M Science, rejuvenated since its spinoff from ITG, released a new analytic overlay, initially showcasing its flagship video game data. The release was accompanied by expanded data and analytic coverage.
The new service, M Data Viz, allows customized views of the data, such as pivots, comparisons and zooming in/out on time horizons. The video game data is organized into four primary dashboards consisting of industry level, game downloads, digital live services and mobile data for 200+ game titles and multiple publishers.
The launch coincides with expanded video game content, providing daily data with only a four-day lag as well as expanded coverage. “The timeliness of our data (clients can observe bookings for new content the week of release), our ability to track paid engagement and pricing metrics, and the flexibility to view nearly any aspect of the digital economy, on-demand, are what make this the new gold-standard in video game data,” wrote CEO Michael Marrale in an email exchange with Integrity Research.
Over the course of the year M Science will be rolling out all of its existing data, along with new data products using the M Data Viz platform. Other data offered by the firm includes semiconductor component sell in, wireless retail point of sale, phone number porting, inventory management, vehicle registration, casinos, global travel, weather, website registrar, hosting and building, consumer transaction and receipt data, among others.
Marrale said M Science has over 40 data partners, and has been deepening its smart phone and telecom data, including exclusive POS data which represents 10% of device sales in North America and a unique source which looks at >90% of the China Android market. “Paired with a tear down partner, our data provides a unique view into supply chain companies compared with traditional channel checks,” wrote Marrale. “All in, we are tracking ~45% of the global smart phone market with minimal lag.”
The firm’s smart phone data is synergistic with its semiconductor data. “Our market-level view of smartphone unit sales and market share in the US and China includes SKU-level semiconductor sales volumes which highlights trends for application processors (SoC), DRAM, and NAND,” continued Marrale. “We combine the activation data and device-level handset component data with our exclusive US point of sale wireless data to cover the semi-component wireless names such as Qualcomm, MediaTek, etc.”
By our count, M Science has increased its analytic coverage to 158 stocks from 141 as of October 2017. Most of the increase has been in the TMT sector with additional internet/ecommerce and software coverage. The firm is targeting to be close to 200 firms covered by year end.
Full data coverage has increased to 241 firms and 290 brands from 214 firms and 255 brands in October 2017 with increases in lodging and non-US consumer. The firm has some level of data on 518 companies in total.
According to Marrale, the firm’s staff is now over 100. Employees registered on LinkedIn have increased nearly 6x over the last two years and 43% over the last year. The firm is recruiting aggressively, with 12 open positions listed on its website.
M Science is the rebranded offspring of alternative data pioneer Majestic Research, which was founded in 2002. Majestic Research introduced the concept of selling primary research based on large commercial databases which Majestic typically licensed from suppliers on an exclusive basis. Sectors covered include auto retail, casinos, consumer technology, cruise lines, eCommerce, and lodging. Majestic added analysts to provide clients with insights based on the information, without buy/sell/hold recommendations.
The firm was sold to ITG in 2010 and disposed by ITG in a fire sale to Leucadia National in 2016. The company is headed by CEO Michael Marrale, who joined ITG as head of its Research, Sales & Trading group in 2012 from RBC Capital Markets.
Our Take
M Science seems to be getting its mojo back, since its release from a then-troubled ITG. The firm’s new owner, Leucadia National Corp, which also owns Jefferies Group, appears to be a more supportive parent.
Just as its logo echoes the original Majestic Research logo, M Science is faithfully returning to its roots as it rebuilds its offerings and staff. Data is the centerpiece, as the new software showcases, but analytic coverage remains a key component of its offering. The firm is diversifying its customer base into the corporate sector, similar to competitors 7Park Data and Earnest Research, but its core focus remains asset managers.