Ornico has bought social media monitoring and analytics company Fuseware, the media monitoring and analysis outfit announced this week. The deal comes as Ornico plots expansion in Africa and plans a mission to standardise media measurement across the continent. Glenda Nevill reports.
Ornico chief executive officer, Oresti Patricios, says the company will utilise South Africa’s methodology, developed over 30 years, to standardise reports. The acquisition means Ornico can now offer a full suite of content monitoring and analytics tools across all platforms. “Fuseware’s technology will help power Ornico’s growth in Africa and will help pave the way for Ornico to offer comprehensive cross-channel media monitoring while spearheading the establishment of measurement standards across the continent,” Patricios says.
Fuseware founder, Mike Wronski, said the technology that underpins Fuseware “gives this service a significant edge in that the digital analytics tool can report across entire markets and industries. It can also correlate insights across datasets and create custom solutions with ease”. Some of Fuseware’s clients include Media24, Standard Bank, Vodacom, the embassy of the United States of America in South Africa, Hollard Insurance, Mxit, MultiChoice, and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
The amalgamation of Ornico and Fuseware will give the former the impetus to deliver on its goal to “enable clients to compare regions by standardising the methodology across the African continent. Our second aim is to establish a truly African brand, one that understands our continent and its needs”.
Patricios said Ornico’s biggest strength was the “taxonomy of our data, the immediacy and the accuracy”. He said the Pan African Media Research Organisation (Pamro) was trying to establish a standard methodology. “This year Pamro is launching the PAMRO SES (Socio Economic Segments). This will help not only Ornico but other companies to address the lack of data and media insights in Africa,” he told The Media Online.
Ornico is a member of Pamro and Patricios is on the executive committee and Pamro’s Working Group. Ornico is also a member of FIBEP, the international media monitoring association. It is also the first African measurement organisation to have been awarded full membership of the International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC).
“Measurement is becoming much more complex. As the only African company to become a full member of AMEC we are excited about being at the forefront of establishing methodologies for measurement that are not only world-class but that we can ensure that Africa’s voice is heard in the establishment of these global measurement methodologies. We will be running measurement education workshops in Africa during September as part of AMEC’s global Measurement Month initiative,” he said.
Wronski will join Ornico as its business development manager. “He will be involved in growing the business but since he understands programming, measurement and digital, he will also help us conceptualise new tools to help our clients’ needs for big data and the analysis of this data,” Patricios said.
Ornico invested in a Nigerian operation seven years ago and currently has offices in three other Africa countries – Ghana, Kenya and Botswana. It also has associations with another 10 African nations. Gugu Mtshali runs the Africa team. “In these countries we cover TV, radio, print and outdoor advertising and editorial content. Ornico has installed their own software and methodologies in these offices,” Patricios explained.
“During client discussions in the region we found that social media and digital monitoring are the two areas where our clients have the greatest need,” he said.
The goal is to enable clients to compare regions by standardising the methodology across the African continent. The second aim is to establish a truly African brand, one that understands the continent and its needs.
Fuseware’s well-known and useful relationship with World Wide Worx will remain, said Patricios. The partnership delivers the annual Social Media Landscape Report, required reading for any media company involved in digital operations.
“This will remain and we are very excited to be able to work with Arthur Goldstuck and see how we can expand this. The existing Social Media Landscape Report will continue to be published and broadened in its scope,” he said.
“The acquisition of Fuseware completes the last kilometre of our business, and means that Ornico now offers editorial, brand, advertising, media and digital content tracking and analysis services across all platforms,” says Patricios.
“What’s crucial is that we can now offer private and public sector entities a 360 degree view of their brand using a methodology that is both integrated and consistent,” Patricios adds.
“Fuseware’s technology will help power Ornico’s growth in Africa and will help pave the way for Ornico to offer comprehensive cross-channel media monitoring while spearheading the establishment of measurement standards across the continent,” Patricios says.
“The acquisition has made Ornico a one-stop-shop for broadcast, print, digital and mobile monitoring and analysis,” says Patricios who adds that the new acquisition perfectly complements Ornico’s existing stable of editorial, reputation, brand, media and advertising monitoring and analysis products and services.
