SURVEY: International study shows that press releases have become more relevant in journalists' work

The relevance of press releases in journalists’ work has grown over the last year and a half. This is one of the main results that surfaced from a survey for journalists that cloud-based digital marketing and communications software service provider Liana Technologies conducted in the summer of 2019. In the survey, journalists and media professionals were asked which factors affect whether or not they’ll read and publish a press release and 892 journalists from six different countries responded.

Liana Technologies conducted a journalist survey in December 2017 for the first time and got responses from over 600 journalists. This year the number of participants was even higher and the results could be compared to the previous survey by the company.

One of the biggest changes was to the question “When did you last utilize a press release in writing an article?” 35 % of reporters had utilized a press release in their work in the last 24 hours which shows an almost 10 percentage point increase to the previous survey.

“The increase in journalists utilizing press releases communicates more about the relevance and importance of press releases in journalistic work than an increase in their amount. It is beneficial for both the sender and the journalist on the receiving end that the press release is sent applying the best possible practices – meaning up-to-date contacts and proper targeting” reminds Liana Technologies’ Communications Specialist Fanni Mäki.

The question about the factors that influence whether or not a journalist reads a press release also reflected relevance and currency. Journalists receive hundreds of emails every day and need to quickly sift through them to find the ones interesting to them. 91 % of journalists stated that they expect a press release to be clear and understandable and 88 % said that an interesting headline is paramount.

Based on all the responses we got, we have compiled a guide that contains ten practical tips from journalists. Please see the full survey report here: Guide – Effective PR with Press Releases