The "Media Moat" model: content builds demand, data subscriptions monetize it, and CAC goes negative
Craig Fuller · FreightWaves
Published September 1, 2022Craig Fuller CEO and founder of FreightWaves shares:
- How we used “Media Moat” to drive SaaS Revenues
- How we enabled “Negative CAC”
- $20m in SaaS revenue
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Craig Fuller explains FreightWaves’ content-supported data model: build a community around an information need, use content to create awareness and demand, add subscription data products, and adapt distribution quickly when market conditions change.
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“entirely centered on is understanding what's happened around the global economy I'll walk through how we provide data and intelligence but the important thing that I think is really sort of uh different about our business is we go to market thinking about what the community needs to understand what's happening in the global supply chain the community being the community that we've built and using both content and data to get there”
“in Bloomberg a lot of that data material actually gets originally sourced through our data and through our content and it's as you anyone has known four years ago people had can you really build a media business on supply chain that sounds kind of boring if you've lived through the last two years you know that's actually not true uh straightways as I discussed has a Content supported business model and what that means to us is we go to market with really two primary products one is our sonar data”
“mentality of developing content that will drive your audience to buy and consume your products let's think about this for a second everybody in this room is here because of the content that's being produced on the platform you have come across and become aware of it not because you're buying something but because you're intellectually curious about the topic of SAS you came here today for the very same reasons that our com our customers buy our data products they become aware”
“not in workflow we don't match Freight we don't actually provide software that helps companies essentially operate Freight movement or track Freight we provide Market level data and intelligence that powers some of the largest and most most robust Supply chains in the same way that a lot of Market data businesses do one of the thing about data businesses if you can actually get scale and you can actually have Market success is these businesses”
“think this is really important if you look at our SAS trajectory it's very slow our our investors were incredibly patient a long time relative to the media business to build up enough momentum and we look at subscription data subscriptions as a percent of our Revenue back in 2018 it was five percent and to this year is the first year that our subscription data Revenue will have”
“How FreightWaves became the leader in supply chain intelligence and data”
“Our SaaS platform offers high-frequency market data covering global supply chains”
“We have two businesses: SaaS & Media”
“Enabling FreightWaves to enjoy “Negative CAC””
“Our data and analysis help clients answer many critical questions. Representative questions:”
Video
Our content supported SaaS business hit $20m in SaaS ARR in 4 years - Slide Deck
Craig Fuller is the CEO and founder of FreightWaves, the leading provider of data and analytics for the global logistics industry. FreightWaves provides the fastest view of transportation and logistics market activity, across all modes. The company is also the No.1 source for media and market analytics in the global freight industry. Before founding FreightWaves, he was the founder and CEO of TransCard, a fleet payment processor that was sold to US Bank
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21 passages
Our content supported SaaS business hit $20m in SaaS ARR in 4 years …while also hitting $40m in revenue Craig Fuller CEO, Founder of FreightWaves Founder500, Sept 2022
This section introduces how FreightWaves built a position in supply chain intelligence and data, using its media presence as the backdrop.
How FreightWaves became the leader in supply chain intelligence and data
The chart traces both lines of business from 2016 to 2022, with SaaS ARR reaching $23,000,000 and media revenue $21,000,000 in 2022. Their growth accelerates after the early years, showing the scale of the combined model.
Over the next 20 minutes, you’ll see how we used “Media Moat” to drive SaaS Revenues
The image shows a television sports studio with cameras, operators, hosts, and branded set displays. It conveys the production environment behind a media business.
Two financial market terminals display commodity futures prices, market data, and charts. The image connects the talk's supply chain focus to the established market data tools used in other sectors.
The collage spans trucks, trains, ships, planes, warehouses, ports, and a delivery robot. It presents the many connected modes and facilities that make up global freight movement.
FreightWaves pairs a 65% supply chain media content share and 3M daily visitors across channels with a 40-person analyst and data science team. The graphic also highlights 50 reporters and commentators, 200 employees, and 85k daily FreightWavesTV viewers.
65% Market-share of supply chain media content 3M Daily visitors across all channels 85k Unique visitors that watch FreightWavesTV content per day 40 Analysts and data scientists 200 Employees 50 Market reporters and commentators BEHIND THE SCENES
The slide argues that valued market data businesses already serve commodity markets, while supply chain data had not covered the full global chain. Logos of established data providers illustrate the comparison.
Market data business are highly valued across the commodity markets, but none (until now) exist across all aspects of the Global Supply Chain. DATA DRIVES VALUE
FreightWaves presents SONAR as a high-frequency data platform covering global supply chains and sold through annual subscriptions. The product screenshot shows several market indicators moving over time.
Our SaaS platform offers high-frequency market data covering global supply chains We sell annual subscriptions to our “SONAR” platform
The diagram feeds supply chain inputs such as rates, fuel, capacity, weather, and tracking into SONAR, then connects the data to pricing, asset, investment, risk, and economic decisions. The accompanying dashboards illustrate the product's market, route, and global views.
Actionable Outcomes Benchmark, analyze, monitor, and forecast global supply chain market intelligence and information Insights into Supply and Demand SONAR offers time series data points across hundreds of billions worth of transactions every single day. High-Frequency Supply Chain Market Data Machine learning + data = actionable items & real-time management decisions Fuel GPS & Asset Tracking Weather OEM Pricing Safety & Compliance Rates Clearing & Payments Capacity Fundamental Data Electronic Tenders & Bookings Pricing Assets Investment Economic Risk
FreightWaves describes its model as content-supported. The laptop and phone show its articles and video content across desktop and mobile.
FreightWaves’ has a “Content Supported” business model.
The comparison places the SONAR analytics platform beside FreightWaves Media's video programming. Together they form the two businesses named on the slide.
We have two businesses: SaaS & Media
The media business is described as having 50 full-time journalists and TV reporters, publishing 40+ original articles and streaming three hours of live television daily. The screens show its article and video libraries.
Our media business includes 50 full-time journalists and TV reporters, publishing 40+ original articles and 3 hours of live streaming television per day
The diagram links FreightWaves articles, research, and television to SONAR, showing media as a top-of-funnel source for its SaaS business. It states margins of 50% for media and 85% for SONAR.
Media generates 50% margins, but also creates “top of funnel” for our 85% margin SONAR SaaS business.
The image pairs the negative CAC claim with a conference conversation around a market data screen. It suggests customer interactions around the product, without showing a calculation.
Enabling FreightWaves to enjoy “Negative CAC”
A single dashboard places a tender index chart and U.S. market map above a comparison table of market indicators. The layout shows how users can scan geographic conditions alongside city-level metrics.
The chart shows media revenue and SaaS ARR growing from near zero in 2016 to $21,000,000 and $23,000,000 respectively in 2022. It reinforces the claim that media and the software business expanded together.
Media & events helped seed the initial FreightWaves community.
The line rises from a small share in 2018 to around 80% by 2024, illustrating the claim that data businesses start slowly and accelerate. The slide also labels data subscriptions as sticky.
Data businesses have slow beginnings Growth accelerates over time Data businesses are super sticky
The table assigns SONAR, media, and carbon intelligence distinct categories and revenue types, then estimates their market sizes. It totals $5.8B for the domestic U.S. and $17.3B globally.
FreightWaves is a platform business with multi-faceted business lines, each with B+ TAMs Business Line Category Revenue Type Domestic U.S. Global SONAR SaaS Recurring $3.7B $8.6B Media Transactional Reoccurring $0.4B $1.7B Carbon Intelligence SaaS and Transactional Recurring and Reoccurring $1.8B $7B Total $5.8B $17.3B
A matrix pairs shippers, 3PLs, carriers, forwarders, financial institutions, and government agencies with questions about benchmarking, analysis, monitoring, forecasting, and carbon. The examples show how one data platform can address different operational decisions.
Our data and analysis help clients answer many critical questions. Representative questions: Vertical Benchmark Analyze Monitoring Forecasting Carbon Intelligence Shippers How does my budget stack up to industry competitors? What are the domestic and global factors that impact capacity? What markets are being impacted by a geopolitical event? What will be the going contract rate on a lane over the next year? How can I mitigate my Scope 3 carbon emissions? 3PLs How competitive are my rates compared to my competitors? What drove my margin expansion this past quarter? What are the market fundamentals driving lower spot ates? How can I maintain gross margins through the freight cycle? What’s the carbon footprint on a specific load? Carriers I have a new RFP, what are the average rates for this new segment? How do I maximize my trucking utilization? What’s the short and medium-term outlook for diesel fuel prices? Should I adjust my contracted freight agreements? What is the cost of implementing an EV on a lane? International freight forwarders Which ports are being used by which shippers? How much weekly TEU capacity is available on a given lane? Are container lines blanking sailings or rolling shipments? How will freight rates rise or fall over the next year? What's the carbon footprint between different modes? Financial Institutions How is this industry performing versus peers? What are the leading indicators for imports, industrial production, and retail sales? How much inventory is being moved through a specific company’s supply chain? Which companies are likely to face supply chain disruptions? How carbon efficient is an industry’s supply-chain? Government agencies What carrier types have the least percent of accidents? Is transportation capacity available to relieve a natural disaster? What are the issues that are impacting capacity to respond to a disaster? Can current infrastructure support the free movement of freight? Where are commercial vehicles contributing the most to air pollution?
The donut chart divides a stated $9.6T global logistics market by mode or function. Trucking is the largest segment at 42.9% ($4,132B), followed by inventory carrying at 22% ($2,116B).
GLOBAL LOGISTICS COSTS (BY MODE OR FUNCTION) SOURCE: 2018 ARMSTRONG & ASSOCIATES, INC. GLOBAL 3PL MARKET ANALYSIS WATER & MISC. (7.4%) $714B LOGISTICS ADMIN. (8%) $772B TRUCKING (42.9%) FORWARDING (2.3%) $223B $4,132B INVENTORY CARRYING (22%) $2,116B WAREHOUSING (11%) $1,056B RAIL (3%) $297B AIR. (3.1%) $301B $9.6T TOTAL GLOBAL LOGISTICS SIZE:
