3BL Media, Inc., the leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) content distribution and analytics platform for purpose-driven companies, announced today the acquisition of RealWire Limited, the online press release distribution service, expanding audience and reach in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The acquisition is the eighth for 3BL Media since 2009. Terms were not disclosed.
“Companies worldwide are committing themselves to ESG performance and transparency, and the combination of RealWire with 3BL Media will provide greater reach to stakeholders including online news outlets, journalists and investors,” said Dave Armon, CEO of 3BL Media, adding that previous UK acquisitions included Ethical Performance and ReportAlert.
Based in Lincoln, in England’s East Midlands region, since launching in 2000, RealWire specialises in increasing the online impact of press releases while cultivating positive relationships with business and trade journalists. RealWire’s editorial and client services team, led by Managing Director Emily Gosling, will enhance 3BL Media’s distribution network by providing concierge service to the growing journalist corps covering climate and sustainability topics.
“Historically, RealWire has been an important B2B communications platform for technology, telecoms and healthcare businesses,” said Gosling. “We have seen ESG rise on our clients’ agenda, so joining 3BL Media will enable us to reach new audiences immediately on a global scale while we apply our unique model for micro-targeting to B2B journalists who opt into our distribution network.”
“Of the more than 8,000 reports and stories on ESG topics that 3BL Media distributed last year, environmental topics generated the most volume and audience interest”, said Armon. “Diversity, equity and inclusion was the top content category in the first quarter of 2022”.
Climate-related disclosure will be mandatory for publicly traded American companies under a proposal announced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March. Regulators across the globe are strengthening reporting requirements as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports “it’s now or never” to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
