AAP to sell media monitoring service to iSentia
iSentia – the company which used to be known as Media Monitors – has announced that it is to buy out AAP’s media monitoring business.
The deal – which would see iSentia increase its dominance in the media monitoring space – will be subject to regulatory approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
AAP, whose major shareholders are News Corp and Fairfax Media, is best known as a newswire service.
It will sell the 250-plus client list for its Australian and NZ monitoring service, which operated under the MediaNet banner, to iSentia.
According to the announcement: “The sale of the business will enable AAP to focus on and expand its core editorial business to meet the challenges of the changing media landscape in Australia.”
Mumbrella understands that the deal came after AAP approached iSentia to purchase the client list. AAP CEO Bruce Davidson said in the statement: “The decision to divest ourselves of our media monitoring business will enable AAP to develop our key editorial services and identify investment opportunities that will complement and support the core business.”
AAP will continue to operate its MediaNet press release distribution service.
iSentia CEO John Croll said: “The media intelligence industry is both specialised and complex, and to be successful it takes a focus on search technologies, services and products. The addition of these new clients in Australia and New Zealand will allow us to continue to invest in our services and remain the region’s leading service company in the media intelligence space.”
The deal price was not disclosed. Around 30 AAP staff across Sydney and Melbourne will be affected, with another 35 in NZ.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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That’s the monopoly sorted, then.
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