Press releases are no longer a panacea: How PR teams can meet the multi-channel communication challenges in the era of AI search

New York, April 11, 2025 — PR Newswire recently released the "2025 State of the Press Release Report," revealing a structural shift facing the PR industry: a single press release can no longer guarantee media coverage, and brands must establish multi-format, multi-channel content synergy in an AI-driven discovery era.

The report shows that 33% of PR professionals cite failure to achieve expected media coverage as their biggest challenge, a figure that has remained stubbornly high for consecutive years. At the same time, consumer information channels are being reshaped by AI. According to Similarweb's "2026 Generative AI Brand Visibility Report," 35% of U.S. consumers use AI tools during the product discovery phase, while traditional search accounts for only 13.6%. At every stage of the purchase funnel (except for the final transaction), AI leads by more than double. The conversion rate of AI-recommended traffic is about 7%, higher than Google-driven traffic at 5%.

"AI doesn't rank brands the way Google does; it learns narratives from trusted sources," said Courtney Sandora, owner of marketing consultancy Go Social, in an interview with Inc. Gartner predicts that by 2027, some earned media budgets will double, precisely because AI search favors third-party authoritative content.

In response to this change, the report recommends that PR teams establish four key elements before creating any content: a clear core idea, a defined target audience (including the AI tools they use), an explanation of "why now," and a summary that can run across all formats. Teams should then reconstruct the story across formats rather than simply copying it.

Cision's "2026 State of the Media Report" indicates that more than half of journalists receive over 50 pitch emails per week, leaving them numb to formulaic pitches. Personalized pitches thus become crucial. The report cites direct feedback from a journalist: "Please think deeply about why you are pitching me this story and demonstrate in the email that you understand why I would accept it as editorial content."

In terms of content types, press releases remain the standard format for validating major announcements, with 66% of journalists still preferring to receive news through this channel. However, 91% of communicators further repurpose press release content into blog posts (67% already do so), social media posts, and other formats. Owned channels like blogs showcase brand consistency and authority. Earned-media articles leverage third-party platforms to satisfy AI's preference for independent sources."PR professionals are fully capable of adapting to this change." Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media points out, "The goal is no longer traditional links, but to ensure that the brand and expertise are thoroughly described in the text, so as to be understood and recommended by AI."

The full "2025 Press Release Status Report" is available on the PR Newswire website.