It turns out PR and communications teams are having something of a tough time working under increasing pressure to prove their value (ROI) to leadership.
As per a new global report from Meltwater and We. Communications, budgets are stagnating, and workloads continue to increase, resulting in a stressful demeanour.
Released today, the inaugural State of PR Report draws on insights from more than 1,100 PR and communications professionals worldwide, examining how teams are planning, prioritising and adapting amid growing scrutiny and resource constraints.
The findings point to a widening gap between the expectations placed on PR teams and the structures available to support them.
Rising expectations, limited resources
A lack of resources remains the top challenge for PR professionals, with 24 per cent identifying it as their primary issue.
Nearly 70 per cent of respondents expect their budgets to stay the same or decrease, despite increasing demands to deliver clearer business impact.
To manage this pressure, generative AI has emerged as a key efficiency tool. More than half of respondents said AI is already embedded in their daily work, with 42.1 per cent describing it as somewhat integrated and 13.3 per cent as highly integrated.
However, around a quarter expressed concern that greater reliance on AI could reduce the perceived need for human talent and place further pressure on budgets.
Proving ROI remains a challenge
Measurement continues to fall short of leadership expectations, with 21 per cent of PR professionals struggling to measure ROI and demonstrate business impact.
Many teams still rely on activity-based metrics such as media placements and reach, even as organisations push for stronger links between communications and commercial outcomes.
More than one-third of respondents (34.7 per cent) said they struggle to align PR metrics with broader business KPIs, while 27.8 per cent cited proving PR’s value to leadership as a major challenge.
The C-suite disconnect
The report also highlights a disconnect between PR teams and senior leadership. In 40 per cent of organisations, leaders were found to have a limited understanding of their PR team’s activities.
Executive leadership was also identified as the department communicators most want greater involvement from.
While the findings reflect global sentiment, Meltwater says they are particularly relevant for organisations operating across APAC, where PR teams often support multiple markets, fragmented media environments and complex reporting structures.
“For organisations operating across APAC, these findings aren’t surprising – they highlight a pressing reality,” said David Hickey, executive director, APAC at Meltwater.
David Hickey
“Communications teams are being tasked with building trust, managing reputation and supporting growth across complex markets, yet many are still measured against outdated metrics that fail to capture their strategic value.”
The case for outcome-driven measurement
The report underscores a growing need for outcome-driven measurement, including indicators that reflect message effectiveness, executive visibility, sentiment and clearer alignment between communications activity and organisational priorities.
“It’s time for organisations to recognise the leadership role that communications now plays,” Hickey said.
“To manage risk and reputation in real time, PR must be fully aligned with business priorities not only to ensure consistent storytelling, but to influence decisions at the highest level.”
Melissa Waggener Zorkin, global CEO of We. Communications, said the findings also point to a pivotal shift in how success is measured, as AI tools increasingly link communications activity to reputation outcomes and enterprise value.
“PR pros do a great job measuring activity, but we’re seeing a missed opportunity when it comes to measuring impact,” she said. “We now have sophisticated AI solutions that connect communications to reputation and business value in clear, quantifiable ways.”
Other key findings
The report also found:
LinkedIn is the most valuable social channel for PR professionals (62.4 per cent), followed by Instagram (10.6 per cent), Facebook (10.4 per cent) and X (8 per cent).
Subject relevance (32.1 per cent) and timeliness (24.2 per cent) outweigh media relationships when it comes to securing coverage.
Media monitoring (26.6 per cent) and ChatGPT or GenAI tools (20.4 per cent) are considered the most critical for streamlining PR tasks.
A third of respondents (34.2 per cent) expect AI to have the biggest impact on the PR industry.
The full State of PR Report is available here.