Signal FAQs

Signal is a structured dataset that scores every US industry on the same set of measures, using the same method, refreshed either monthly, quarterly or annually depending on the category. Each score is a 1 to 9 rank calculated from industry data and published with its definition and method.

Use Signal to compare industries side by side, see what sits behind a single industry rating and spot exposure or opportunity across a portfolio or pipeline.

Signal includes three types of metrics. Structural Characteristics describe how an industry is built. Macroeconomic Sensitivities describe the conditions it faces right now. Credit Conditions show how loans to the industry are performing.

These 13 metrics hold regardless of what the economy is doing. They show how strongly an industry would react if conditions changed, not whether anything will change. They are not forecasts.

These two metrics move as economic conditions move. They describe the conditions an industry faces, not how it will perform.

These three metrics show how loans to the industry are performing, based on US Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) lending data. They record outcomes that have already happened. They are not forecasts.

Four measures include the actual figures that the scores are calculated from. Each one ships alongside its score, so you can see the real value behind the 1 to 9 rank.

Each score ranks an industry from 1 to 9, and each metric's definition names its exact comparison group. A 9 places the industry in the highest group on that measure. A 1 places it in the lowest.

A score is a rank, not a probability. A 9 doesn't mean a 90% chance of a bad outcome. It means the industry has more of that characteristic than most other US industries.

A higher score isn't automatically good or bad. High Capital Intensity can mean a fixed cost base to a credit analyst and a high barrier to entry to a strategy team. Whether a score matters depends on the question you're asking.

Every score also carries a trend, which shows whether it has been rising or falling over recent months. Use the trend to see whether a characteristic is building or fading in an industry.

In the first phase of release, Signal is available through the IBISWorld API to Colab partners. Each metric has its own endpoint, which returns a time series of scores and the change from the previous period.

Your Colab team works with you to scope and build Signal into your dashboards, AI models, CRM or custom datasets.

The same score answers different questions for different teams. Take an industry with a Supplier Concentration score of 8, meaning its inputs come from relatively few supplier industries.

Signal is available to Colab clients. Colab is IBISWorld's team that works with you to design and build custom data solutions. They deliver Signal through the API and help you build it into your tools and systems, from credit models and portfolio dashboards to CRMs and AI tools.

No. Signal works alongside Industry Risk Ratings, and no existing rating changes because Signal has launched. Risk Ratings are a single composite score built mainly for credit use. Signal breaks industry exposure into individual metrics, so you can see why two industries with the same rating can face very different conditions, and where a low score points to opportunity rather than just lower risk.

The industry ranks in the upper-middle of US industries on that measure. It doesn't mean "bad." A higher score means more of the characteristic, and whether that matters depends on how you use it.

Combining metrics that point in different directions hides the detail you need. Each metric is delivered separately so you can read it on its own or combine it in your own model. The one blended score is Charge-Off Hazard, which combines Charge-Off Level and Charge-Off Trend.

Signal is directional and indicative. It isn't a validated credit-decisioning model, and using it that way would require separate validation. Credit Conditions scores record how loans have performed. They don't predict future defaults.

Yes. Each metric comes as a structured monthly score with a published definition and method, which suits models, dashboards and AI tools. Your Colab team scopes and builds the integration with you.

Partly. In the first phase, four underlying measures ship with their scores: Business Exit Rate, Depreciation to Wages Ratio, Lifetime Charge-Off Probability (360m) and Age-Standardized Charge-Off Rate. Every metric also comes with its trend, definition and method.

It depends on the category. Each category has its own refresh schedule, and the period its data covers can differ from how often it’s refreshed. For example, Operating Conditions scores are built on annual data but refreshed monthly.

The data period is the span of time each value describes. Refreshed is how often IBISWorld updates it.

Some scores move slowly. Supply Chain scores are built from the 2007, 2012 and 2017 benchmark input-output tables, so expect little change between updates.

Not yet. Signal covers US industries at the national level. State-level and non-US coverage aren't included in the first phase of release.

Signal currently covers 688 US industries.

Yes. The metrics, coverage and access described here are for the first phase of Signal's release. Future phases will add more metrics, broader coverage and more ways to access Signal.

An AI tool can describe one industry. It can't produce the same measure, calculated the same way, across every US industry over time.

Want to learn more about Signal? Get in touch.