Burrelles has closed
The media monitoring provider Burrelles closed on 30 June. Founded in 1888, Burrelles had been the leading media monitoring provider in the US for many years. The US market has transitioned away from traditional, scanned print media monitoring to digital content over the past two decades and the closure of Burrelles marks the end of that process. Existing clients are being migrated to Agility PR Solutions, however a scanned print clipping service will no longer be offered. The Burrelles closure is a significant moment. Burrelles was one of the longest-operating PR services companies in the world (alongside Cision, which traces its history back to 1867). The Burrelles leaves the US market without a large scale print clipping provider.
DRT Communications picks up funding
Heading a little south from the US, DRT Communications has received an Innovation Grant Fund awarded by the Development Bank of Jamaica. The grant will be used to continue the development of DRT Communications’ media monitoring services in the Caribbean. Its new monitoring technology should launch later this year. DRT provides monitoring alongside marketing communications services, and counts Red Stripe and ScotiaBank among its clients.
Meta launches API for Threads
Meta has finally launched an API for Threads, allowing the development of third-party tools to support the platform. The API had been in a closed beta with Sprinklr, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite, amongst others, testing out the tool. This comes at a time when social network APIs have been changing, with X and Reddit both adding restrictions and price hikes. Launched last year, Threads now has over 150 million users.
Access Intelligence rebrands
Access Intelligence is now Pulsar Group, taking the name of one of its platforms. The company also released its latest financials, which highlight the changes and challenges at Isentia and an updated focus on its SaaS platform. The Pulsar audience intelligence platform has seen a number of developments over the past few months, including contacts database and news media monitoring.
Media Intelligence Product Updates
Here are some of the product announcements that caught our attention this month:
Brandwatch has launched a case management feature. The new feature will allow brands to provide customer care services on social media. The new tool also includes an AI-led assistance using Brandwatch’s writing assistant Iris to suggest relevant responses to customer enquiries.
iCrowdNewswire has partnered with Notified to bundle GlobeNewswire’s press release distribution with Google advertising, to deliver guaranteed and verified headline views worldwide. iCrowdNewswire will offer digital advertising-driven headline views on over one thousand websites across 26 countries, available in curated industry lists.
Meltwater held its Meltwater Summit in New York, and announced a raft of new features. They included the Microsoft CoPilot integration that we covered last month. There was also AI query and summary features being added to the Meltwater Suite.
Geoffrey Sidari has launched Airadis, an analytics consulting firm. The company’s solutions are designed to advance the use of data and AI in communication strategies and planning efforts. Sidari was previously EVP, Data and Insights at WE Communications.