Sprout Social picks up NewsWhip
Sprout Social has acquired Irish media analytics firm NewsWhip for $USD 55 million in cash, with potential performance-based earnouts of up to $USD 10 million over two years. Founded in 2011, NewsWhip specialises in predictive media analytics, using social engagement data and AI to identify emerging stories and trends, processing millions of stories and over half a billion engagement signals daily. The Dublin-based company serves major clients including Politico, Associated Press, Disney, Ford, and the World Health Organization. NewsWhip’s 70-strong team will integrate with Sprout Social, with co-founder and CEO Paul Quigley taking on the role of general manager for Sprout’s listening business.
AI search analytics tools
August saw a flurry of new product announcements around AI search analytics. Like it or not, GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) is one of the most buzzed about topics in PR this year. New tools are being developed to help comms teams understand brand perception in LLMs. Meltwater kicked things off with the launch of GenAI Lens, which gives visibility into how brands and topics are discussed across all major AI Assistants and LLMs including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Muck Rack followed quickly with Generative Pulse. Meanwhile, both Brandwatch and Talkwalker announced partnerships with Trajaan, the search analytics provider, to deliver AI search data to their customers. I expect to see more tools rolling out this year.
Notified partners with Profound
AI search analytics are certainly covered, but how about media relations output? Notified has formed an exclusive partnership with Profound to help PR and IR teams monitor how their GlobeNewswire press releases are referenced by AI chatbots, and LLMs. The integration will incorporate Profound’s AI-visibility technology into GlobeNewswire Analytics, enabling organisations to track press release citations in AI search results and identify content gaps. The new capability will be integrated into Notified’s PR Platform as a free value-add for clients in late Q3 2025.
Perplexity’s personalised media monitoring
Speaking of AI search, Perplexity is launching a new revenue-sharing programme called Comet Plus that will compensate publishers each time its AI agents use their content to answer questions. The subscription service is designed to account for agent traffic – when AI assistants browse websites on users’ behalf delivering summarised content. It is effectively a personalised media monitoring service, replacing the Google Alerts of time gone by. The move comes as Perplexity faces scrutiny over content usage practices, as it seeks more collaborative relationships with publishers. This is a trend that will continue to grow as AI search and AI agents upset traditional news search and consumption habits.
Media Intelligence Product Updates
Here are some of the product announcements that caught our attention this month:
Medianet has launched ‘Real Impact Score,’ a new tracking metric designed to provide a reliable alternative to traditional Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) and Advertising Space Rate (ASR) measurements. Developed in partnership with Identrics and aligned with AMEC Barcelona Principles 4.0, the tool measures media impact through three core elements: Dynamic Reach, Engagement, and Authority & Leverage.
Meltwater has announced a new partnership with Dow Jones that provides Meltwater clients with access to Factiva. The deal includes premium, subscriber-only content from The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, The Globe and Mail, and other publications. The deal is not exclusive.
Sprout Social has launched a suite of new features including TikTok Listening capabilities, Bluesky publishing and reporting tools, and enhanced creator collaboration functions, alongside integrations with Canva, Adobe Express, and Salesforce. The platform is positioning itself to capture the shift from social media as a conversation space to a primary sales and intelligence channel.
Signal AI has launched Ask AIQ, an AI-powered business intelligence chatbot that provides users with instant answers to complex business questions by analysing over 2 billion pieces of licensed media content from 226 markets in 75 languages.
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