It’s hard for marketers to keep track of the tools and platforms designed to help brands understand their consumers. As the demand for a more holistic view of the consumer and speed to insight grows, so does the scope of the platforms that support these needs. One notable shift has been the transformation of social listening platforms (SLPs).

Back in 2020, we published a Forrester Wave™ evaluation on social listening platforms. We observed at that time that “SLPs are looking to escape the bounds of social media entirely, many with visions of becoming broader consumer intelligence technology (or some iteration thereof).” Five years later, that call has proven true as access to data signals and conversations beyond traditional social listening platforms has opened to brands.

But SLPs aren’t going away: Forrester finds that 81% of B2C marketing decision-makers use an SLP or consumer intelligence tool. At the same time, 79% believe that social listening platforms should be called a broader name. That’s why we’re announcing the launch of a consumer intelligence platforms landscape report.

We define consumer intelligence platforms as:

Platforms that derive real-time insights and reporting from data sources outside of their company (e.g., social media, web, or consumer data) using proprietary analysis techniques to enable consumer-driven decisions.

Historically, these tools have been used for brand monitoring and competitive intelligence. But Forrester’s research shows an expansion of use cases, including trend identification and forecasting, media monitoring, and voice-of-the-customer research — spanning beyond just monitoring and analyzing and going into predicting. Ultimately, the primary benefit of these platforms is clear: to help brands better understand their consumers.

Stay tuned for the landscape to publish in Q4 of 2025. We’ll explore the key players, capabilities, and use cases shaping consumer intelligence.