February looks to be an interesting month for media intelligence, largely because Meltwater announced what could be an industry-defining partnership with Microsoft. (We will all be keeping watch on that one.) Signal AI and Carma both announced acquisitions of UK companies. We have new products from CoverageBook and Newswire.
Meltwater partners with Microsoft
Meltwater has announced what could be an industry-defining collaboration with Microsoft. Meltwater will provide Microsoft with its media intelligence services. But, the interesting element of the partnership is the planned integration of Meltwater’s tools into Microsoft’s technology stack. Meltwater will leverage Microsoft’s advanced AI services to support customers. The new solution will allow enterprise users of Copilot for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams who are Meltwater customers to engage conversationally with Meltwater’s global data set, providing easy access to real-time insights such as brand mentions, sentiment analysis, key issues, and competitive benchmarking.
Signal AI acquires Social 360
Signal AI, the UK-headquartered risk and reputation intelligence business, has acquired Social 360 for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition expands Signal’s risk intelligence offering and will consolidate the two companies’ data sources. The deal will also bring new services to Signal AI, including Social 360’s corporate influencer monitoring tool and pharmaceutical monitoring.
Carma picks up mmi Analytics
Carma has acquired mmi Analytics (mmi), a media communication and eTail measurement platform for beauty, fashion, and lifestyle brands. The financial terms were not disclosed. mmi, headquartered in London, will operate as a brand within the broader Carma group. Mazen Nahawi, CEO of Carma said: “I am delighted to welcome mmi to the CARMA family. The beauty and luxury goods sector is an exciting category. It is robust, innovative, and fast-moving and is growing double-digit across our strategic markets in the Middle East and Asia. Acquiring mmi means that we can now further optimise beauty clients’ digital communications strategies on a global basis.”
Onclusive faces a malicious cyber attack 
In what is an important lesson for all media intelligence organisations, Onclusive encountered a vicious cyber security incident earlier in February that affected the provider’s media monitoring production systems in Europe. Rob Stone, Onclusive’s CEO, stated “data security is our priority. In compliance with our protocols, we regularly monitor, evaluate, and test all systems. We are keeping our clients informed as we work to reinstate our monitoring service in the face of this malicious and targeted attack.” Onclusive‘s services have been restored across mainland Europe.
Media Intelligence Product Updates
Here are some of the product announcements that caught our attention this month:
The team behind Coveragebook has launched CoverageImpact, a free tool that turns a tracker spreadsheet into a trend chart that you can layer data on top of. Rather helpfully, Coveragebook have also released research of 350 PR pros in the UK. The survey showed that just 1 in 3 PR professionals track the commercial impact of their work, while 66% are focused on driving high volumes of coverage.
Newswire has launched Media Suite. The new platform integrates media contacts and distribution, with AI assistance, together with media monitoring and newsrooms.
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