State of PR statistics: Summaries to 3 different “State of PR” surveys

Easy cliff notes for busy PR professionals from the State of PR Report by Meltwater, State of AI in PR by Muck Rack, and the State of Digital PR by BuzzStream

It’s safe to say the state of PR in 2026 is pretty good.

As with the advent of social media more than a decade ago, PR is having a moment with generative AI. Indeed, generative AI made PR a key business priority in 2026.

Of course, PR is not without challenges. One of the findings from a survey summarized below is that 75% said PR is more challenging today than a year ago.

That reflects findings from a survey that a team of collaborators and I conducted in 2020. At that time, 75% of PR and comms pros say media relations is getting harder – up 25% over the previous three years in the same survey.

Chances are, it’s going to be harder next year, too. That’s just the way of the world, so the best approach is to accept it as fact, develop yourself professionally, and iterate and improve.

1. State of PR Report by Meltwater

Meltwater says it surveyed 1,100 PR professionals around the world for its “State of PR Report.” About 500 respondents, nearly half, are based in the U.S., and another 100 are from Canada. The remainder are from various countries, “with Europe being particularly well represented.”

Below are some of the findings that stood out to me. Except where it’s obvious, these are all pluralities, that is, the most responses for each answer, but not a majority of respondents:

26% said media relations is their main task;
46% said 1:1 email is the most effective way to pitch media;
47% said PR manages social media for their brand;
62% said LinkedIn is the most valuable social media site;
37% said PR manages influencer marketing;
28% said reactive work, like crisis, is their biggest time suck; and
35% said they provide progress reports monthly.

The section I found most interesting of all was on the actions PR thinks leaders could take to improve the effectiveness of communications:

19% said prioritize PR in the overall company strategy;
19% said allocate more budget to PR;
18% said provide clearer goals and direction;
17% said improving cross-functional collaboration;
14% said investing in tools and training; and
10% said increase engagement with PR metrics and outcomes.

Comment: The biggest answer missing from this list is time. Time is what leaders can provide to improve PR results. PR thrives on ideas and we can only get those ideas through communication.

One way to nudge this is to set up time, at least once a quarter, to have a conversation with leaders around the business. Come with a list of questions, including asking for their views on issues and trends. Those conversations will not only provide genuine fuel for PR, but they’ll also check the box on many of the other answers provided to this question.

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Read the full report by Meltwater here – registration required.

2. State of AI in PR by Muck Rack

Muck Rack says it polled 564 PR professionals in December 2025 for its “2026 State of AI in PR” report. The report didn’t say where the respondents were based, but I’d wager most of them, if not all, are based in the U.S.

As the title suggests, all of the questions are centered on AI. Here are a few of the findings that stood out to me:

93% said AI accelerates their ability to complete work;
82% said AI improves the quality of their work;
98% said they edit text generated by AI;
59% said they are not comfortable with AI agents acting on their behalf;
57% said they use at least one premium AI tool; and
77% said entry level PR are overly reliant on AI and that’s causing them to miss learning the basics they’ll need to be successful.

The section on use cases – how PR is using AI was the most interesting. Below are the top AI use cases in PR:

86% use AI for editing and refinement;
76% use AI for research and insights;
74% use AI for writing and content creation;
68% use AI for strategy and planning;
51% use AI for administrative or operational tasks;
30% use AI for media list building and outreach;
19% use AI for measurement and reporting; and
19% use AI for creative asset production.

Comment: The quip that “You won’t be replaced by AI, but you might be replaced by someone using AI” has aged well. I believe a productive subject matter expert (SME) who uses AI effectively will improve their output by 1.25-1.5 times.

Why an SME? Because I think you have to have some knowledge and experience to know when AI is wrong. While it’s useful for brainstorming and summaries and the like, it does make a lot of mistakes. Inexperienced staff don’t have the wisdom yet to tell the difference.

While I believe most of the talk of replacing white-collar jobs is hyperbole, it is having an impact on entry-level jobs. And if those new to PR are relying on AI without going through the mental struggle of foundational learning, succession planning and promotions is going to get messy.

One last thought on AI: I never let AI write my first draft. I’ll use it to brainstorm beforehand – and suggest improvements after – but I want to maintain my core skills and persevere what makes my work unique.

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Read the full report from Muck Rack here – registration required. Or get some different takes on the findings here – no registration required.

3. State of Digital PR by BuzzStream

Buzzstream says it “interviewed 150+ digital PR professionals” for its 2026 “State of Digital PR Report.” Most respondents were based in the UK (57%), followed by the U.S. (29%).

The survey asked a broad range of electric questions. Below are a few of the findings that stood out to me:

75% said PR is more challenging today than a year ago;
65% said they do not use a press release distribution service;
64% said the biggest challenge with PR vendors is outdated media contacts;
55% follow up with a journalist once; another 33% do it twice;
51% said it takes 3-6 months for PR to produce results; and
26%, a plurality, said their top challenge was getting coverage.

It was the section on SEO that stood out to me the most. The majority, 86% of respondents, said PR builds backlinks. More than half (53%) said PR collaborates more closely with SEOs than any other function.

The real kicker was the fact that 16% of PR respondents said they pay for backlinks!

Comment: Everyone in PR knows, or ought to know, that buying backlinks is like playing with fire. This 2007 era post from Google calls it “manipulating search engine rankings.” If you get caught, and you will sooner or later, you risk being penalized and your online visibility will drop to zero. It’s very difficult to recover from such a penalty.

A better reason to avoid such scams is trust. Trust is hard to build, easy to lose, and we’re all starting from a deficit. At a fundamental level, businesses need people to believe what they say in order to be successful. Trust is disproportionately more valuable than a backlink.

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