Choosing a media monitoring or comms intelligence vendor without a structured scorecard leads to decisions based on the best demo rather than the best fit. This template gives you a repeatable way to compare Meltwater, Cision, Signal AI, Brandwatch, Pulsar, Kantar, and any other platform against your actual requirements.
Why You Need a Scorecard
The UK media monitoring market has consolidated, but there are still meaningful differences between vendors on source coverage, alert speed, analytics depth, and pricing models. A scorecard forces you to define what matters before the sales process starts, not after.
Without one, the most common outcome is that the vendor with the slickest demo wins, and six months later you discover they do not index half the regional UK press your stakeholders need.
Scorecard Structure
Use eight weighted categories. Adjust the weights to match your programme priorities.
1. UK Source Coverage (Weight: 25%)
This is the most important criterion for any UK-focused team and the one most often under-examined.
What to check:
- National press: Does the platform index FT, Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mirror, Sun, i, and Metro? Are articles available in full text or headline-only?
- Broadcast: Does it cover BBC News, Sky News, ITV News, Channel 4 News, and key radio (BBC Radio 4, LBC, Times Radio)? Are transcripts searchable or clip-only?
- Regional press: Check coverage of titles like Manchester Evening News, Yorkshire Post, Evening Standard, Birmingham Mail, Scotsman, Western Mail, and Belfast Telegraph
- Trade press: Verify coverage for your sector -- PR Week, Campaign, The Grocer, Insurance Times, Citywire, Health Service Journal, Building, The Lawyer, Retail Week
- Wire services: PA Media, Reuters, Bloomberg
- Regulatory feeds: FCA, CMA, ICO, Ofcom, ASA publications and announcements
Ask the vendor for their full UK source list. If they will not provide one, that is a red flag.
2. Alert Speed and Accuracy (Weight: 20%)
- What is the average time from article publication to alert delivery? Best-in-class is under 15 minutes for online, under 60 minutes for broadcast
- Can you set tiered alert rules (immediate for crisis triggers, daily digest for routine)?
- What is the false positive rate? Ask the vendor to run your queries during a trial and measure it
- Can alerts be routed to different recipients by topic, severity, or source tier?
3. Analytics and Sentiment (Weight: 15%)
- Is sentiment analysis available for UK English specifically, or is it a US-trained model?
- Can you override automated sentiment scores?
- Does the platform offer topic clustering, narrative analysis, or trend detection?
- How does it handle sarcasm, irony, and UK-specific phrasing? (This is a real differentiator -- ask for examples)
4. Reporting and Dashboards (Weight: 15%)
- Can you build custom dashboards without vendor support?
- Are there pre-built templates for share of voice, sentiment trend, message pull-through?
- Can reports be scheduled and auto-delivered by email?
- What export formats are available (PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, API)?
5. Integration and API (Weight: 10%)
- Does the platform have an open API for data extraction?
- Can it integrate with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or your existing workflow tools?
- Is there a Salesforce, HubSpot, or CRM integration if needed?
- Can data be pushed to Google Data Studio, Looker, or Power BI?
6. Support and Account Management (Weight: 5%)
- Is support UK-based or routed through a global helpdesk?
- What is the SLA for support tickets? (Target: critical issues within 4 hours, standard within 24 hours)
- Do you get a named account manager or shared support?
- Is onboarding included, and how long does it take?
7. Contract and Pricing (Weight: 5%)
- Annual cost per seat or per user
- What is included in the base price vs charged as add-ons (social listening, broadcast, API access, additional seats)?
- What are the auto-renewal and cancellation notice terms?
- Is there a multi-year discount, and is it worth the lock-in?
8. Data Compliance and Security (Weight: 5%)
- Where is data stored? (UK or EU data centres matter for regulated industries)
- Is the platform GDPR-compliant, and can they demonstrate this?
- What happens to your data after contract termination?
- Can you get a full data export before offboarding?
How to Score
Use a 1-5 scale for each category:
- 1 = Does not meet requirement
- 2 = Partially meets, significant gaps
- 3 = Meets basic requirement
- 4 = Meets requirement well
- 5 = Exceeds requirement, clear differentiator
Multiply each score by the category weight to get a weighted total. The vendor with the highest weighted score is your front-runner, but do not ignore qualitative factors like team chemistry with the account manager or cultural fit.
Common Mistake: Scoring on Demo Impressions
A UK healthcare comms team scored three vendors after demos and selected the one with the best-looking dashboard. Six months in, they discovered the platform had no broadcast monitoring for BBC or Sky News and limited regional press coverage. The team had not checked UK source coverage during evaluation because the demo used US examples. Always insist on a UK-specific demo with your actual brand queries, and verify source lists independently before signing.
Running the Evaluation
- Week 1: Finalise scorecard criteria and weights with your team
- Week 2-3: Run demos with two to four vendors, using your real queries and UK source requirements
- Week 3-4: Score independently (at least two evaluators), then compare and discuss
- Week 4-5: Run a paid or free trial on your top one or two vendors with live queries
- Week 5-6: Final scoring, negotiation, and decision
After Selection
Document the winning scorecard and the rationale. Share it with procurement. Set a 90-day check-in to confirm the vendor is delivering against the scores you gave them. If they fall short on a criterion that was decisive, escalate immediately rather than waiting for the annual review.