In April, Hootsuite made headlines as founder Ryan Holmes returned as interim CEO. Meanwhile, PeakMetrics secured funding as narrative intelligence continues to attract serious investment, and Belgian monitoring company Auxipress picked up local player Euro Argus. And, Meltwater released a joint report with YouGov on how generative AI is reshaping consumer trust in brands.

Signal AI’s recent investment came in handy as it acquired Memo, bringing its readership data to Signal clients. Meanwhile, publishers are seeking new readers with several AI licensing deals, including a $USD 50 million per year AI licensing deal between Dow Jones and Meta. Product launches this month reflected the same AI-first momentum: from Onclusive launching a unified platform built on a single intelligence layer, to Muck Rack embedding AI visibility scores directly into media outreach workflows. It appears the industry is moving from experimenting with AI to embedding it at the operational core.

February saw the signing of a NATO contract by a Brandwatch and Blackbird.AI consortium, while Gartner’s Communications Predictions report defined how CCOs should be thinking about AI answer engines, measurement budgets, and disinformation risk through to 2029. On the financial side, Pulsar Group’s FY2025 trading update confirmed growth. Lilypath, a platform founded by senior alumni of Omnicom, Talkwalker, and the PR technology community to help executives understand and manage how AI systems interpret their professional authority.