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Media monitoring is a vital part of any digital publisher’s path to success. It is necessary to hear stories as they happen, track the competition and remain alert to any oncoming crises — and the best media monitoring software and news monitoring tools automate all of this.
While the practice of media monitoring has existed for more than a century, the introduction of internet news and online social networks has seen the practice undergo radical new shifts in innovation. This is where media monitoring tools enter, leveraging AI technology to gain insight into trends and public opinion across billions of discussions on a daily basis.
These tools are also becoming ever more popular, with the expected global market share to more than triple from $3.96 billion in 2022 to $11.54 billion by 2029. As digital media sees its popularity increase over traditional media, media monitoring software options have also climbed.
But with so many choices out there, how do publishers ensure they choose the best one for their company? To help alleviate decision paralysis, we’ve drawn together a list of the 18 best media monitoring tools.
Media monitoring allows publishers to identify upcoming trends, compare their content to their competitors and alert them to any emerging crises. In the information age, being the first to act can secure more viewers as well as help head off potential reputational harm.
News monitoring is crucial for staying updated with relevant topics and brand mentions, protecting a brand’s reputation, and understanding public sentiment.
Media monitoring has a rich history. Emerging in the industrial era as print became more accessible to the general public, artists would monitor the press for mentions. Since then, media monitoring has continued to be a valuable resource for organizations looking to review their image and see how they stack up against their competitors.
Gone are the days of copying, cutting and pasting print articles, with software having now taken over. The process has become automated and streamlined to suit a far more competitive and timely industry.
The continuing media evolution has made software tools essential for news and brand publishers alike. For example, the standardization of the 24-hour news cycle meant that news outlets looking to update around the clock needed information around the clock.
Likewise, the radical shift in the general public’s power to damage brand reputation has necessitated greater media monitoring. Social media spaces have created opportunities for the public to directly communicate with organizations — but that doesn’t mean all interactions are positive. The 2012 #McDStories are a prime example of this.
Media monitoring tools play an important role in mitigating the effects of public relations (PR) disasters. They allow publishers and marketers to rapidly react to crisis situations by keeping them informed in an ever-changing environment.
While each media monitoring tool overlaps with one another in terms of capabilities, there are some broad differences in terms of functionality. A media monitoring solution can help track efforts, make mid-campaign adjustments, and measure against business objectives. The software tends to lean towards one of three categories:
One of the consequences of the invention of social media, online forums and the 24-hour news cycle, is that news now spreads incredibly quickly. Company crises now spread like wildfire.
PR media monitoring can provide a heads up to oncoming disasters, with the tools generally focusing on online social spaces. They come equipped with the ability to measure sentiment, that is the negative or positive emotions attached to messages. Media monitoring providers offer integrated communications platforms and advanced features to support PR efforts.
News-gathering tools are generally focused on detecting emerging news trends or events as quickly as possible. They generally monitor for keywords, or a general area, and alert a publisher or content creator to any potential trends. A news monitoring tool can track and analyze news mentions across various channels to detect specific information.
Some even go a step further, such as Help A Reporter Out platform, which connects journalists to useful sources for their articles.
The more general media monitoring tools are usually the cheapest or sometimes just outright free. They generally have limited capabilities, have less automation and tend not to fill any niches.
Take, for example, Google Trends and Google Alerts. These tools are simple to use, free and proficient at what they do. However, they don’t provide sentiment analysis.
Evaluating media monitoring tools is crucial for publishers seeking to effectively track and analyze the impact of their content. Here’s a summary of key criteria to consider:
Ensure the solution monitors a comprehensive range of media types, including traditional outlets (TV, radio, print), online news, blogs, podcasts, and social media platforms. Verify its ability to track media from regions or countries pertinent to your target audience. Confirm support for multiple languages, especially if catering to an international or multicultural readership.
Evaluate how effectively the solution filters out irrelevant content, delivering only pertinent mentions. Assess the accuracy of sentiment analysis in determining positive, negative, or neutral tones in coverage. Check if users can set specific criteria, such as keywords, topics, or competitors, to refine monitoring.
Determine if the solution offers real-time alerts for breaking news or mentions. Look for customizable alert preferences, such as email, SMS, or dashboard notifications. Consider how quickly the solution processes and delivers new content.
Seek customizable dashboards that provide actionable insights, such as share of voice and engagement metrics. Ensure access to historical data for trend analysis and performance tracking. Verify the ability to create custom reports focusing on specific metrics. Check for various data export formats like PDF, CSV, or Excel for further analysis.
Assess how well the solution tracks social media engagement metrics, including shares, comments, and likes. Determine if it provides data on the reach and potential audience size of mentions. Check if the solution can monitor mentions by key influencers or media personalities relevant to your brand.
Ensure the solution allows tracking of competitors’ mentions and media coverage. Look for features that enable comparison of your coverage to competitors to assess share of voice or media presence.
Evaluate the platform’s intuitiveness and ease of navigation for all user levels. Check how easily users can customize dashboards, alert settings, and reports. Ensure the solution provides training, tutorials, and responsive customer support.
Verify if the monitoring solution integrates with your content management system for seamless data sharing. Assess compatibility with other tools, such as analytics platforms, CRM systems, or PR tools.
Understand the pricing structure, whether subscription-based, pay-per-use, or tiered. Consider if the solution offers sufficient features and functionality for the price, with scalability for future needs.
Confirm adherence to best practices for data protection, especially when handling sensitive content. Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations, such as GDPR or CCPA.
Research the general reputation of the media monitoring solution within the publishing industry. Review existing customer feedback on reliability, customer support, and effectiveness. Look for case studies or testimonials showcasing how the solution has benefited similar publishers.
Determine the level of support offered, such as 24/7 availability, live chat, or phone support. Assess the ease of getting started with the solution and the availability of onboarding assistance. Check for detailed user manuals, FAQs, and other support resources.
By thoroughly evaluating these factors, publishers can select a media monitoring tool that best fits their needs and objectives.
Here is how we rated each platform for different parameters out of 5:
| Platform | Coverage and Reach | Accuracy and Relevance | Real-Time Monitoring | Data Analysis and Reporting | Engagement Metrics | Competitive Intelligence | User Experience and Interface | Integration with Other Tools | Cost-Effectiveness | Security and Data Privacy | Customer Reviews and Reputation | Customer Support and Service | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandwatch | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.4 |
| Brand24 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4 | 4 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.3 |
| Meltwater | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.3 |
| Agility PR Solutions | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| CISION | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| Dataminr | 4.6 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 4 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
| KeyTrends | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| Muck Rack | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4 | 4 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| Google Trends | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 5 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 35 | 4.1 |
| Isentia | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4 | 4 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4 | 4.1 |
| Determ | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 4.4 | 4 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4 | 4.1 |
| Prowly | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
| News Exposure | 4 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4 | 4 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 4 | 4.1 |
Let’s learn more about each of these Media Monitoring Tools in detail to ensure you make an informed choice.
Brandwatch is another PR tool dedicated to maintaining brand image and prying out customer insights. The software is used by organizations such as GSK, Toyota and Unilever.
Brandwatch includes a search feature that publishers can use to plug in and search through millions of online discussions. Relevant search topics appear alongside the keyword when searched, further breaking down how the keyword is being used.
Iris, the Brandwatch AI, then automatically segments the brand discussions across several categories, allowing publishers to instantly visualize the different ways their product or content is being discussed.
The Iris AI is also capable of measuring trends and the usage of keywords over time. One more interesting feature is the AI’s image analysis which can detect logos and objects within an image.
Brandwatch doesn’t offer set prices, preferring those interested in its services to book a meeting to discuss their needs. The software could also benefit from updating its software to include platforms such as TikTok.
Our rating: 4.4 stars ★★★★☆
Features
Pros
Cons
Brand24 is a media monitoring software focused on mining customer insights from online social discussions and maintaining a healthy brand presence. The software is used by organizations such as Samsung, Intel and Stanford University.
Brand24 employs an AI algorithm that crawls through social media platforms to find mentions of a keyword. That same AI then measures the sentiment of the mention to determine whether it is positive, negative or neutral.
The platform then generates a word cloud of the mentions so that publishers can quickly and easily determine how their brands are being talked about. The software can also track mentions through hashtags.
Brand 24 has four price points, with the difference being the number of keywords and mentions monitored. Some key features, such as PDF reports, are only available for the Pro version for $199 per month.
Our rating: 4.3 stars ★★★★☆
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Meltwater has been providing online media monitoring services since 2001. It can be applied in a variety of different sectors including news and social media, and their partnerships reflect this variety, with News Corp, Qantas and Afterpay all using the software.
Meltwater measures publishers against their competitors and then compares customer sentiment. Publishers can use this tool to determine where conversations about their brands are taking place, which can help determine which spaces to invest in. Meltwater offers comprehensive media analysis to help PR and Communications professionals prove the ROI of their earned media efforts.
Meltwater can also determine emerging trends using a keyword search, with the results providing metrics such as the total number of searches, daily searches, related search terms and user sentiment.
Meltwater doesn’t have set pricing, offering bespoke price packages based on publishers’ needs. There’s also no free trial, but it does provide an active demonstration.
Our rating: 4.3 stars ★★★★☆
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Pros
Cons
Agility PR Solutions is a flexible media monitoring tool that can be employed to monitor a variety of different media types. Some prominent organizations that use this software include the University of Glasgow, Pandora and McDonald’s.
A major draw to using Agility PR Solutions is the number of different types of media that the software can monitor. The software can track keywords across online media, print, blogs, press releases, broadcasts and internet forums. The keywords can also be compared side by side to judge the coverage over a period of time.
The software is proficient at generating a snapshot of a keyword and sharing performance across teams and shareholders. It can craft dynamic reports by inserting real-time data into chart templates. Agility PR Solutions can also alert publishers to any oncoming crises by sending notifications if there are any unexpected trends in a keyword’s performance.
While the company offers four annual planes — Media Database & Outreach, Media Monitoring, Enterprise Services and Social Listening — the company does provide set pricing. Interested parties need to contact the company itself.
Our rating: 4.2 stars ★★★★☆
Features
Pros
Cons
CISION is a diverse media monitoring software that’s useful to the publishing industry thanks to the wide range of media it monitors. Some organizations that use CISION include LinkedIn, 3M and PBS.
CISION uses an intuitive search feature to find keywords across sources and to find connected journalists to pitch to. The software also builds interactive reports to detect trends and also stacks publishers’ performance against their competitors.
Unlike others on this list, CISION can track keywords across paywalled content as well as digital print media. The software can also find mentions in broadcast media. It also employs a speech-to-text AI to find mentions in podcasts and other forms of audio-based media.
However, the software does have its limitations, particularly in its media and journalist database. CISION does not cover every media outlet and not every journalist is available to find. The softwares analytics could also be more in-depth.
Our rating: 4.2 stars ★★★★☆
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Pros
Cons
Dataminr is a real-time media monitoring tool that is well-suited for the public and news sectors thanks to the event-finding capabilities of its machine-learning AI. Publishers such as Aljazeera, Deutsche Welle and the Daily Mail use the software.
To ensure that Dataminr stays ahead of the competition, the software analyzes more than 500,000 public sources and reports back to publishers information about their chosen keyword or location. The sources can include text, images, sound and videos.
An interesting feature that journalists and publishers can take advantage of is Dataminr’s geo-visualiser. As events unfold, publishers can use the geo-visualiser to see events happening nearby for a bird’s-eye approach to breaking events. Events continuously update as situations change and evolve.
The software comes with a suite of visual collaborative tools to ensure that entire news teams can adapt and work on breaking stories in a cohesive and efficient manner. However, high-event locations — such as disaster zones — can generate a lot of noise and make information harder to dissect. UI changes that filter results or minimize the sizes of events could be useful to make data more accessible.
Dataminr doesn’t display its prices or plans, preferring publishers contact it directly to arrange a demo.
Our rating: 4.2 stars ★★★★☆
Features
Pros
Cons
KeyTrends is a media monitoring tool with features that can assist publishers with creating content by automatically generating content briefs and alerting them to trending stories. The software is used by the likes of Cinfa, UCI and Erudit.
One of the platform’s key features is its ability to automatically generate content with an AI assistant based on GPT3.5 (ChatGPT).
KeyTrends’ “Trends Discovery” feature, meanwhile, searches keywords by growth rather than general keyword tracking. This allows publishers to uncover emerging trends in topics and reduces the amount of filtering required to find valuable items. Unfortunately, KeyTrends doesn’t provide a snapshot of how the keyword is being used within media items, instead providing general metrics for usage.
There are three different price tiers for KeyTrends:
There is also a custom option for publishers who want to tailor the features they have access to.
Our rating: 4.2 stars ★★★★☆
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Pros
Cons
Muck Rack is another PR tool packaged with a media monitoring tool, which is useful for maintaining brand image and for monitoring the press landscape. The software is used by organizations such as A&E, Comcast and Pfizer.
Publishers using Muck Rack to monitor media can assign a keyword to receive alerts whenever that topic is mentioned. The software then generates a coverage report with analytics about that chosen keyword. Muck Rack provides curated media monitoring reports to help businesses separate the noise from important news and communicate with key stakeholders.
Muck Rack also includes a media database to build connections with other members of the media. Their database allows for publishers to pitch stories to journalists and track their progress on projects. In that sense, it has some unique functions for project management.
Our rating: 4.2 stars ★★★★☆
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Google Trends represents a powerful option for publishers that requires no upfront costs. Google Trends is entirely free and is relatively simple for publishers to use. While it may be lacking some depth compared with other software options — missing in-built automation capabilities — it remains a capable tool.
Google Trends allows users to search for any individual key term and analyze its interest over time. When searching for a keyword, Google Trends also displays keywords related to the original search term and displays the keyword’s growth in interest.
Google Trends has its limitations compared to paid software. For example, publishers cannot use the software to compare their amount of visibility with their competition and the lack of automation means they have to put more effort into monitoring key terms.
However, the simplicity of this free software makes it a good option for small to medium-size publications.
Our rating: 4.1 stars ★★★★☆
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Rather than focus on key terms, media monitoring company Isentia instead provides a birds-eye view of media coverage. This software is particularly good for the news and social media sector, with the New Zealand government, Sunway and Tenaga Nasional adopting the software.
Isentia distills all recent media coverage into a centralized feed. Publishers are fed a snapshot of emerging topics, and quickly gauge public and media reactions. The coverage can be sorted into topics and can be broken down into locations.
As a step further, Isentia also provides additional media monitoring solutions with its edited daily brief that media monitoring experts tailor to summarize the coverage of a publisher’s topic of choice.
Isentia doesn’t have a set standard price, with publishers paying based on the number of features they want.
Our rating: 4.1 stars ★★★★☆
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Determ is an AI-powered media monitoring tool that enables publishers to track brand mentions, trending topics, and audience sentiment across digital platforms. Renowned organizations like Forbes, The Guardian, and Reuters utilize Determ for real-time insights from over 100 million online sources, including news sites, blogs, and social media.
By scanning these sources every few minutes, Determ promptly alerts publishers to breaking news and emerging content opportunities. The platform also offers competitive analysis, allowing users to benchmark their visibility against industry rivals. To explore its comprehensive features, Determ provides a free trial for publishers.
Our rating: 4.1 stars ★★★★☆
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Prowly is a social media monitoring software focused on PR and customer relationships, but can be useful for publishers of branded content. Organizations such as Universal Music Group, ASUS and LG use the platform.
Prowly’s media monitoring AI is able to find keywords on social media and media coverage and detect sentiment within the writing. Publishers can tailor their notifications to highlight negative public sentiment in order to coordinate an effective response.
Other functions available on the platform include the ability to design and create press releases and the ability to set up a dedicated newsroom. Prowly also connects users to its media database and to its many journalists.
Prowly includes two different price points: its essential bundle for $418 per month which includes the ability to send, schedule and analyze 3,000 emails for two users, and its professional bundle for $568 per month with 15,000 emails and five users. If publishers opt to pay on an annual basis, then they can save up to 30%.
The company also offers a seven-day free trial.
Our rating: 4.1 stars ★★★★☆
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News Exposure is a comprehensive media monitoring service that assists businesses in tracking their media presence across various platforms, including print, internet, social media, TV, and radio. Established in 2010, the company has developed an extensive HD digital archive dating back to 1984, offering clients access to historical media content.
Our rating: 4.1 stars ★★★★☆
Features
Pros
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There are many factors to weigh up when deciding which monitoring tool is the best fit for your organization. Here are a few to consider:
For some sectors of publishing, some functions of media monitoring tools are absolute musts. For example, a publisher working within the broadcast sector must ensure that their media monitoring tool monitors formats standard in the industry — audio and visual.
Some social media monitoring tools also specialize only in those platforms but don’t monitor paywalled content, digital newspapers or other forms of media. For some publishers monitoring online social spaces, this may be okay, but others may need to monitor both traditional media and social platforms.
The more money a publisher is able to invest into a media monitoring tool increases the amount of monitoring they are able to accomplish. However, publishers should consider whether this is necessary before deciding.
If a publication is on the smaller side, focusing on a single niche, then perhaps a single keyword alert will be enough for them. For enterprises, options for unlimited keywords will prove necessary.
Media monitoring tools have features that cater to select needs. For monitoring tools related to public relations, features that alert quickly and generate efficiently automated reports are useful for quick action against crises. For media monitoring tools that focus on news, any features that contribute to sourcing stories, such as gathering snapshots of media and identifying related keywords, are a boon.
The best way publishers can determine whether or not a media monitoring software will benefit their organization is to try it out for themselves. Luckily, many of the listed options have some sort of free trial or demonstration attached to them.
However, publishers shouldn’t stop at just one, as it’s important to compare the features of several before deciding.
Media monitoring tools are an essential part of a publisher’s editorial strategy. They play two key roles: generating inspiration and information sources for content and mitigating risk to brand image.
However, their use isn’t limited to digital publishing, or even marketing more broadly. Organizations working within the public sector regularly find some use for media monitoring tools, whether it be gathering insight into the general public opinion over legislation or quickly and accurately identifying damage in case of a disaster or crisis.
Publishers can use these tools to strategize and plan for their content. Content strategy is a broad segment, however, and there are other tools that could be more useful on this front.
For tools that can help publishers organize their content, check out our article on the 13 Best Editorial Calendar Software.
Media monitoring and analysis is the process of tracking and analyzing trends in print, social, broadcast and other types of media. Media monitoring in digital software automates many of these processes and can alert its users to breakout stories, news trends and other emerging topics in media.
Media monitoring software with a keyword tracking feature can be used to track media mentions. This keyword could be a topic, brand or locale. Different software may have different steps to input a keyword, while others such as Google Alerts have its keyword input on the main page. The software then notifies the user of any mention.
Monitoring media coverage can either be done manually by sifting through various different news sites to build a report or doing it automatically using media monitoring software. Media monitoring software aggregates data from inputted keywords and generates a holistic report of the media coverage.
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