AI tops PR priorities finds new Muck Rack survey
A Muck Rack survey of 1,089 PR professionals from June 5 to July 16, 2025, designed to provide insights that help improve the workflow of PR professionals, found:
• AI tops PR priorities: 59% of PR pros say AI and automation will grow in importance over the next five years, ahead of media relations (35%) and strategic planning (33%). 77% already use tools like ChatGPT in their workflow.
• Earned media is harder to secure: 72% cite low journalist response rates, and 62% report shrinking media lists in relevant beats. Only 2% say it has not become harder to earn coverage.
• Pitching is broad but often impersonal: Nearly half pitch more than 20 journalists per campaign, and 36% have limited prior relationships. Most personalize only a few lines.
• Measurement drives value perception: 67% say producing measurable results is the best way to boost PR’s perceived value, far ahead of delivering creative solutions or executive visibility.
• LinkedIn gains ground as X declines: 56% say LinkedIn is their most valuable platform. Only 11% say the same of X, and 39% have stopped using it professionally.
• Brand-side pros feel less valued: 50% of agency pros feel very valued by leadership, compared to just 16% at brands. Only 10% of brand pros say leadership fully understands their work.
Muck Rack distributed the survey primarily via email and cleaned the results by removing low-effort responses, duplicate entries, spam-generated responses, and any major outliers, leaving a total of 911 usable responses. Because the wording of some questions changed from previous years, direct year-over-year comparisons may not be valid.
Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding or excluded categories. The conservative margin of error is approximately 3%.
