# News & Competitor Monitoring Bundle (`runtime/news-competitor-monitoring-bundle`) Actor Monitor competitors, brand monitoring signals, topics, RSS feeds, and market news, then save prioritized AI-ready records for alerts and analysis. - **URL**: https://apify.com/runtime/news-competitor-monitoring-bundle.md - **Developed by:** [scraping automation](https://apify.com/runtime) (community) - **Categories:** Lead generation, Business, AI - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per usage This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-usage ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## News & Competitor Monitoring Bundle Monitor competitors, brands, RSS feeds, and market news, then save prioritized AI-ready records. ### Who this is for - Competitive intelligence teams - Founders - Marketing teams - Analyst teams ### What it helps you do - Track brand and competitor mentions - Collect market news from RSS and search - Prioritize signals for daily monitoring ### Inputs you can use - Topics, brands, competitors, and RSS feeds - Maximum records ### Data you get - source - headline - URL - summary - topic - competitor - priority score - evidence ### How to get better results - Start with a narrow, specific query or a small list of source URLs. - Use realistic limits for the first run, then increase the volume once the output looks right. - Keep source URLs, dates, and location context when you need repeatable market monitoring. - Review a few sample records before connecting the dataset to a larger workflow. ### Notes - Results depend on what the public source exposes at run time. - Some pages may hide, delay, rename, or remove fields, so individual records can have partial data. - Use the built-in output table to inspect results before exporting to spreadsheets, dashboards, or automation tools. ### Support If a run returns unexpected data, open an issue from the Actor page with the input used, the run ID, and the result you expected. # Actor input Schema ## `workflow` (type: `string`): Business workflow label stored on each output item. ## `topic` (type: `string`): Single topic to monitor. Used when Topics is empty. ## `topics` (type: `array`): Topics to monitor, one per line. ## `brand` (type: `string`): Single brand to monitor. Used when Brands is empty. ## `brands` (type: `array`): Brands to monitor, one per line. ## `competitor` (type: `string`): Single competitor to monitor. Used when Competitors is empty. ## `competitors` (type: `array`): Competitors to monitor, one per line. ## `includeManualItems` (type: `boolean`): Normalize manually provided news or competitor-monitoring records. ## `manualItems` (type: `array`): Optional articles, announcements, or competitor updates to normalize. ## `includeWebDiscovery` (type: `boolean`): Collect supporting news and competitor signals using direct web search. ## `searchQueries` (type: `array`): Optional custom search queries, one per line. If empty, the Actor generates topic/brand/competitor queries. ## `searchMode` (type: `string`): DuckDuckGo vertical to query. ## `searchProviders` (type: `array`): Search providers to use. Brave requires BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY or braveApiKey. ## `braveApiKey` (type: `string`): Optional Brave Search API key. Prefer using the BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY environment variable. ## `includeRssFeeds` (type: `boolean`): Fetch and normalize RSS/Atom feeds listed in RSS feed URLs. ## `rssFeedUrls` (type: `string`): RSS or Atom feed URLs, one per line. ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Extra relevance keywords, one per line. ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum normalized records saved by the bundle. ## `maxWebQueries` (type: `integer`): Maximum generated/custom web queries to execute. ## `maxWebResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum web-discovery results to normalize. ## `maxRssItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum RSS items to normalize. ## `mockMode` (type: `boolean`): Generate sample news monitoring records without network access. ## `failOnNoResults` (type: `boolean`): Fail the run if no normalized records are produced. ## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`): Timeout for web search and RSS requests. ## `useApifyProxy` (type: `boolean`): Enable Apify Proxy for direct web discovery. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Advanced Apify Proxy or custom proxy settings. ## Actor input object example ```json { "workflow": "competitor-monitor", "topic": "AI startup funding", "topics": [], "brand": "", "brands": [], "competitor": "", "competitors": [], "includeManualItems": true, "manualItems": [], "includeWebDiscovery": true, "searchQueries": [], "searchMode": "news", "searchProviders": [ "duckduckgo" ], "includeRssFeeds": false, "rssFeedUrls": "", "keywords": [], "maxResults": 25, "maxWebQueries": 6, "maxWebResults": 20, "maxRssItems": 20, "mockMode": false, "failOnNoResults": true, "requestTimeoutSecs": 20, "useApifyProxy": false, "proxyConfiguration": {} } ```` # Actor output Schema ## `source` (type: `string`): Source module ## `provider` (type: `string`): Publication, feed, or discovery provider ## `workflow` (type: `string`): Workflow that produced the record ## `signalType` (type: `string`): news\_article, competitor\_update, press\_release, or related signal ## `topic` (type: `string`): Monitored topic ## `brand` (type: `string`): Monitored brand ## `competitor` (type: `string`): Monitored competitor ## `title` (type: `string`): Article or signal title ## `url` (type: `string`): Primary URL ## `canonicalUrl` (type: `string`): Canonical URL without tracking parameters ## `summary` (type: `string`): Summary, snippet, or description ## `publishedAt` (type: `string`): Published timestamp when available ## `relevanceScore` (type: `string`): 0-100 relevance score ## `priorityScore` (type: `string`): 0-100 prioritization score ## `matchedKeywords` (type: `string`): Matched topic, brand, competitor, or custom keywords ## `reviewStatus` (type: `string`): accepted or needs\_review ## `sourceUrl` (type: `string`): Search, feed, or source URL ## `sourceQuery` (type: `string`): Search query that produced the record ## `sourcePosition` (type: `string`): Position in the source listing ## `sourceData` (type: `string`): Source-specific fields preserved after normalization ## `scrapedAt` (type: `string`): ISO timestamp when the record was created # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "topic": "AI startup funding" }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("runtime/news-competitor-monitoring-bundle").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "topic": "AI startup funding" } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("runtime/news-competitor-monitoring-bundle").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "topic": "AI startup funding" }' | apify call runtime/news-competitor-monitoring-bundle --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=runtime/news-competitor-monitoring-bundle", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "News & Competitor Monitoring Bundle", "description": "Monitor competitors, brand monitoring signals, topics, RSS feeds, and market news, then save prioritized AI-ready records for alerts and analysis.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "hUUIK6l9h37OVaNke" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/runtime~news-competitor-monitoring-bundle/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-runtime-news-competitor-monitoring-bundle", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/runtime~news-competitor-monitoring-bundle/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-runtime-news-competitor-monitoring-bundle", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/runtime~news-competitor-monitoring-bundle/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-runtime-news-competitor-monitoring-bundle", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "workflow": { "title": "Workflow", "enum": [ "competitor-monitor", "brand-news-watch", "local-news-monitor", "custom" ], "type": "string", "description": "Business workflow label stored on each output item.", "default": "competitor-monitor" }, "topic": { "title": "Topic", "type": "string", "description": "Single topic to monitor. Used when Topics is empty.", "default": "AI startup funding" }, "topics": { "title": "Topics", "type": "array", "description": "Topics to monitor, one per line.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "brand": { "title": "Brand", "type": "string", "description": "Single brand to monitor. Used when Brands is empty.", "default": "" }, "brands": { "title": "Brands", "type": "array", "description": "Brands to monitor, one per line.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "competitor": { "title": "Competitor", "type": "string", "description": "Single competitor to monitor. Used when Competitors is empty.", "default": "" }, "competitors": { "title": "Competitors", "type": "array", "description": "Competitors to monitor, one per line.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "includeManualItems": { "title": "Include manual items", "type": "boolean", "description": "Normalize manually provided news or competitor-monitoring records.", "default": true }, "manualItems": { "title": "Manual items", "type": "array", "description": "Optional articles, announcements, or competitor updates to normalize.", "items": { "type": "object", "properties": { "provider": { "title": "Provider", "description": "Source provider, publication, or site.", "type": "string" }, "title": { "title": "Title", "description": "Article or update title.", "type": "string" }, "url": { "title": "URL", "description": "Article or update URL.", "type": "string" }, "summary": { "title": "Summary", "description": "Short summary or source snippet.", "type": "string" }, "publishedAt": { "title": "Published at", "description": "Published timestamp or date.", "type": "string" } } }, "default": [] }, "includeWebDiscovery": { "title": "Collect web signals", "type": "boolean", "description": "Collect supporting news and competitor signals using direct web search.", "default": true }, "searchQueries": { "title": "Custom search queries", "type": "array", "description": "Optional custom search queries, one per line. If empty, the Actor generates topic/brand/competitor queries.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "searchMode": { "title": "Search mode", "enum": [ "news", "default" ], "type": "string", "description": "DuckDuckGo vertical to query.", "default": "news" }, "searchProviders": { "title": "Search providers", "type": "array", "description": "Search providers to use. Brave requires BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY or braveApiKey.", "items": { "type": "string", "enum": [ "duckduckgo", "brave" ], "enumTitles": [ "DuckDuckGo", "Brave Search API" ] }, "default": [ "duckduckgo" ] }, "braveApiKey": { "title": "Brave API key", "type": "string", "description": "Optional Brave Search API key. Prefer using the BRAVE_SEARCH_API_KEY environment variable." }, "includeRssFeeds": { "title": "Include RSS feeds", "type": "boolean", "description": "Fetch and normalize RSS/Atom feeds listed in RSS feed URLs.", "default": false }, "rssFeedUrls": { "title": "RSS feed URLs", "type": "string", "description": "RSS or Atom feed URLs, one per line.", "default": "" }, "keywords": { "title": "Extra match keywords", "type": "array", "description": "Extra relevance keywords, one per line.", "items": { "type": "string" }, "default": [] }, "maxResults": { "title": "Max output records", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum normalized records saved by the bundle.", "default": 25 }, "maxWebQueries": { "title": "Max web queries", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 100, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum generated/custom web queries to execute.", "default": 6 }, "maxWebResults": { "title": "Max web results", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum web-discovery results to normalize.", "default": 20 }, "maxRssItems": { "title": "Max RSS items", "minimum": 0, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum RSS items to normalize.", "default": 20 }, "mockMode": { "title": "Mock mode", "type": "boolean", "description": "Generate sample news monitoring records without network access.", "default": false }, "failOnNoResults": { "title": "Fail on no results", "type": "boolean", "description": "Fail the run if no normalized records are produced.", "default": true }, "requestTimeoutSecs": { "title": "Request timeout seconds", "minimum": 5, "maximum": 120, "type": "integer", "description": "Timeout for web search and RSS requests.", "default": 20 }, "useApifyProxy": { "title": "Use Apify Proxy", "type": "boolean", "description": "Enable Apify Proxy for direct web discovery.", "default": false }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Advanced Apify Proxy or custom proxy settings.", "default": {} } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```