What is a Data Monetization Platform? Best Tools for 2024

The global data monetization market is set to reach $1.7 trillion by 2028. With such a huge growth opportunity, thousands of companies are looking for tools that’ll enable them to tap into their fair share. These forward-thinking organizations are finding what they’re after in data monetization platforms.

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A data monetization platform is a software product designed to ensure you extract the maximum value from your data assets. There are numerous ways to go about this. Let’s look at the different ways of monetizing data.

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How does data monetization work?

The most direct means of monetizing data is by selling it to external parties. Hundreds of companies have made this their primary business model, and countless others have began selling internal data to open up an additional revenue stream. A second way of monetizing data involves consulting your internal data top optimize your operations and improve your bottom line. Your company data can reveal areas to cut costs and become more efficient in sales, operations, procurement, marketing, and more. A third example of data monetization is data governance, and, with that, data enrichment, cleansing, and hygiene. The higher the quality of your data, the higher its monetary value. So aside from being just good housekeeping, cleansing and enriching your data benefits your bank account.

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What is a data monetization platform?

As we’ve seen, data monetization can entail selling data, analyzing data, and cleaning & enriching data. There are platforms facilitating each of these forms of data monetization, often in combination with each other. What unifies these platforms is that they’re committed to helping you extract value from your data assets. In this article, we’ll look at some of the top data monetization platforms on the market today. We’ll introduce how the platform works, explain its main data monetization features, and weigh up some pros and cons. We hope it’ll help you select the right platform, wherever you are in your data monetization journey.

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Best Data Monetization Platforms 2024

We'll look at these 4 top data monetization platforms and compare their features, pros and cons:

1. Data Commerce Cloud
2. Revelate
3. ThinkData Works
4. Harbr

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1. Data Commerce Cloud

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Data Commerce Cloud (DCC) enables you to list and sell your data products in the most used data marketplaces with a click. DCC is integrated with top data exchanges including Google Cloud Analytics Hub, Databricks Marketplace, Datarade Marketplace, and SAP Datasphere Marketplace. It’s the best connected data monetization platform, and is trusted by 100+ leading commercial data providers.

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Main features

• No-code channel integrations: DCC is integrated with the largest data marketplaces so data providers can increase their visibility on and receive leads from top data sales channels.
• Lead pool: DCC is the only data monetization platform that enables you to tap into a lead pool of in-market data providers that have posted their requests for data on Datarade Marketplace.
• Product analytics: analyze how your data products are performing in terms of conversion, impressions and revenue, and receive optimization reports to capture more demand.

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Pros

• Save time and money engineering: publishing on data marketplaces can take months and require masses of engineering resources. DCC enables you to publish on marketplaces with a click and no engineering resources are needed.
• Designed for commercial data providers: DCC is a data monetization platform designed for data marketers and sales people and its sole focus is one empowering companies to monetize data and generate revenue.
• Demand for every category of external data: whether you’re monetizing healthcare data, B2B data, real estate data, or a different category entirely, there’s demand for it from buyers on DCC’s integrated data marketplaces.

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Cons

• Creating data products isn’t instantaneous: to optimize your data products for conversion, you need to invest some time in putting the right keywords on and uploading samples to your listings on DCC.
• Data delivery not yet supported: DCC will support cross-cloud data sharing towards the end of 2024.
• Payment handled off platform: because ticket sizes for data are often too much for a credit card to process, DCC requires providers to arrange payment with the buyer outside of the platform and log the transaction manually.

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2. Revelate

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Founded in 2012, Revelate's platform facilitates seamless buying, selling, and exchange of data assets through its centralized marketplace. With a focus on privacy protection and advanced analytics capabilities, Revelate empowers users to derive valuable insights while ensuring the secure monetization of their data.

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Main features

• External data marketplace: Revelate offers a central hub where consumers can purchase your data assets.
• Advanced product analytics: provides powerful tools for deriving insights and optimizing monetization strategies.
• Data governance framework: ensures compliance with regulations and standards while facilitating transparent data transactions and fostering trust among users.

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Pros

• Flexibility: publish your ready-for-sale datasets in multiple formats (CSV, API, others) with customizable pricing.
• Privacy protection: prioritizes robust encryption and anonymization to safeguard sensitive data.
• Customer support: get the tools and best practices guidance you need, even if you’re unsure of your monetization potential.

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Cons

• Not suitable for marketers: Revelate doesn’t list marketing as a function its data monetization platform is aimed at, so it’s less suited for companies looking to build visibility for their data business.
• No in-platform payment: Revelate integrates with your billing system but doesn’t process the transaction itself.
• Little buy-side experience: as a platform solely for data monetization, Revelate has less hands-on experience with companies buying data in comparison to other platforms.

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3. ThinkData Works

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Since 2014, ThinkData Works been developing industry-leading tech that's built by data professionals for data professionals. They hit the nail on the head when they observe that ‘when data is easier to distribute, it’s easier to monetize’. As such, ThinkData Group’s data monetization platform allows you to unlock the value of your data via enhanced governance and easier distribution to paying end users.

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Main features

1. Data delivery: securely send data where it needs to be using granular controls and export restrictions to control who uses what data and how.
2. Tap into existing demand: start selling without a long ramp-up time by tapping into the lead pool of companies sourcing data on ThinkData Works, which includes some of the largest financial, insurance, consulting, and pharmaceutical enterprises globally.
3. Extracting more value from data: the platform monitors your data freshness, automates cleansing, and enables enrichment by letting you combine your own datasets, or add outside data sources to build unique data products tailored to your audience.

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Pros

• Security first: ThinkData Works puts security at the fore of data sharing and monetization
• All-in-one platform: from connecting your datasets or ingesting them via ETL, all the way to delivery to the end user, without leaving the platform
• Scalable selling via automated delivery: set up repeatable delivery automations which reduce delay and human error

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Cons

• Pricing: subscriptions to ThinkData Works are at the higher end of data monetization platforms, and this pricing could be inaccessible for small companies with little budget.
• First-and-foremost a catalog software: ThinkData Works’ emphasis isn’t on monetization solely.
• Integration: integrating ThinkData Works' platform with existing systems and workflows may pose challenges, particularly for organizations with complex IT infrastructures or legacy software.

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4. Harbr

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Harbr enables businesses to build their own data marketplace. The Harbr platform itself runs on an architecture optimized for data sharing and data commerce, balancing cost, convenience, and control. It powers the data commerce platform experiences of some of the world’s most successful data businesses, which are using Harbr for data discovery and collaboration as well as monetization.

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Main features

• Customisable product creation: 53% of products created on Harbr are customized, in recognition of the endless number of various use cases data consumers have.
• Data product iteration: prototype, test and iterate based on user feedback gathered from secure collaboration to create more attractive data products.
• Automated data distribution: via external data sharing Snowflake, S3, GCP, Azure Blob, on-prem, and desktop.

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Pros

• Conversion-optimized data marketplaces: it’s easy for consumers to find your data with search, filters, categories, and recommenders.
• Governance and access control: data-driven companies share data across technical and organizational boundaries securely.
• Cloud-agnostic: data is immediately available in your own private cloud, allowing you to take full advantage of your existing cloud commitments.

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Cons

• Emphasis on discovery and collaboration: Harbr emphasizes that its platform facilitates data collaboration; monetization is a secondary service.
• Not designed for sellers: in comparison to other data monetization platforms, Harbr isn’t so easy for people without a technical background to use and lacks sales features e.g. a deal pipeline.
• No in-platform payment: the Harbr subscription engine integrates with CRM, billing, and invoice systems. However, data products are usually too expensive for credit card transactions, and as a result, payments are typically handled off-platform.

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FAQs

What is a data monetization platform?

A data monetization platform is a technology solution that enables organizations to generate revenue by leveraging their data assets. These platforms facilitate the process of collecting, managing, analyzing, and monetizing data through various channels such as licensing, direct sales, or partnerships.

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Which platform is best for monetization?

The best data monetization platform depends on your specific needs, goals, and the nature of your data. Factors to consider include the platform's capabilities in data integration, analytics, security, compliance, and its ability to match your business model and target audience. It's essential to evaluate multiple platforms and choose the one that aligns most closely with your requirements.

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How can I monetize my data?

You can monetize your data by first identifying its value proposition and potential use cases. Then, you can choose from various strategies such as selling raw data, offering subscription-based access to data insights, providing data analytics services, or partnering with other organizations for data collaboration. It's crucial to ensure compliance with data privacy regulations and establish secure data-sharing agreements to protect both your data and your customers' privacy.

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