Media intelligence: not just for data nerds?
By Karen Crawford
The recent acquisition of UK-based communications giant Gorkana by rival Cision saw media intelligence make global headlines. The acquisition, rumoured to be worth some AUD$370 million, was too large to for most of the mainstream papers to ignore. However, many struggled to pin down exactly what Gorkana does. The company was variously labelled a ‘jobs website’, a ‘media information provider’, and a ‘data insight specialist’.
The confusion is understandable. Outside of the industry, media intelligence tends to be seen as a niche business, populated by data wizards sitting in dark cubicles crunching databases. It’s certainly a sector that attracts more than its fair share of nerds. Media analysts love to talk at length about obscure areas of current affairs, the merits of qualitative versus quantitative analysis and whether robots can accurately assess the tone of an article (hint: they can’t).
Its reputation for nerdiness has perhaps made things difficult for the media intelligence industry. Where PR is often criticised for not being academic enough, media intelligence has arguably become over-intellectualised. Faced with a bewildering set of rules, principles and guidelines for measuring the impact of communications, it’s no wonder that many PR professionals prefer to rely on gut instinct rather than actual media intelligence. Some choose to ignore the rules altogether, using long-discredited metrics such as advertising value equivalents (AVEs) to measure the success of their communications efforts.
Fortunately, things are changing. With budgets tightening at most major organisations over the past few years, PR and communications professionals are increasingly being required to justify their existence and provide proof of their success. This has led more professionals to turn to media intelligence for credible evidence of the business impacts of communications activities. Although in-house measurement is still common, outsourcing has been a cost-effective way to access reliable media intelligence. As demand has increased, competition has grown. As a result, PR measurement, once seen as an expensive and convoluted practice, has become more transparent, more affordable and more user-friendly.
The increased uptake of media intelligence services has had two major impacts. First of all, business has picked up massively. As investors have caught on to the value of the media intelligence sector, there has been a wave of consolidation. Cision’s blockbuster Gorkana acquisition followed Kantar Media’s purchase of UK-based Precise Media in June for a reported AUD$130 million. These big industry movements are not just happening in Europe and the US. After acquiring a string of smaller businesses, Australian media monitoring provider iSentia made a splash in June this year with an IPO valued at around $500 million.
When media intelligence became big business, it stopped being the sole domain of nerds and number crunchers. The second and perhaps most significant impact of the growth in media intelligence services is that they’ve become more professional and, more importantly, much more accessible. The creation of the Barcelona Principles for PR measurement in 2010 was a major step not only in ensuring more transparent and accurate communications measurement, but also in helping individuals take measurement into their own hands. The principles act as a set of guidelines about how to use robust research and measurement techniques. Crucially, they also outline what not to do, including the golden role of not using AVEs to measure unpaid media.
Many providers would love you to believe that only qualified experts can deliver accurate and insightful media intelligence. However, there’s nothing to stop communications professionals from undertaking some everyday analysis. Set some objectives, measure them continuously, and focus on the qualitative, and you’ll be on your way to setting up a basic analysis framework. If that proves too complex or time-consuming, there’s a lot of value to be found in seeking external intelligence, as demonstrated by the recent growth of the industry. Delving into data may seem daunting, but the alternative is not to measure results at all. And if you’re not interested in measuring the impact of your communications activities, what’s the point of doing them in the first place?
See what your organisation is missing.
Get a sample media analysis report emailed directly to your inbox.