PR Business Survey: 83% of PR Agencies (IPRN) use Artifical Intelligence

von IPRN – 27. February 2024

22% of PR agencies consider strategic communication and PR consultancy as growth opportunities to tackle the impacts of AI and other issues on communication – this is the result of a survey conducted by International Public Relations Network (IPRN). Read the full IPRN press release here:

February 27, 2024: Never has the expression ‘fast-paced, ever-changing world’ been more relevant. In 2023, the economic uncertainty related to the war in Ukraine and in Israel, the rising cost of living, and the evolution of technology around the globe were the main issues addressed by the news and communications industries.

For a global indication of the major communication trends, issues, business challenges and opportunities affecting the Public Relations industry, the International Public Relations Network (IPRN) conducted an internal survey among its members. The survey was held online between the 22nd of December and 10th of January 2024. The second part of the survey was specifically designed to address any issues regarding increase in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in PR.

“Due to the economic and social uncertainty, building trust and maintaining long-lasting and valuable relationships is more vital than ever. We must continue to invest in areas that contribute to our clients’ businesses, while building and sustaining our own. This is why AI is so important. It can be a powerful tool, especially in routine tasks such as media monitoring and social media management. It's a tool that creates space and time in our daily task management, thus freeing PR professionals to focus on more strategic decision-making and planning. Thanks to our members, we now have a clearer view of the PR challenges and opportunities driven by AI for the future,” stated Rodrigo Viana de Freitas, President, IPRN.

Major findings:

IPRN PR agency members are optimistic regarding business in 2024, with 70% pointing out a business growth perspective and 30% a maintenance of the current status quo.
To tackle the previous issues and other impacts on communication, such as AI - 22% consider strategic communication and PR consultancy as the major growth opportunities, followed by 20% on issues & crisis and change management; 16% on social media and digital communications and 10% on media relations.
The major industry sector opportunities, as per the respondents, lie in technology (19%), government affairs & public sector (17%), energy and utilities (16%), financial (9%), health & wellness (8%) and ex-aequo real estate, travel & tourism, hospitality & aviation.
Among the main areas that respondents expect to invest in during 2024 are staff training & retention (19%), measurement and analytics (17%), ex-aequo management tools and owned communication and marketing (12%), both creativity and multimedia content production (11%), technology and digital production (10%) and finally consumer insights (7%).
The majority, a staggering 83%, pointed out that AI is part of business, with only 17% stating that they do not make use of any AI tools.
Further, with reference to the use of AI, respondents indicated it is mostly utilized for content creation (31%), social media management (21%), media monitoring (19%) and data analytics (16%).
Among the main benefits of AI, with reference to PR activities, respondents prioritize an increase in efficiency (26%), support in research (23%), reduction of staff workload (20%), and ex-aequo copywriting and a good source of creativity (13%).
Further, 83% of respondents believe that AI is here to stay with only 17% unsure about the future of AI in PR.
The biggest challenges of AI in the PR industry, however, are intellectual property issues (26%), an increase in fake news (24%), a lack of trust in social media and its content (14%) as well as content overload (13%).

Respondent countries included Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and USA.

Find the survey results on the official IPRN website: https://iprn.com/international-public-relations-network-pr-business-survey-results-2024/

About IPRN
The International Public Relations Network is an international network of independently owned and operated public relations and communications agencies with around 50 members in more than 100 major cities and more than 30 countries around the world, in five continents. It represents all sectors of the industry and represents a cumulative turnover of around 150 million dollars, with more than 1,000 employees and 4,000 clients among the different agencies.