The 2017 Business Information Network report looks a little different this year, with significantly larger overall revenue estimates for the B2B media and information category as a whole and for the Data and Paid Content category in particular. Working with our partner Outsell, we’ve recast the Data and Paid Content category to expand beyond just B2B media publishers to be more representative of the greater paid content universe that Connectiv now represents (including companies such as Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg BNA, Reed Tech, Lexis Nexis and more). For the BIN report, Outsell is tracking a number of verticals including Commercial Information, Credit & Finance, Legal, Science Technology & Healthcare and Human Capital Management.

According to the Connectiv Media & Information census, by 2020, paid content and information services will be the second largest revenue stream for B2B media information companies, trailing only events. That’s a fundamental shift for many companies that continue to see advertising—in both print and digital formats—as a leading business line.

While the number of mergers and acquisitions in the B2B Media & Technology space dipped 5 percent to 88 in 2016, the value of those deals soared 427 percent to $32.6 billion, thanks to a few key blockbuster deals, according to the Jordan, Edmiston Group's 2016 M&A Report.

Double digit growth in digital advertising/marketing services, resurgent events and a growing data and information services business drove overall revenue for the B2B media and information industry up 2.7 percent to $28.35 billion in 2015, compared to $27.6 billion in 2014, according to Connectiv’s Business Information Network, which calculates the size of the industry, aggregating the data for total industry revenue from partners reporting on revenue for digital advertising, conferences and trade shows, print advertising, and data and business information products.

Paid content and information services account for about 20 percent of revenue for b2b media and information companies, according to the 2015 Connectiv Information Industry Census. By 2020, that percentage will grow to 23 percent, exceeding both print and digital advertising, trailing only events as the top moneymaker.

Traditional publishing was likened to a three-legged stool: editorial, audience and advertising all fed into and off each other. Today a new (potentially higher margin) trifecta is starting to emerge with events, media and market intelligence driving customers across a publisher’s portfolio.

This week Stagnito Business Information and Edgell Communications announced they had merged and the newly combined entity (which is to be renamed in the near future) was sold to private equity firm RFE Investment Partners.