ISentia

Overview

Formerly known as Sentia Media and before that Media Monitors. The company rebranded to Sentia Media in 2012 and then moved all its companies under one name, Isentia in March 2013. The company became public on 5 June 2014, listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. Before listing, it was owned by Australian private equity group Quadrant Private Equity since July 2010. Acquisitions since 2010 include: Singapore-based social media and online intelligence evaluation company Brandtology; Australian social media specialists BuzzNumbers; South East Asia's largest media intelligence company, MediaBanc; and Beijing company, ChinaClipping. Isentia also owns DIY media tracking service, Slice Media.

History

Neville Jeffress, the owner of a firm that managed the sale and publication of classified advertising, began acquiring clipping services in 1982, including NSW Country Press, Lynch Pidler Pty and the Australian Press Cutting Agency. This service operated as Neville Jeffress/Pidler Pty Ltd. from 1982 to 1993 when it purchased and amalgamated Media Monitors Australia, and began operating as Media Monitors. By the time Neville Jeffress/Pidler Pty Ltd changed its name to Media Monitors Australia Pty Ltd in 1993, the company had established itself as one of Australia's largest media monitoring companies. Media Monitors stepped out of Australasia by opening an office in Singapore in 2006. In 2011 Media Monitors Group was purchased by Australian private equity company Quadrant. On 9 February 2012, the company unified its brands under one corporate name, Sentia Media, and in 2013 the company moved under one name across the Asia-Pacific region, Isentia.

Australian Securities Exchange listing

In May 2014, Isentia lodged a prospectus in preparation for a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. Isentia listed on the ASX in June of the same year.

Acquisitions

Media Monitors acquired New Zealand's leading monitoring company Media Search in 2004. In January 2006 it acquired CARMA International (Asia Pacific) Pty Limited, the exclusive Asia-Pacific franchise of global media analysis firm, CARMA International, Inc. A new office was opened in Singapore shortly after the acquisition. In June 2006, Media Monitors announced the acquisition of Rehame. Shortly thereafter, Media Monitors acquired the remaining 50% of shares in Sponsorship Information Services (SiS). In February 2007, Media Monitors acquired a significant stake in MediaPeople NZ, an Auckland-based specialist in media targeting.

In 2008, the company acquired SinoFile Information Consulting in Beijing, and Asia Media Monitoring in Malaysia to expand its business in Greater China and South-East Asia. The company also opened its Hong Kong office in the same year.

In June 2012 Sentia Media purchased social media intelligence company BuzzNumbers.

In August 2013 Isentia bought social media agency Two Social, extending the reach of the company in the social media sphere.

In August 2015, Isentia announced its acquisition of content marketing agency King Content.

In June 2016, Isentia acquired Social Net Creator Ltd, expanding its market into South Korea. The company has also completed a ‘bolt‐on’ acquisition in Thailand and is close to finalising two further acquisitions in Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Services

The Media monitoring service tracks and monitor news published from newspapers, magazines, journals, television, radio, internet and social networking sites

Qualitative and Quantitative media analysis: content analysis, media evaluation with the use of CARMA methodology

Mediaportal is an online interface with instant access to user's tracked media coverage and snapshot analytics for media evaluation

Awards

In June 2015 Isentia won Communications Research and Evaluation Company of the Year at the international Association for Media Evaluation and Communication (AMEC) awards.