Custom media monitoring and reach reporting app
Appfront builds apps for communications departments, PR agencies and organisations that want to know what is being published about them: mentions from news sites, trade publications, social media, podcasts, radio and TV in one place, with reach, tone and topic for each mention, linked to campaigns and spokespeople, and a report for the board or client that is generated from the data. So the monthly report is no longer a day of cutting and pasting, and a mention that needs a response is seen within hours rather than three days later.
What is a media monitoring and reach reporting app?
A communications team needs to know what is being said about the organisation, where, by whom, with what reach and in what tone. Mentions come from many sources: news sites, trade publications, local media, social media, podcasts, radio and TV. A media monitoring app brings them together, removes duplicates, sorts them, and turns them into a report that the board or client can understand.
Without such an app, mentions arrive through email alerts, a clippings service that sends a PDF, and a colleague who happened to see something on social media. At the end of the month they are pasted into a presentation, with reach calculated differently for each source. A critical article in a trade publication is only noticed when someone asks about it. And nobody is quite sure whether last quarter's campaign generated more coverage than the one before.
We build custom solutions because monitoring has to fit your sources and your reporting: which media data providers you use or want to use, which topics and spokespeople you track, how you want to measure reach and tone, and what the board or your clients want to see in a report. A standard monitoring service delivers mentions; your categorisation, your campaigns and your report are not part of it.
All mentions in one place
News, trade media, social media and broadcast from your sources and providers brought together, de-duplicated and searchable, with the source and time recorded for each mention.
Reach and tone per mention
For each mention, reach calculated by a consistent method, along with tone, topic and spokesperson, so that periods and campaigns can be compared fairly.
Reports drawn from the data
A report per campaign, period or client with the figures and the key mentions, built from the database rather than assembled in a presentation.
How we build your media monitoring and reach reporting app
We start with your current reporting: where mentions come from, how reach is calculated, and how much time the monthly report takes.
Your sources and media data providers, the topics, campaigns and spokespeople you follow, and what the report needs to contain.
Ingesting mentions, removing duplicates, and sorting by topic, tone and spokesperson, with suggestions that a team member confirms.
The method for reach by media type, the link to campaigns and press releases, and alerts for mentions that need a response.
Reports per campaign, period or client, a searchable archive, and then maintenance and expansion with new sources.
What a media monitoring and reach reporting app actually does
The components below come up at almost every communications team or agency. Which ones you need depends on your sources and on who you report to.
Sources and import
Mentions from news providers, saved searches, social media and transcripts of radio and TV, with source, time and link or text.
De-duplicating and categorising
The same story appearing on ten sites counted as one mention, and sorting by topic, tone and spokesperson that a team member confirms or adjusts.
Reach per mention
Reach is calculated using a fixed method for each type of medium, such as circulation, visitors or followers, recorded at the time of the mention so that it does not shift later.
Campaigns and press releases
Mentions linked to the press release or campaign they stem from, so the return per action is visible.
Alerts
An alert for mentions with a negative tone, from an important outlet or on a sensitive topic, sent to the spokesperson responsible for it.
Reporting and archive
Reports by period, campaign or client, and an archive in which every mention can be found by topic, outlet or spokesperson.
Who we build a media monitoring and reach reporting app for
The app is intended for organisations that measure and report on publicity and currently do so using scattered sources.
Communications teams
Many mentions and a board that wants to know every month how the organisation appears in the news. Signalling and the monthly report are at the core.
PR and communications agencies
Monitoring for multiple clients, each with their own topics and reports. Separation per client and reporting matter most.
Government bodies and institutions
Mentions about policy, officials and incidents. Signals for spokespeople and the archive are what is needed.
Brands and trade associations
Share of voice compared with competitors or sector peers. Reach per topic and the comparison are at the core.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
This page is about tracking earned media. For paid media there is our page on an app for campaign planning and media budgets, for publishers and editorial teams our page on a press app, and for turning radio and TV into text our page on a Whisper transcription integration. You can read about how we work at custom software development.
Why choose Appfront for your media monitoring and reach reporting app?
What is published about you happens regardless. We build on that: everything in one place, comparable reach, and a report that comes straight from the data.
A single source of truth
Mentions from all sources, deduplicated and classified. Nobody has to combine three mailboxes and a PDF any more.
Comparable reach
Reach is calculated the same way for each type of medium. A campaign from this quarter can be fairly compared with last year's.
Responding in time
A critical mention reaches the spokesperson the moment it appears, not in the monthly report.
Security and privacy for a media monitoring and reach reporting app
The app holds mentions, internal classifications and reports, sometimes confidential to clients or the board. Access is set up by role and by client: an agency sees only its own clients' data, a spokesperson the signals on their topic. Every change to a classification is logged.
The app runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Full articles are only stored and shared within the licences you hold; where those are absent, the app works with a summary and a link.
Frequently asked questions about a media monitoring and reach reporting app
Questions that communications departments and agencies ask before getting started.
It collects mentions from news, trade media, social media and broadcasting, removes duplicates, sorts them by topic, tone and spokesperson, calculates reach using a fixed method, links them to campaigns, flags what needs a response, and produces reports by period, campaign or client.
From media data providers, from keyword searches on news sites, from social media interfaces, and from transcripts of radio, TV and podcasts. We will look at which sources you need and which providers suit them in the first step.
Articles are protected by copyright, and sharing full texts within an organisation often requires a licence from the publisher or a collective rights management organisation. The app can work with a summary and a link, and only display full texts where you hold a licence.
For each type of medium, according to a method you define, for example circulation for print, visitors for online, and followers or views for social media. Reach is recorded at the time of the mention, so a report from last year doesn't change if the source updates its figures.
The app can suggest a tone and topic, and a team member confirms or adjusts it. This keeps sorting quick, while a person remains responsible for the mentions that matter.
Yes. Topics, sources, signals and reports are set up separately for each client, and each client can have their own environment in which they only see their own mentions.
Ask that question first. Monitoring services deliver mentions and often their own dashboard, which is sufficient if their categorisation and reporting suit you. Custom development makes sense if you combine several sources, want your own categorisation and reach method, or produce reports in your own format for management or clients.
A media report generated from the data?
Tell us which sources you use now, what you track and who you report to. We'll show you what the collection, categorisation and report look like.