Critical Mention
Critical Mention by Onclusive is a cloud-based media monitoring SaaS platform delivering real-time earned media intelligence across TV, radio, online news, social, podcasts, and licensed content for PR agencies, brands, and public sector organizations.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2002
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Critical Mention does
Critical Mention, founded in 2002 in New York and now operating as Critical Mention by Onclusive, is a cloud-based media monitoring SaaS platform that delivers real-time earned media intelligence across broadcast, online news, social, podcast, and licensed content channels. The platform monitors over 2,500 international TV and radio channels with results within 60 seconds, tracks millions of digital news sources in 90+ languages, and covers Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Complementary modules include a Media Contact Database with millions of journalist records refreshed within 24 hours via human vetting, the AP Planner forward planning service built on a 15+ year collaboration with The Associated Press, and a Developer API serving 2+ million broadcast and podcast segments daily to partners in finance, government, and PR services.
The technology stack is built entirely in-house, modernized under CTO Vishal Padhye's leadership to span over 160 globally distributed datacenters. Proprietary capabilities include NLP-driven sentiment analysis, real-time crisis alerts, customizable dashboards with publicity value and share-of-voice metrics, and a Podchaser-powered podcast analytics layer. The company targets a horizontal set of customer segments led by PR and communications agencies and brands/corporations, with secondary adoption across public sector, healthcare, education, technology, and financial services. Named customers include Weber Shandwick, RBC Capital Markets, Allied Universal, Wichita State University, Shriners Hospital for Children, and Dysart Unified School District.
Critical Mention monetizes through customized annual and multi-year subscription packages for the Earned Media Suite, with dedicated quote-based pricing for large PR agencies, scalable packages for growing firms, individual brand plans, nonprofit rates, and separate API access for partners. Distribution combines enterprise field sales, inside sales, self-serve platform login, and an API-first partner channel. In May 2022, Critical Mention was acquired by Onclusive, a global media intelligence company formed from the merger of Kantar's Reputation Intelligence business, PRgloo, and legacy Onclusive, itself owned by private equity investor Symphony Technology Group (STG).
Critical Mention firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Critical Mention
- Legal name
- Critical Mention
- Website
- https://criticalmention.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2002
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Critical Mention by Onclusive is a cloud-based media monitoring SaaS platform delivering real-time earned media intelligence across TV, radio, online news, social, podcasts, and licensed content for PR agencies, brands, and public sector organizations.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Critical Mention industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Media Monitoring Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Media Representatives (541840), Publishing Industries (513)
- SIC
- Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Media Relations, Monitoring & Rapid Response (MPAAAOAK)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Media Relations & Press Office Services (MPAAADAI)
Keywords
Where Critical Mention is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Critical Mention business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscription: Annual and multi-year subscription contracts for access to the Earned Media Suite including media monitoring, contact database, and analytics. Pricing is customized based on organizational needs and scale.
- API Access for Partners: API access fees for partners integrating TV, radio, and podcast content. HTTP API with JSON format, over 2 million segments available daily. Partners include investment/trading firms, PR services, and government departments.
- Enterprise Custom Packages: Tailored packages for large PR agencies with multiple clients, scalable packages for growing firms, individual brand plans, nonprofit rates, and special API access pricing.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Enterprise/PR Agency Packages |
| Subscription | Annual | Scalable/Growing Firm Packages |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Brand Plans |
| Subscription | Annual | Nonprofit Rates |
| Subscription | Annual | API Access |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Critical Mention product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Critical Mention is a cloud-based SaaS platform that delivers real-time earned media monitoring and analytics across broadcast TV/radio, online news, social media, podcasts, and licensed print content. The platform also provides a journalist/media contact database, forward news planning via Associated Press partnership, and a developer API exposing over two million daily media segments for partner integrations. Its core customers are PR agencies, corporate communications teams, brands, and government organizations tracking coverage and proving earned media value.
Product overview
Critical Mention by Onclusive is a unified Earned Media Suite platform combining multiple monitoring and analytics modules. The core platform includes Media Monitoring for real-time tracking across broadcast TV/radio, online news, social media, podcasts and licensed content. Supporting modules include the Media Contact Database for journalist outreach, AP Planner for forward news planning, and a Developer API for programmatic access. The platform is designed for PR, communications and marketing professionals to track, measure, share and grow earned media coverage across the entire media lifecycle.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Media Monitoring Real-time monitoring and analysis platform tracking brand mentions and earned media across TV, radio, online news, social media, podcasts and licensed content with results within 60 seconds. For PR, communications, and marketing professionals.
- Broadcast Monitoring Television and radio monitoring covering over 2,500 international TV and radio channels for real-time brand mention tracking and clip capture.
- Online News Tracking Real-time monitoring across millions of digital news sources, online newspapers, magazines, blogs and forums in 90+ languages including Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese and Russian.
- Social Media Monitoring Real-time tracking across Twitter (X), Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, plus Onclusive Social covering 850M+ sources across 190+ countries including TikTok, LinkedIn and Threads.
- Podcast Monitoring Monitoring for thousands of the world's top podcasts powered by Podchaser, providing audience insights, listenership data, popularity charts and Power Score metrics.
- Licensed Content Access to subscription paywalled content from prominent publications, industry trade journals, magazines and print-only content for tracking behind paywalls.
- Media Contact Database Database of millions of journalist, broadcaster, influencer, producer and blogger records with contact information updated within 24 hours by human vetting, with filtering by location, topic and job title. DMA data powered by Google.
- AP Planner News and events forward planning service providing access to 150,000+ future events and news items up to 12 months ahead across 140 categories, delivered via Associated Press collaboration.
- Developer API HTTP API providing access to over two million TV, radio and podcast segments daily in JSON format with embeddable Wordplay tool for clip editing and sharing within partner applications.
Quantifiable outcome
- Dysart School District corrects false stories and misinformation in as little as 30 minutes
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Critical Mention
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments8 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Critical Mention technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
AI capability4 records
Feature13 records
Critical Mention partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- OnclusivecoreCritical Mention was acquired by Onclusive, a global partner for PR and communications success. Onclusive was formed from merger of Kantar's Reputation Intelligence business, PRgloo, and legacy Onclusive. Acquisition expands Onclusive's US footprint and combines Critical Mention's monitoring tools with Onclusive's global media intelligence suite.
- PodchasercorePartnership where Podchaser, the world's most comprehensive podcast database, powers Critical Mention's podcast monitoring service. Integration provides robust podcast metadata, audience insights including listenership, popularity charts, and Power Score. Critical Mention is the only all-in-one platform with Podchaser's dataset and internally-built podcast capture network.
- GooglecoreGoogle Analytics integration allows users to view website metrics alongside earned media mentions in reports. Location and DMA data in Media Contact Database powered by Google. DMA options added to contact and outlet location filters.
- The Associated Press (AP)coreCollaboration providing US forward planning service through AP Planner. Over 150,000+ future events and news items up to 12 months ahead across 140 categories. 12-month rolling calendar verified and updated daily. Celebrating over 15 years of collaboration.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Critical Mention competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Meltwater: Global media intelligence SaaS platform offering monitoring across news, social, broadcast, and online sources with analytics and influencer tools. Most direct functional competitor to Critical Mention, frequently listed alongside it in PR analytics buyer guides.
- Cision: Large PR and media intelligence platform combining media database, monitoring, distribution (PR Newswire), and analytics. Directly comparable in target customer (PR/comms professionals) and overlapping Earned Media Suite functionality.
- TVEyes: Broadcast and podcast monitoring service used by PR agencies, brands, and government. Explicitly named by Hollywood Branded as a prior incumbent replaced by Critical Mention, making it a direct head-to-head competitor in broadcast monitoring.
- Muck Rack: PR platform combining a journalist database, media monitoring, and pitching workflows. Overlaps with Critical Mention's Media Contact Database and monitoring modules for the same PR/communications buyer.
- Notified: PR and communications platform (formerly PR Newswire) offering distribution, monitoring, and analytics. Co-listed with Critical Mention in G2 PR analytics rankings; targets the same enterprise PR buyer.
- Brandwatch: Consumer intelligence and social listening platform with deep coverage of social and online sources. Comparable to Critical Mention's social monitoring and Onclusive Social capabilities, particularly for brand and marketing use cases.
- Agility PR Solutions: Media monitoring and PR analytics platform targeting PR agencies and corporate communications teams. Overlaps with Critical Mention's online news, broadcast, and social monitoring modules for mid-market buyers.
- Talkwalker: Consumer intelligence platform with strong social listening and earned media analytics. Comparable to Critical Mention's social monitoring and Onclusive Social modules, especially for brand and enterprise marketing use cases.
Emerging players
- CisionOne (legacy LexisNexis Risk Solutions media monitoring): Cision's next-generation media monitoring product line, comparable to Critical Mention's Earned Media Suite but emerging from the Cision PRgloo-style consolidation. Competes for the same enterprise PR monitoring RFPs.
Broad incumbents
- Sprout Social: Public social media management platform covering publishing, engagement, analytics, and listening. Broader portfolio than Critical Mention but overlapping social monitoring and analytics use cases for marketing and comms buyers.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Critical Mention social profiles
Digital presenceCritical Mention financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Critical Mention leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Critical Mention funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Critical Mention M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Critical Mention
What does Critical Mention do?
Critical Mention is a cloud-based SaaS platform that delivers real-time earned media monitoring and analytics across broadcast TV/radio, online news, social media, podcasts, and licensed print content. The platform also provides a journalist/media contact database, forward news planning via Associated Press partnership, and a developer API exposing over two million daily media segments for partner integrations. Its core customers are PR agencies, corporate communications teams, brands, and government organizations tracking coverage and proving earned media value.
Is Critical Mention a public or private company?
Critical Mention is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Critical Mention founded?
Critical Mention was founded in 2002. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Critical Mention based?
Critical Mention is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Critical Mention make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscription is the primary driver. The others are API Access for Partners and enterprise Custom Packages.
Who are Critical Mention's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Meltwater, Cision, TVEyes, Muck Rack, Notified, Brandwatch, Agility PR Solutions and Talkwalker. CisionOne (legacy LexisNexis Risk Solutions media monitoring) is listed as an emerging player. Sprout Social is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Critical Mention have an API?
Yes. HTTP API makes over two million segments available daily. API returns easy-to-use JSON format. Embeddable Wordplay tool allows users to edit, share, and save clips quickly and easily within their application. Easy integration with full documentation. Partners across industries like finance, tech, media, data journalism, PR and government leverage the API to spot trends in big data. Provides access to TV, radio and podcast content, associated metadata and historical archives.
What industry is Critical Mention in?
Critical Mention's product category is Media Monitoring Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAAOAK, Media Relations, Monitoring & Rapid Response, with a secondary code of MPAAADAI, Media Relations & Press Office Services. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 2741.