- New pricing structures from 12 major data vendors will increase already seven-figure data provision agreements by as much as 50% in 2027
- H1 data shows market data spend continues to grow steadily, with industry spend expected to rise a further 7% this year.
- Market data teams face a growing tension between pressure to control data spend and demand for more potential sources of alpha
Substantive Research, the research and market data discovery and pricing analytics provider, has partnered with BCG Expand and TRG Screen to assess the impacts of AI on the provision, procurement and use of data by buy-side and sell-side firms. The combined expertise of the three industry leading companies in market data infrastructure and analytics uncovered a developing and dynamic picture of how AI is transforming data markets, and subsequently, key operations, relationships, and costs for financial institutions.
Demand for MCPs (Model Context Protocols, open standards that allow agentic AI models to interact securely with external data sources), direct data feeds into LLMs, and the ability to access data and research at an enterprise level, are prompting a wide variety of responses from index, ratings, terminals, and ESG ratings providers. Financial institutions are scrambling to understand how to manage and value data, control usage and negotiate with vendors appropriately in a period of constant change. Additionally, as vendors launch their own MCP servers and AI access models, many clients are being steered toward new commercial structures that can limit flexibility and create technical lock-in.
Background
Reliable and timely access to data is the lifeblood of financial firms on both buy and sell sides. This data is a ‘must-have’ for financial organisations, guiding investment decisions, identifying new opportunities to generate alpha, informing investment analysis, and is crucial in proving best execution principles for end investors, with many data providers’ brands acting as marks of quality.
Data volumes have continued to grow, and now the advent of AI means that data can be produced and consumed at increasingly faster rates, and firms can now interpret and use significantly higher volumes of data, in higher detail, than was ever before possible.
Data costs continue to rise and still outpace data budget growth amongst consumers. Agreements are negotiated bilaterally and opaquely, with no central, shared pricing model, meaning firms cannot judge if their negotiations with vendors have been truly effective.
Combined Insights
The picture emerging is of a dynamic and inconsistent post-AI data market, with no clear, standardised approach from buyers or sellers. The decisions being made now on both vendor and consumer sides are setting precedents that could have ramifications for decades.
It is up to each firm to structure their consumption, budgeting, spend allocation, and negotiate prices as best they can.
Substantive Research data shows:
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12 major data vendors have recently notified clients of changes to their pricing structures effective from 2027, which will increase prices of existing seven figure agreements by an average of up to 50%.
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Consumers have pushed back on the new index pricing models, prompting vendors to offer average discounts of 34%. But despite the headline discounts, these index product costs are rising by nearly 20% year on year.
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Among Substantive Research’s clients, where separate AI-related commercial terms in 2026 proposals were identified, additional AI charges ranged from $30,000 to $1,000,000. This wide variation suggests that vendors are still determining how best to commercialise AI capabilities, with no clear market standard yet emerging for AI-related pricing.
TRG Screen is seeing:
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Vendors developing new commercial requirements around AI usage, even as questions remain about how far AI changes the underlying use of market data.
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Market data teams facing increasing pressure to secure the best commercial outcomes and demonstrate the impact of their decisions to senior management.
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Clients constantly seek transparency into data usage to ensure it is used efficiently and complies with vendor/exchange policies.
BCG Expand data shows:
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H1 data shows market data spend continues to grow steadily, with industry spend expected to rise a further 7% this year.
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Demand for new data sources is pushing costs up and vendor lists longer: the average market data team now manages 34% more vendors than four years ago.
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Combined with headcount pressures, this is stretching teams that are increasingly struggling to keep up with business-as-usual.
Mike Carrodus, CEO of Substantive Research, commented: “It’s not surprising that we are seeing continued M&A, spin-offs and consolidation amongst providers as it’s clear that AI represents danger and opportunity in equal measure for data vendors. The first instinct from many is to control usage and change pricing, but even in a market where vendors often have the leverage, this is still a two-way conversation, and it is only just beginning.”
He added: “Some supply discussions we are seeing amongst clients are starting from very high bases, some of up to 300% higher costs from certain vendors, before they are negotiated down to an average of 50%. This highlights how nascent these discussions are and how far apart both sides are before reaching a deal. Data budgets often run into seven figures for larger firms, so we are talking about significant extra costs from the inclusion of AI in the data market, and this is setting the tone for how these agreements will be reached in future.”
Jens Munthe, Senior Principal, BCG Expand, said: "AI is raising difficult questions in vendor negotiations around usage rights and licensing terms. But it is also changing how market data teams work, at a time when they are under significant pressure to optimise their processes. Leading consumers are embedding AI across a range of activities, from sourcing and discovery through to end-to-end contract negotiation. So while AI creates challenges in negotiations, it is also creating significant opportunities to transform how market data is sourced and managed."
Trip Wadleigh, Global Head of Strategic Relationships, TRG Screen, commented: "AI is adding a new layer of complexity to market data management, and its implications go beyond pricing. Many firms simply want the underlying data so they can apply their own AI to it, yet vendor-defined access models don't always support that. Market data teams need to understand how data is used and where requirements are evolving, because the terms agreed today will shape what firms can do with their data, how much they pay, how costs are allocated, and how well they can ensure usage is efficient."
This background is a big part of why the three firms behind today's insights have been sharing notes and collaborating informally. Our goal is to help mutual clients make proactive decisions, both market-wide and vendor by vendor. BCG Expand's industry taxonomy, data catalogue and spend benchmarks pair well with Substantive Research's bottom-up vendor and product-pricing benchmarks. Used together, they give clients a fuller picture of spend, allocation and vendor pricing within a consistent taxonomy. We see a natural fit with TRG Screen's spend, usage and inventory management tools, and we're interested in how these insights will support clients' work on market and vendor data cost, consumption and spend management.
