Brandwatch adds more content intelligence by buying BuzzSumo

Brandwatch CEO Giles Palmer (left) and outgoing BuzzSumo CEO Steve Rayson

Social media monitoring firm Brandwatch is boosting its content marketing and influencer intelligence with today’s announcement that it has acquired content/influencer tracking platform BuzzSumo.

Terms of the deal were not made public. Brandwatch tracks what people are saying about your brand in social media. BuzzSumo specializes in content marketing intelligence, which includes finding trending topics, the most influential influencers and the most popular questions in online forums. Both companies are headquartered in Brighton, UK.

Brandwatch CEO Giles Palmer told me via email that each brand will keep its own user interface, and they will operate as distinct business units.

BuzzSumo, he wrote, “has been incredibly successful and is loved by customers, so our goal is simple: offer them scale and support without getting in the way!”

Palmer added that the newly enlarged Brandwatch’s position as a leader in marketing intelligence is now strengthened, with Brandwatch’s Analytics offering social intelligence about millions of online conversations and BuzzSumo providing content intelligence.

When I asked if there will be any new capabilities from the combined companies that didn’t exist from either before, he responded: “Watch this space!”

Brandwatch made its first acquisition at the end of 2014 when it bought social influence startup PeerIndex, whose technology and data became its Audiences product.

BuzzSumo has almost 3,400 customers, including Expedia and Disney, while Unilever, American Airlines and Walmart are some of Brandwatch’s 1,300 customers.

BuzzSumo’s management, staff and headquarters will remain as they are, and its CEO, Steve Rayson, will become a member of the Brandwatch executive team.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.