It appears that market consolidation is back in fashion with acquisitions by both Cision and CARMA. In other news in February, ESG data is having a moment, Onclusive has signed another strategic agreement and a media bargaining code causes upset in Australia.
Cision acquires Brandwatch for $US450 million
Brandwatch has been acquired by Cision for $USD450 million, in a combined cash and shares deal. The deal will combine the two largest players in their respective fields. Cision will gain a significant boost to its content and technology offering for its 75,000 customers. It also expands its solution to include marketing data as well as communications. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021. Brandwatch’s key executive team will be staying on.
CARMA International picks up Manchete 
In other acquisition news, CARMA International announced that it had acquired Manchete, the Portuguese media monitoring and intelligence business. The deal will double the number of CARMA’s employees in Portugal. The company intends to establish a new office in Lisbon to serve as its monitoring and analysis hub for Portuguese-speaking countries.
SIX buys Orenda
SIX Group, which operates the infrastructure for the Swiss financial centre, has acquired a majority stake in Canada’s Orenda Software. Orenda’s AI powered platform analyses and quantifies social media data, with a focus on an organisation’s reputation, as well as its social values and commitment to global good. The deal follows an agreement signed in September of last year for SIX to redistribute Orenda’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data.
Proof Analytics partners with Mettle Capital Partners on ESG data
ESG data is very much a hot topic at the moment. Proof Analytics has partnered with Mettle Capital Partners to offer brand, reputation and sustainability data via its Proof DataOn data marketplace. London-based Mettle Capital uses AI to track and quantify company data as well as provide trend analysis. Historically, its brand and reputation information has been available only to investment banks and financial services firms. (In case the name sounds familiar, Mettle Capital Partners was co-founded by Dr Andrew Tucker, who previously founded Mettle Consulting, which was sold to Reptrak in 2018.)
Onclusive joins forces with Shareablee
In other partnership news, Onclusive is teaming up with Shareablee. The strategic partnership will offer marketing and communications teams solutions for earned, owned and social media insights. It will allow customers to leverage Onclusive’s earned media analytics, and Shareablee’s social and paid media data. Onclusive also recently announced a partnership with Reptrak.
Edelman launches disinformation protection
Another month, another offering from Edelman; or, so it seems. This month, the agency has launched its Disinformation Shield. As you might have guessed, the global service is designed to help organisations combat false narratives. It’s an addition to the firm’s CommsTech offering.
Media bargaining in Australia
In a story that was hard to miss this month, Facebook followed through on a threat it first raised last September, and blocked news content for its users in Australia. The action was as a result of the Australian Government passing its media bargaining code. The legislation will “ensure that news media businesses are fairly remunerated for the content they generate”, with tech giants like Facebook and Google footing the bill. It’s worth noting that Google announced a range of agreements with a number of publishers in order to adhere to the code before it passed through Australia’s parliament. Facebook, meanwhile, has now allowed news media content to be shared by its Aussie users. Time will tell if other governments follow Australia’s lead.
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