If 2023 was AI’s breakout year, 2024 was the year of reckoning. AI didn’t just integrate into workflows across media and PR – it forced a complete rethink of how media content is created, discovered, and consumed. Add to that the evolving political climate, ethical concerns, regulatory pressures like the EU AI Act, and the seismic shifts in audience behaviour, and the media landscape looks quite different from a year ago.
For PR professionals, particularly those working with B2B brands, 2024 highlighted the need to take stock and rethink strategies. Looking to the year ahead and reading various prediction pieces about the future of the media industry, it’s unsurprising that AI is once again triggering a series of changes we need to be aware of, educate our clients on, and support our journalist partners with.
1. AI is Redefining Media and Search
The rise of AI-powered search and chatbots last year – like Google Gemini and OpenAI’s SearchGPT – marked the continuation of a trend that sees consumers getting their news and information from an increasingly wide range of channels, while referrals to news outlets and traffic to brand websites continue to decline. For media, AI-powered search and the use of social media to “search” adds further pressure to the already large challenge of driving clicks and reader engagement. Let’s not forget that these metrics are what fuel revenues.
What’s interesting about the growing role of AI-powered search and news is that these tools knowingly prioritise content from trusted publications and community forums. Some publications are trying to get ahead of the change by becoming “AI-friendly” – optimising and allowing their content to be crawled and indexed by AI models – and some are even going one step further, like Financial Times, which partnered with OpenAI in April last year.
As PR professionals, 2025 will be the year we start considering what it means to be featured in an “AI-friendly” publication. How do we ensure content aligns with both media partners’ needs and AI systems’ priorities? New standards will be set for credibility and reach, and we must answer these questions to stay ahead. Ultimately, credibility and authority will matter far more to raising a brand’s visibility than broad search rankings and keywords.
2. Media Gets Personal to Boost Engagement
While AI continues to disrupt how content is discovered, it’s also driving a shift in how media outlets engage audiences. The rise of hyper-personalised content is changing what it means to build trust and loyalty in an increasingly fragmented and financially challenged media ecosystem. As search and social referrals become less reliable, the most forward-thinking outlets are creating more personal connections with their audiences to become trusted, reliable “information destinations” visited organically.
Last year saw several strategies grow in popularity, including tailored subscription models, membership-only extra content, and unique audience experiences. These approaches not only help media diversify their revenue streams but provide first-party data that continues to feed the development of tailored content.
Publications are increasingly obsessed with understanding exactly who their ideal audience is, what they want, and the different formats to deliver that in – whether that’s newsletters, podcasts, or curated events. As PR professionals, it’s important for us to consider the unique audience outlets are cultivating, the topics they are diving into, and the different forms of media content being produced. For example, is there any opportunity for the more enigmatic spokespeople to raise their profiles through podcasts, newsletters or events?
3. The Rise of Niche Media Powerhouses
This focus on personalisation aligns with the growth of niche media powerhouses and specialised journalism that we’ve seen in the last year. In an era of information overload, depth and specificity are becoming the antidote to the overwhelm of surface-level, broad content. Dentsu recently described the power of “niche interests and deep fandoms” for brands looking to stand out, and it’s no coincidence this trend comes alongside Reddit’s resurgence in popularity and the demand for interest-driven content hubs. This is especially apt in a world where algorithms increasingly favour depth and community engagement.
The Press Gazette’s recent review piece summarised this trend quite neatly: “If you’re a reporter with a deep understanding of your beat, someone who can uncover insights and provide reporting that others simply can’t, or who has the context to analyse and nuance reporting on the beats that readers care about – whether professionally or personally – you’re winning.” Of all the challenges we know trade media face, this is perhaps one trend working in their favour.
So, encourage spokespeople to double down on their super-specialised areas of expertise. Identify niche podcasts, newsletters, and even Reddit communities where their knowledge can shine. After years of advising clients to make their stories more accessible, there is now, finally, more scope for them to really lean into that specialism.
Future-proofing PR strategies in 2025
The media landscape in 2025 will reward those who embrace change. Whether it’s keeping up with developments in AI, understanding the loyal audiences behind trusted publications, or carving out a niche in a crowded space. The key to success is adaptability.
There are three things I’d urge PR pros to take on for the year ahead:
- Embrace AI’s role in media – you can’t avoid it, so you need to be educated on it. Start considering publications that are trusted over those with the greatest reach and have open conversations with clients. The way we think about it at Tyto is ‘Which publications/ journalists/newsletters have the highest potential to reach the audience we’re looking to target?’ It’s not about going broad; it’s about being specific.
- Get closer to the audiences of the publications you are working with and, in turn, the communities that are emerging alongside these to find the best space for your client.
- Go niche! Now is the time to encourage clients to lean into the topics they are truly experts in and to foster relationships with the key media and influencers who own these beats.
