APO Group (apo-opa.com), the leading media relations consultancy for Africa and the Middle East, today unveiled a new version of their media monitoring service for press releases. The new version goes far beyond what is available in the press release distribution industry today. Reports now offer deeper insights to Africa Wire® and MENA Wire® customers, helping them better understand the media impact of their press releases and offering even greater visibility on the R.O.I. of their campaigns. 

Africa Wire® and MENA Wire® are the leading wire services in the region. They enable instant widescale press release distribution in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic to all African and Middle Eastern media outlets - providing public and private organizations privileged access to over 350 000 journalists working across all print, broadcast and digital media.

Using a unique combination of cutting-edge technologies developed by APO Innovation Lab, and human endeavour to find print coverage and help ensure accuracy and relevance, APO Group provides all wire customers with a complimentary bespoke monitoring report which collates media clippings from news websites, print publications and social media, and delivers insights on media sentiment and journalistic engagement.

In February, APO Group introduced the first print monitoring solution for press release distribution in Africa, enabling customers to gauge their message penetration in print newspapers and trade magazines. With over 400 publications covered across the whole continent, this was a significant breakthrough for press release monitoring, as it provided clients with details of offline, earned media coverage that had previously been impossible to track in such a large number of diverse markets.

Now, the consulting firm has gone even further with a new “PR Value” feature, designed to provide a total dollar value of the coverage achieved; updated metrics on many of the websites screening press releases – including countries of origin, site descriptions and circulation figures; and YouTube and Soundcloud monitoring data to show the level of coverage on video and audio platforms.

“Our enhanced media monitoring service reflects our commitment to exploring new ways of delivering superior media intelligence to our customers,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard, Founder and CEO of APO Group. “For us, distributing press releases across a specific region is not merely about pushing corporate news to journalists. It is about supporting our clients in establishing market presence and enhancing target audience engagement. To help them achieve this, we strongly believe it is crucial to provide them with as much information as possible about the success of their campaigns.”

Innovation has always been at the heart of APO Group’s business model. Every year, the firm allocates 6,5% of their total budget to the Innovation Lab to identify the unmet needs of their fast-growing client base and design new solutions in response to communications challenges. With these latest upgrades, the company can now claim to offer a complete media monitoring solution, enabling their customers to gain a comprehensive overview of their press release coverage in Africa and the Middle East.

Year-on-year, an increasing number of organizations turn to APO Group to support them in establishing their reputations and accelerating speed-to-market within the region and beyond. Among them, more than 50 PR agencies - including Edelman, Fleishman Hillard and Ogilvy – rely on press release monitoring reports from APO Group to refine their strategies and help them gather more metrics and greater insights into the performance of their clients’ news.