In the media
Business lessons from South African expansion into the US
After a year of running MediaSweep in the US while remaining closely connected to Novus Group in South Africa, one thing has become clear to me. South African businesses are often more globally competitive than we realise.
#BizTrends2026 | Novus Group's Joe Hamman: Goodbye vanity metrics, hello decision monitoring
For years, media monitoring meant counting mentions and charting spikes. Of course, that basic visibility still matters.
You need to know who is talking about you, where, and in what context. But the brands that are moving ahead are taking media monitoring a step further.
They are the ones who will want to segment coverage by audience, format, geography, influence, and sentiment to get a genuinely holistic view of how narratives form and move.
This is where the industry’s slow farewell to vanity metrics becomes real.
Globally, there is a shift from impressions and clip counts toward metrics that link directly to business outcomes, such as assisted conversions, share of voice in strategic themes, and risk avoided through early issue detection.
Professionals are advised to move away from impressions and reach as headline indicators and focus instead on numbers that connect PR and comms activity to organizational goals.
Classic Business with Michael Avery - 27 Mar 2025 @ 18h15 - Joe Hamman
Joe Hamman, director at Novus Group & Media Sweep LLC, analyzed over 2,700 media pieces covering the 2025 Mining Indaba across TV, radio, and traditional media platforms.
Find your passion and make a plan!
Joe Hamman is the founder and director of Novus Group, which provides media monitoring and analysis
Putting in the hard yards: how learning life’s lessons early led to media monitoring success
Success does not come easy. This adage may be clichéd but holds true because it has been proven so many times with the greatest entrepreneurs. Joe Hamman’s story is no exception, and reiterates that a steadfast belief, a clear plan and good old fashioned hard work, ultimately leads to success.
Coming from the industrial hub of Germiston, Joe’s beginnings tell of learning life’s lessons the hard way. From the age of 13, Joe had to jump in, supporting his family through odds and ends jobs such as waiting tables and doing security work at Ellispark. “It was a hard road, and tough, but taught me the value of hard work and taking control of my own future,” Joe says.