APO Group Upgrades Analytics Platform for the Monitoring of Press Releases in Africa, providing Clients with Richer Data and Impactful Insights

APO Group’s media monitoring reports are the most comprehensive available in the press release industry, and include unique features such as print monitoring, Google impressions and impressions on 320 African news websites

APO Group, the leading Pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service, is delighted to announce the latest iteration of its state-of-the-art analytics platform for the monitoring of press releases in Africa.

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APO Group’s technological innovations have always centred around providing clients with the best press release monitoring reports. The new upgrade to its analytics platform continues this trend, providing customers with richer insights and greater business intelligence.

Press releases distributed by APO Group can contain multiple content formats, with clients able to add unlimited image, video and audio assets to their text content free of charge. Press releases are distributed via email to a vast network of more than 450,000 journalists in Africa or reporting on Africa.

In 2021, more than 32,5 million emails containing APO Group client press releases were successfully delivered to journalists in Africa or reporting on Africa, while the total number of press releases distributed by APO Group for its clients has increased by 42% in 2021 compared to 2020.

Press releases are also automatically published on: 320 African news websites; international platforms like Bloomberg Terminal, Thomson Reuters Eikon, Lexis Nexis, and Factiva; hundreds of RSS readers; News Industry Text Format (NITF) readers; Google News; and social media channels.

With such diverse content being distributed to a huge network, APO Group has constantly innovated in the field of monitoring and analytics, consolidating insights so customers have a 360-degree view of their content performance online, in print, on Google and on social media.

More media organizations are publishing press releases distributed by APO Group than ever before.

In 2020, a total of 12,497 online media houses published at least one press release distributed by APO Group. In 2021, that number increased by 31% to 16,264. In total, 951,180 unique webpages carried APO Group client press releases in 2020. In 2021, that number increased by 43% to 1,362,281.

In 2021, a total of 489 print publications (newspapers and magazines) published a least one press release distributed by APO Group, resulting in 3,187 print clippings.

The press releases distributed by APO Group may have been picked up by other media but for technical or timely reasons, these are not included in the aforementioned figures.

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Overview of new analytics features

As with all APO Group value-add services, the new analytics features announced today are available to customers completely free of charge to complement their press release distribution.

Starting today, APO Group provides impressions analytics for individual press releases across multiple channels. Customers can now see the impressions accumulated by their press releases on Google Search, on Google Image Search, on hundreds of RSS and NITF readers (News Industry Text Format), as well as on 320 African news websites and APO Group’s proprietary news service www.Africa-Newsroom.com.

Customers can also see more comprehensive audience engagement metrics for their press releases. Including:

• Human engagement (reading) of the press release based on the mouse movements (scroll)
• Impressions of images on the Africa-Newsroom platform
• Downloads of the multimedia assets associated to their press release
• Links clicked

The upgraded analytics platform is fast, robust and designed to be scalable in order to deliver extended value to all APO Group customers.

A history of innovation

This is the latest in a long line of media monitoring innovations developed by APO Group to support its press release distribution service in Africa since its launch in 2007.

In 2014, APO Group launched its complimentary social media analysis reporting  service enabling clients to measure the social media response to their press releases throughout Africa.

Then, in 2018, APO Group became the first news distribution provider anywhere in the world to offer complimentary in-house print monitoring . Print monitoring is a complete game changer in press release distribution, providing companies with details of earned media coverage gathered from offline print publications.

Much of the online data captured by APO Group is powered by its state-of-the-art press release distribution platform www.Africa-Newsroom.com, the most comprehensive repository of Pan-African news content in the world.

Africa Newsroom hosts text, image, video and soundbite content from 300+ multinational companies, African governments and international sporting institutions, and is also home to virtual Press Offices for some of the most prominent organizations working in Africa, including FIFA , DHL , and the World Health Organization (WHO) among many others.

“These new additions to our analytics platform add extra depth and granularity to our data, which in turn provides APO Group’s clients with greater insights into their press release performance,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard , Founder and Chairman of APO Group. “As ever, we are delighted to offer these features free of charge. Monitoring is a vital part of the press release distribution cycle, so it is only right that we include the very best insights available, which in turn deliver valuable ROI to our clients, and help highlight the power of our distribution network throughout Africa.”

All APO Group media monitoring reports contain:

• APO Group’s PR Value, designed to help PR and communications professionals measure the ROI (return on investment) of their press release campaigns
• Total online pickup, classified per language
• List, description and circulation of all the websites that picked up the press release
• Number and names of the press agencies who picked up the press release
• Number and names of the newspapers and magazines who picked up the press release
• Number and names of the TV or YouTube channels who picked up the press release
• Link to APO Group feed on Google News
• List, description and circulation of the three most influential media organizations that picked up the press release
• Number of impressions generated by the press release and its associated multimedia content (logo, picture, and video) on 320 African-news websites
• Number of impressions generated by the press release and its associated multimedia content (logo, picture, and video) on RSS servers / readers
• Number of impressions generated by the press release and its associated multimedia content (logo, picture, and video) on www.Africa-Newsroom.com, APO Group’s web platform dedicated to journalists
• Number of views on www.Africa-Newsroom.com, APO Group’s web platform dedicated to journalists
• Number of impressions generated by the press release on Google Web Search
• Number of impressions generated by the press release on Google Image Search
• Number of views and downloads of the multimedia content associated to the press release on www.Africa-Newsroom.com, APO Group’s web platform dedicated to journalists
• Link to the image associated to the press release on Getty Images
• Screenshots of the press release on Bloomberg Terminals, Dow Jones Factiva, LexisNexis, Tagaday, SyndiGate, Newsedge, NewsBank, Europresse; and APO Group feed screenshots on Thomson Reuters terminals, ProQuest et Euromoney EMIS
• Number of mentions of the press release on Twitter, and total reach on Twitter
• Number of posts generated by the press release on Facebook
• Number of posts generated by the press release on Linkedin
• Number of clicks received by the press release on APO Group’s social media accounts (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook)
• Total number of clicks received by the press release through all APO Group distribution channel

Some press releases distributed by APO Group in 2021 recorded extraordinary results. One individual press release received 1785 online pick-ups, while another received 58 print clippings. High numbers were also recorded by individual press releases when it came to: Link clicks (2245); TV or YouTube channel pick-ups (34); Twitter mentions (20,600); Total Twitter Reach (292,172,902,837); Facebook posts (171); and LinkedIn posts (76).

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