Isentia to Monitor in Eight New Languages

Asia Pacific media intelligence business Isentia is expanding its coverage to monitor non-English language publications across Australia. The move comes a week after the company 'streamlined' by shuttering its North Asian operations, handing clients off to a partner firm.

The firm has also extended its broadcast monitoring service to include live news streaming services by partnering with Ticker TV and ausbiz, noting that these services are 'becoming critical news sources for organisations'.


The new Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (CALD) service includes publications in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Punjabi, and Filipino. Australian Census data suggests there are more than 300 languages spoken in the country, with more than 21 per cent of Australians speaking a language other than English at home.

Isentia says CALD is of particular interest to government agencies and businesses who are interested in accessing multi-lingual services within the community and monitoring media sentiment across demographics.

Russ Horell (pictured left), Chief Commercial Officer at Isentia comments: 'We are excited to be the first media intelligence company in Australia to offer this kind of service. It reflects our focus on customer-first innovation and our mission to cater to our customers' evolving needs, making sure they have all their bases covered in terms of media monitoring, particularly in light of current economic and political conditions'. COO Tom Gerstmyer (pictured right) adds, 'We are committed to continually expand our coverage. The addition of CALD media, along with ausbiz and Ticker TV represents our ongoing, strategic commitment to expanding our media coverage and data sets'.


According to media industry news publication www.mumbrella.com.au , the launch comes a week after Isentia announced it was closing its North Asian operations due to their 'poor alignment with the rest of the business and the substantial capital investment needed to meet the unique customer requirements and reach scale in these markets'. Clients in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are being transitioned to a partner business, big data BI firm Wisers Information Limited, with which Isentia will look to collaborate in other markets. MD and CEO Ed Harrison said the move 'streamlines the business' and that it was 'not taken lightly but reflects our relentless strategic focus on building regional scale with a single platform'. The firm says it will sell its stake in its Korean business to its local partner, but that it remains committed to its operations in South East Asia.

Web site: www.isentia.com .

Last month, Isentia's long-time CEOJohn Croll teamed up with ex-colleague Michael Bade to launch a new business, a media intelligence platform called Truescope.