miles.
But that means they charge much more than 80 bucks.
Sustaining that type of trusted conversation through a virtual medium will be challenging.
Good luck! 🙂
Congrats Om!
Om,
This is a terrific move. Well differentiated from the rest.
Raghu
Om, great idea and I’m optimistic it will succeed. People will pay for good content, which this should be. I guess you’ll be the first speaker at the next bunker series event 😉
– rajeev goel
Om,
I am pretty sure entrepreneurs/product managers/markets would be stoked to quote GigaOM Pro data in their pitch/sales decks instead of having to shell out $$$ for Gartner/.
Are you giving out free subscriptions to first thousand people who comment here though 😉
Best of Luck
-Tarun
Congratulations Om, on some level, I knew this was coming. Till date, we have admired you in open due to which you have cherished leaps and bounds. But I now fear that to hear your piece of mind, we have to pay for it. In your blogs you always admired Google’s supremacy by its monetization model. Why you could not do so without closing doors….?
Congrats Om, Paul, Michael, and the team at GigaOm on the launch of GigaOm Pro.
To me, this represents an important step in the evolution of blog-based media, for now we’re able to have interested readers dig deeper, spend more time thoughtfully analyzing the trends and drivers behind the news, and most importantly, engage the community in a longer, continuing conversation.
Congratulations to everyone on the team on a terrific and successful product launch, and congratulations to the company for taking such a bold leap into the ever expanding gap between full-blown research services and 200 word blog posts.
This looks great! Wishing you much success!
Congrats Om and the GigaOm Team!
I’ve been looking through research much of the day for a project I’m working on. Luckily, as a grad student I have partial access to Gartner and several other research tools at the moment. The price point and subject areas of Pro sound spot on. I wish you luck and look forward to hearing how it grows.
Om,
I think you should charge for the blog – $12 a year. I wish you the best with the new venture.
-P
Om,
Congratulations on the launch. Having recently left IDC after 14 years there running mobility, consumer, PC, and some green stuff, it’s nice to see a fresh approach to research and thought leadership. As someone pointed out earlier, it’s an apples to oranges comparison to the research firms, as it should be.
All the best,
Randy G.
Congrats Om!
I went to the web page to subscribe but the link appears to be broken. Also, I want to make sure if it´s still $79 a year? because on the 7-day free trial appears $199, maybe the previous price was an introductory one.
Many thanks,
Sandra