Cision, a PR, marketing, and social media management company, has agreed to acquire digital consumer intelligence platform Brandwatch for $450m. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, will create a powerhouse across PR, marketing, and digital customer engagement.

The combination of Cision and Brandwatch will provide brands and organisations with consumer and media intelligence to help create more effective customer engagement strategies.

Cision boasts a database of around 1m journalists and media outlets and more than 75,000 customers, while Brandwatch uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help brands dig deep into consumer behaviour on social media.

“The continued digital shift and widespread adoption of social media is rapidly and fundamentally changing how brands and organizations engage with their customers,” said Abel Clark, CEO of Cision. “This is driving the imperative that PR, marketing, social and customer care teams fully incorporate the unique insights now available into consumer-led strategies. Together, Cision and Brandwatch will help our clients to more deeply understand, connect and engage with their customers at scale across every channel.”

Giles Palmer, Founder and CEO of Brandwatch, added, “Now is the time to take the next step – joining a company of significant scale to create a business and a suite of products that can have an important global impact. We are excited to join Abel and the Cision team to supercharge our work and bring even more value to our customers.”