The global response to Covid 19 continues to be the single biggest topic. It has impacted many industries, including media intelligence. But, it’s not the only story. The W20 Group has made an acquisition, Kantar has made a divestment, and Dataminr picked up a rather large contract.
On a side note, if you’re wondering how your business development and marketing functions might be performing in the current market relative to others, Hubspot has released aggregated data that from its 70,000 customers that’s well worth a look.
Response to Covid-19
The industry is continuing to respond to Covid-19, providing support, insight and data to customers. We covered some of the ways that the industry is supporting customers last month, and here are some more fantastic examples. Commetric is delving into how Covid-19 is affecting media coverage for organisations and the business topics driving discussion. Ornico is tracking Covid-19 in South Africa. Zavy is keeping a close focus on both New Zealand and Australia. On social, NetbaseQuid is showcasing its data visuals. Hootsuite is providing free access to small businesses affected by the lockdown. If you want to dive into disinformation surrounding Covid-19, Graphika’s reports are a great place to start.
W20 Group acquire Symplur
The W20 Group has acquired social media analytics company Symplur for an undisclosed sum. Symplur is exclusively focused on the healthcare sector, and will be rebranded W20 symplur. The W20 Group has been building out its healthcare sector expertise via a number of acquisitions, over recent years. If you’d like to see it in action, W20 is using the Symplur tool to support its Covid-19 dashboard, produced in partnership with the California Life Sciences Association.
Dataminr awarded $US259 million contract
The US Air Force has awarded Dataminr a five-year contract valued at an eye-watering $US258.7 million. Dataminr will provide a “commercially available license subscription that can leverage a variety of publicly available information sources, evaluate content to detect emerging events as they are developing and push alerts to users based on user-defined areas and topics of interest”. Put more simply, Dataminr will supply very smart alerts of news and social media data.
Kantar sells SRDS
Here’s a story for the measurement folks that remember eagerly leafing through the thin pages of inches-thick media directories searching for circulation and SCC data. Kantar has sold its 101-year-old media planning tool, SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service) for an undisclosed sum. AdWanted, the French buyer, plans to use the tool to support its launch in the US. Adwanted is also planning to update the SRDS platform, and improve its technical capabilities.
USC Annenberg’s new activism
It may not appear to be an especially relevant topic at the moment, but changing politics, technologies and demographics have created a “New Activism”. That’s according to the 2020 report from the USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations. The report surveys both PR professionals and activists to chart their differences and similarities, and how they might be working together in the future. It’s full of interesting insights – such as books being as effective as social media in communicating messages, according to activists. Take a small break from Covid-19, and give the report a read.
Chiefmartech: over 1,500 new entries 
Chiefmartech has released its 2020 marketing technology landscape report. This year sees 8000 companies included, of which an incredible 24.5% are new entries. Growth has been especially strong in conversational marketing, and data compliance & governance. This year also sees the launch of an online directory, which makes the viewing experience a little easier.
G2 Crowd: Best Software 2020
Speaking of martech, G2 Crowd, the peer review website, has released its 2020 Best Software Companies list. The marketing products category is led by Hubspot, with Hootsuite coming in at number 2. Among the other notable inclusions are: Sprout Social (6), Meltwater (19), Cision Communication Cloud (22), Falcon.io (31) and TVEyes (36).
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