SINGAPORE – Meltwater, a global leader in media, social, and consumer intelligence, in partnership with We. Communications, released its first annual State of PR Report, a global study examining how PR and communications teams are planning, prioritising and adapting amid increasing scrutiny and resource constraints. The report revealed a lack of resources and proving ROI (return on investment) as the top challenges for PR professionals, while 40% of organisation’s leaders have a limited understanding of their PR team’s work.
Based on insights from over 1,100 PR and communications professionals worldwide the State of PR Report highlights a widening gap between the expectations placed on PR teams and structures available to support them. Across organisations, communicators are being asked to demonstrate clearer business impact at a time when budgets remain stagnant and workloads continue to expand.
The report identifies three key areas defining the modern challenge:
- Insufficient resources remain the top challenge: 24% of PR professionals cite a lack of resources as their top challenge; with nearly 70% of budgets expected to stay the same or decrease.
- Measurement continues to fall short of leadership expectations: 21% of PR professionals struggle to measure ROI and prove business impact, often relying on activity-based metrics such as media placements and reach, despite growing pressure to link PR to business outcomes.
- The C-Suite Disconnect: Leaders in 40% of organisations do not have a strong grasp of their PR team’s activity.
Why These Findings Matter for Organisations in APAC
While the findings reflect global sentiment, they carry particular relevance for organisations operating across APAC, where PR teams often support multiple markets, fragmented media environments and complex reporting structures. As businesses in the region navigate economic uncertainty and heightened reputational risk, PR functions are increasingly expected to operate as strategic partners. However many remain constrained by limited resources and legacy measurement frameworks that continue to prioritise activity-based indicators such as volume and reach, rather than outcomes which senior leaders use to guide decisions.
The report shows that more than one-third (34.7%) of PR professionals struggle to align metrics with business KPIs, while over a quarter (27.8%) cite proving PR’s value to leadership as a major challenge. This underscores a growing need for outcome-driven measurement, such as indicators that reflect message effectiveness, executive visibility, sentiment and clearer alignment between communications activity and organisational priorities.
“For organisations operating across APAC, these findings reflect a familiar reality,” said Mimrah Mahmood, VP, Enterprise, APAC at Meltwater. “PR teams are expected to support growth, manage risk and build trust across increasingly complex markets, yet they are still judged on metrics that don’t fully capture their strategic contribution. Closing this gap requires clearer alignment with leadership priorities and a more meaningful approach to measuring impact, not just doing more with less.”
Generative AI: The New Essential for Efficiency
Amid ongoing resource challenges, Generative AI has emerged as a vital efficiency tool, with the majority of respondents noting it is either somewhat (42.1%) or highly integrated (13.3%) into their daily tasks. Recognised as valuable for reporting, media monitoring, and writing briefs, AI allows teams to offload routine tasks and focus human talent on high-value strategic and creative work.
However, although adoption is high, it is not without skepticism. Approximately one-quarter of respondents express concern that AI could reduce the need for human talent, potentially shrinking budgets further. This underscores the importance of clear AI policies and investing in relevant training to ensure AI improves performance rather than replaces human expertise.
C-Suite Alignment: The Leadership Blind Spot
Another key finding for the industry is the lack of alignment between PR teams and organisational leadership. The report highlights that leaders in 40% of organisations do not have a strong grasp of their PR team’s activity. Meanwhile, executive leadership is the top department communicators say they want more involvement from (23.1%). This disconnect can make it increasingly difficult to convince executive teams of the value of public relations and secure necessary support.
Melissa Waggener Zorkin, Global CEO of We. Communications, says the report also points to the need for a pivotal shift in how communicators measure success, as AI solutions can now 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. We now have sophisticated AI solutions that connect communications to reputation and business value in clear, quantifiable ways, giving communicators the data they need to show organisation leaders how their work drives real results.”
Other key findings include:
- LinkedIn is the most valuable social channel for PR professionals (62.4%) followed by Instagram (10.6%), Facebook (10.4%) and X (8%).
- Subject relevance (32.1%) and timeliness (24.2%) are noted as the most important factors in securing coverage, over media relationships, inclusion of data, and others.
- Media monitoring (26.6%) and ChatGPT/GenAI (20.4%) are cited as the most critical to streamlining PR tasks.
- A third of PR professionals (34.2%) expect AI will have the biggest impact on the industry.
To view and download The State of PR Report, visit the Meltwater website.
