Navigating the new media landscape: fewer journalists, fewer media opportunities and more PRs!

On today’s PRmoment Podcast we’re going to be talking about a report that looks at Navigating the new media landscape.

In essence we’ve got fewer journalists and a decreasing number of publications, so fewer media opportunities and more PR people!

Some more specific topline findings from the report are:

• There are 21% fewer articles published by top UK media vs five years ago

• Brand-led stories fall by 28%

• ‘Big issues’ dominate, accounting for 44% of all media coverage

• The report also analysed how readers are engaging with topics

Joining us to discuss the report is André Labadie, MD, Business and Technology at Brands2Life.

Over the last five years, huge issues, such as Brexit, climate change and more recently COVID-19, have dominated the media agenda. As a consequence, it has become harder for brands to cut through in this media environment to generate proactive and prominent coverage in the way many have in the past. The aim of this research is to test whether these observations hold true, and what the outlook is for the coming years, by analysing trends in data relating to the presence of big issues, and of brands, in media coverage since 2015. Of course, for brands aiming to drive successful coverage, the media agenda is only one consideration. It is also important to understand how readers respond to news, particularly around social issues that can be divisive. Therefore this research also analyses social media engagement with media coverage, to unpick whether reader interests are aligned with the media agenda and what this means for brands.

Thanks to the PRmoment podcast sponsors, the PRCA. The PRCA, the world’s largest and most influential PR professional body - challenging, supporting, and raising standards in the PR sector.

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Here is a summary of what Andre and I discussed:

2 mins Andre talks us through what this report is all about and the key findings.

4 mins Andre discusses the data set behind the report including online articles from 25 UK national and business media from June 2016 to May 2021.

5 mins How and why the space for brands to feature in the media has shrunk.

5.30 mins How the overall number of articles in the UK media has reduced by one fifth in 5 years.

Overall volume of articles in leading media outlets (1 June 2015 to 31 May 2021)

5 mins How the report also found the number of articles that mention brands has fallen by 28 per cent.

7 mins A discussion of how the issues of Brexit and COVID have dominated the media landscape for the last 5 years.

10 mins Beyond Brexit and COVID - which issues are dominating the media over the last five years.

Volume and proportion of issues coverage per topic 2015 vs. 2020 (excluding COVID-19)

15 mins What type of content do readers engage with?

Total engagements by issue

18 mins What does the report predict about future media coverage of big issues?

18.30 mins Why brands will need to engage on the big issues to get media coverage.

21 mins Andre summarises what he sees as the report conclusions.