TMW #200 | Data gravity

Welcome to The Martech Weekly, where every week I review some of the most interesting ideas, research, and latest news. I look to where the industry is going and what you should be paying attention to.

👋 Get TMW every Sunday

TMW is the fastest and easiest way to stay ahead of the Martech industry. Sign up to get TMW newsletters, along with a once-a-month complimentary Sunday Deep Dive. Learn more here.

Data gravity

Data gravity is dragging Martech platforms into the data warehouse; what will this do to the dynamic between the data warehouse and third-party native apps?

Many tech industry observers attribute a generous chunk of the iPhone’s success to Apple’s decision to allow third-party developers to build apps on iOS and distribute them via the App Store. It was a win-win: Apple gave app developers access and distribution to a massive audience of potential customers, and the app developers added utility to the iPhone, making it more valuable, which in turn allowed Apple to charge a price premium.

However, in recent years the dynamic between apps and app stores – including the Google Play Store – has soured. There have been legal battles over each app store’s 30% commission fee, public spats with major developers like Epic Games and Spotify, concerns over self-preferencing, and investigations into anti-competitive behavior across the globe. 

Although Apple and Google’s app stores are primarily a concern for consumer app developers, what happens if we apply the learnings into the B2B world of Martech?

As composability and warehouse-native tech continue to grow in popularity, cloud data warehouse providers like Snowflake, Databricks, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are increasingly becoming the iPhone and App Store of customer data management for enterprise marketing teams as the platform upon which Native Apps by third-party developers are deployed. Snowflake alluded to this in its recent report covering The Modern Marketing Data Stack 2025:

“Our research also suggests that the ecosystem is moving to the data, and not the other way around. Nearly one third of providers highlighted (30%) have a Snowflake Native App available for marketers to use today, with multiple others in the advanced building stage.”

Snowflake describes this phenomenon as “data gravity,” which posits that the need for brands to eliminate data silos, unify data, reduce data management costs, and simplify data management, is dragging apps towards the data rather than the traditional integration approach, where companies push data – replicating it in the process – to the apps that need it.

So, how will this dynamic between the data management app marketplaces and apps develop? Are the data warehouses destined to become public enemy number #1 for the Martech vendors building native apps on their platforms in the future?

NB: For the avoidance of doubt, this essay is about how power dynamics between data warehouses and native apps could develop, not an accusation that any of these dynamics are in play now.

🔓 Continue  Continue reading Sunday deep dives with a free TMW PRO subscription

Get the full versions of upcoming Sunday Deep Dive and all of our newsletters every week with TMW PRO. It's the easiest and fastest way to make sure you're fully informed on how the marketing technology industry is evolving. 

For a limited time, you can earn 12 months of TMW PRO Advantage for free. Qualified brand side practitioners who complete a short survey and 1-hour interview with our knowledge partner Alium will receive 12 months of TMW PRO Advantage (a US$499 value) for free. CLICK HERE to get started. 

Here’s what some of our existing TMW PRO members have to say; 

“TWM is a finger on the pulse of what's happening, with the clarity of insight to see the important patterns underneath the noise” – Scott Brinker (VP, Hubspot).

“I recommend TMW to all leaders who are customer-focused and transforming companies via digital technologies” – Kazuki Ohta (CEO, Treasure Data).

“I've subscribed to many Marketing newsletters, but TMW is at the top of my list with the most valuable content for marketing professionals" – Lilly Lou (Marketing Director, Icertis).

TMW PRO is an invaluable resource that’ll help you to truly transform and future-proof your career in Martech. 

CLICK HERE to get 12 months of TMW PRO Advantage for free

CLICK HERE to purchase TMW PRO

Stay Curious,

Keanu Taylor

Make sense of marketing technology.

Sign up now to get TMW delivered to your inbox every Sunday evening plus an invite to the slack community.

Want to share something interesting or be featured in The Martech Weekly? Drop me a line at juan@themartechweekly.com.