33. Lessons from industries that already price intangible assets

Data professionals and CFOs often speak as though the challenge of pricing intangible assets is entirely new, but several industries have been wrestling with this problem for decades. Pharmaceutical companies routinely assign precise financial values to drug patents, factoring in projected revenue streams, remaining patent life, and the probability of regulatory success. Entertainment and media firms place valuations on film libraries, music catalogues, and broadcast rights, treating these as core assets on their balance sheets. These industries did not arrive at their approaches overnight. They built methodologies through trial, error, regulatory pressure, and the very real necessity of making investment decisions based on something more rigorous than instinct.

Brand valuation offers perhaps the most instructive parallel for those thinking about data. Companies like Interbrand and Brand Finance have spent decades developing credible, repeatable methods for putting a financial figure on the strength of a name, a logo, and the trust it commands. Their work has been accepted by investors, courts, and tax authorities. What made this possible was not just clever modelling but the development of consistent standards, transparent assumptions, and a willingness to stress-test valuations against real-world outcomes. The same principles apply directly to data. A data asset must be assessed for its uniqueness, its utility, its quality, and its ability to generate measurable economic benefit. None of this is conceptually different from what brand valuers have been doing for years.

The financial services industry provides another useful lesson. Banks and insurers have long valued complex, difficult-to-observe assets from mortgage-backed securities to actuarial liabilities because regulation and capital requirements demanded it. This created an infrastructure of models, auditors, and governance frameworks that gave stakeholders the confidence to act on those valuations. Data is heading in the same direction. As regulators, investors, and boards begin to scrutinise data assets more carefully, the organisations that have already built robust valuation practices will find themselves ahead of the curve. The lesson from finance, pharmaceuticals, and brand management is the same: standardised methodologies, independent verification, and consistent disclosure build the credibility that makes intangible valuations actionable. For data leaders, the path forward is not to reinvent the wheel but to learn from the industries that already paved it.