Investment managers will further expand their use of alternative data as it becomes increasingly important to delivering new ideas to generate alpha, new research from Exabel, a leading alternative data insights and analytics platform, shows.
Its study found almost all (98%) fund managers and investment analysts working for fund managers including hedge funds, asset managers and pension funds questioned believe use of alternative data will increase over the next two years including one in five (19%) who expect a dramatic increase in its use.
The research for Exabel’s report Alternative Data Buy-side Insights & Trends 2026 found a growing consensus on the importance of alternative data for investment firms seeking new ideas to generate increased alpha. Nearly three out of four (73%) agree strongly with that view while 27% slightly agree.
They highlight employment data and app & web data as most likely to provide an outsized informational edge in the near future as alternative data becomes standardized in investment research. More than half (57%) selected employment data and 46% app and web data as most likely to provide an edge while 44% highlighted social sentiment data and 40% energy and materials data.
The global study with fund managers and investment analysts in the US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore with total assets under management of around $2.4 trillion found 11% first started using alternative data more than five years ago while 72% started between one and five years ago. Around a fifth (17%) started in the past 12 months.
Around three-quarters (74%) use between two and four alternative datasets while 23% use between five and 10 with just 3% using more than 10 datasets, the study for Exabel, part of the BattleFin Group, found.
Tim Harrington, CEO of BattleFin & Exabel said: “Alternative data has moved firmly into the investment mainstream with usage expected to expand further over the next two years.
“Particularly strong growth is expected in logistics and shipping, app and web activity and social sentiment data with employment data, app and web data and social sentiment seen as the categories most likely to deliver informational advantages.”
The table below shows how fund managers and analysts expect use of different types of alternative data to increase over the next three years.
| Alternative data source | How many expect use to increase dramatically over next three years | How many expect use to increase slightly over next three years | How many expect use to not change over next three years | How many expect use to decrease over next three years |
| Logistics and shipping data | 47% | 36% | 15% | 2% |
| Social sentiment data | 46% | 47% | 7% | Zero |
| App and web data | 46% | 43% | 11% | Zero |
| Consumer spending data | 43% | 41% | 15% | 1% |
| Semiconductor industry data | 38% | 47% | 15% | Zero |
| Market and settlements data | 32% | 55% | 9% | 4% |
| Web-scraped data | 30% | 62% | 8% | Zero |
| Energy and materials data | 30% | 56% | 13% | 1% |
| Healthcare data | 28% | 64% | 8% | Zero |
| Employment data | 28% | 53% | 19% | Zero |
| Geolocation data | 27% | 53% | 18% | 2% |
| Satellite and weather data | 24% | 64% | 11% | 1% |
