Back in mid-2023, there was news that the MTS group wanted to hold an IPO for its portfolio company in advertising - MTS AdTech.

Although I don't closely follow this story, today I want to talk about the following

What do T-Bank, MTS, Ozon, Alfa-Bank, WB, and Sber have in common?

(well, besides having a lot of money)

2 things - they..
- own huge customer bases
- actively seek to monetize this data

For example, as in the case of MTS, they offer other companies paid access to their audiences through advertising services.

Why advertising?

Telecoms, retail, and banks have 3 assets that are hard for others to replicate:

1. Information about who spends how much and on what
2. Access to customers at the moment they are ready to buy
3. The ability to track what happens after an ad is shown

This attribution capability makes their data extremely valuable for advertisers.

The math also looks interesting

For instance, while the net interest margin of banking operations ranges between 4-5%

Data-driven businesses built on the same infrastructure consistently achieve margins of 75-90%.


For example, if the core business has $10 billion in annual revenue, with a 4% margin its operating profit would be $400 million.

But a data business (monetizing an existing customer base), reaching $100 million in annual revenue (just 1% of the core), with an 80% margin would put $80 million in profit into shareholders' pockets.

Only 1% of revenue, but 20% of profit

In my opinion, IT products should also consider monetizing their data

For instance, a hypothetical CRM system for developers sees at which stage customers drop off.

This analytics can be highly valuable for the developer. Because fixing one mistake in the funnel could save them millions in advertising budget.

And a service for accountants might see that a company has accumulated free cash on its balance sheet - an ideal moment to offer integration with a bank deposit.

For the bank, this is a qualified lead because the customer was caught at the moment of maximum readiness.


Market trend reports, benchmarks, proven attribution as a service, selling context for lead qualification - these are examples of such monetization options.

(obviously anonymized and in full compliance with the Federal Law on Personal Data)

Data itself costs 0 rubles.

It turns into capital only when it helps someone else reduce risk or meet a customer's need faster than competitors.

Therefore, it's useful to ask the question:

Who, besides my client, is willing to pay for knowledge about their behavior?

#поиск_ценности