- Adlytics Pulse is a South African-built advertising intelligence platform developed by Media Host in collaboration with agencies, media owners and industry stakeholders.
- The platform provides independently monitored, close-to-real-time advertising spend data across TV, radio, print, digital, online, social media and out-of-home media.
- Adlytics Pulse covers around 300 out-of-home media owners and offers comprehensive social media and digital advertising spend tracking for competitor analysis.
- Users can create custom dashboards and reports to analyse advertising spend by industry, advertiser, media type, campaign, geography and historical trends.
- The platform launched on 1 September 2026 following an industry beta phase and is available as a subscription service for advertisers, agencies, publishers and media owners.
Advertising spend tracking is ripe for an overhaul in South Africa, and Media Host’s Adlytics Pulse is there to fill the gap.
Media owners, strategists, agencies and publishers need a single tool that can compare their own and competitors’ advertising spend, historical trends and cross-media data together on one dashboard and in real time – a tool that is shaped by the South African context and ongoing feedback from agencies, brands, media owners and industry stakeholders.
If this sounds too good to be true – it isn’t.
Advertising spend intelligence that actually is intelligent
Dr Jaco Pienaar, chief communications officer at Media Host, which developed and owns the Adlytics Pulse platform, says advertising intelligence starts with understanding how the industry uses the data its platforms generate, something Media Host, with more than 20 years of experience, knows deeply.
Users need to be able to see ad spend figures by industry, category, medium, spend size or whatever other metric they choose, preferably on customisable and user-friendly dashboards.
Next, the nature of the industry now demands that data can be cross-analysed from every source: TV, radio, print, digital, online and out of home – immediately. It is no longer useful to receive data six to eight weeks after an ad has flighted. Lastly, the data needs to be accurate and reliable.
Enter Adlytics Pulse. Because the platform relies on independent monitoring of media types rather than solely sourcing data from media owners, it is able to provide data much closer to real time.
Adlytics Pulse is a subscription-based tool built between June and August this year through a co-development process involving industry bodies, agencies and media owners.
“It’s a new product and it was developed with the industry, not for the industry,” says Pienaar. “It’s completely new, with no legacy data limitations. And it’s fast.”
Comprehensive data
Data that is not sourced from all media owners is pointless, and was a weak point in the platform South Africans previously used.
Adlytics Pulse is firstly an objective and independent data set, monitoring broadcast and print media from community to national level independently. Where relevant, it compares data against media owner logs for additional insights as part of Media Host’s continued drive to benefit not only advertisers but the media industry as a whole.
“Adlytics Pulse gets its data from media owners but also from independent monitors,” explains Pienaar. “For instance, Adlytics Pulse’s datasets represent around 300 out-of-home media owners – that’s near-universal coverage.”
Pienaar is particularly proud of the tool’s social media and online capabilities, saying that the digital and social media representation is more comprehensive than previously available market solutions.
“Our data in these areas is comprehensive,” he says. “Pulse tracks social media spend and generates metrics for competitor analysis. This also goes to city level.”
Real-time data representation
Adlytics Pulse’s system architecture enables independent, data-driven monitoring of radio, TV, print and digital channels. A client can open the Adlytics Pulse platform to see user-friendly, fully customisable dashboards that intuitively track your ad spend – and that of your competitors.
It’s creative library and debut ad tracking feature even allow users to view actual clips of advertisements.
Adlytics Pulse lets strategists and media buyers visualise advertising spend trends in myriad ways. High-level dashboards allow users to slice and dice data by industry, advertiser or media type. You can filter out channel-specific promotions to focus purely on advertiser spend, or organise your data in the way that suits you, depending on the information you are looking for.
For instance, you can search for the first flights of specific ads to monitor competitors.
The tool tracks social media performance, comparing spend versus impression data for platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and X.
Benchmark competitor strategies
“This allows users to benchmark competitor strategies, such as observing how certain banks focus heavily on Instagram, while others use a wider range of social media platforms, and also where your engagement and bang for buck sit,” says Pienaar.
The Adlytics Pulse report builder can generate metrics such as year-on-year comparisons to evaluate investment shifts. For instance, says Pienaar, the analysis shows that more than R1.6-billion was spent on alcoholic beverage advertising last year, providing deep insights for strategists looking to analyse industry-wide spending.
Adlytics Pulse isn’t simply about advertising expenditure figures. The value is understanding competitive behaviour, historical movement, market share, category dynamics, creative activity and gaps in the market.
Pulse went live on 1 September after a successful industry beta phase. For more information go to https://mediahost.africa or contact jaco@mediahost.africa.com.
