Annual spending on Media Intelligence solutions for public relations professionals is now over USD 4.8 billion, with 7.5% year-on-year growth, according to a new report published today by Burton-Taylor International Consulting (part of the TP ICAP group).

The analysis shows that customer demand for social media management tools and insights into the impact of communications activities kept the overall market in growth mode, though spending on other PR tools fell away under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Many small to medium-sized Media Intelligence providers flourished in the market environment, while several of the bigger ones again had muted or negative performance.

“There is a really noticeable trend, across regions and areas of activity, for buyers to turn towards smaller and more nimble providers,” said report author Chris Porter, Director at Porter Walford Consulting and a consultant to Burton-Taylor.

“Many long-established companies such as Cision, Meltwater, Kantar and Isentia have been going through various forms of transition,” Porter added. “Meanwhile we’ve seen significant growth from highly focused newer-generation providers such as Muck Rack, PublicRelay, Roxhill Media, UNICEPTA, Access Intelligence and others.