Press releases aren’t dead, they’ve just stopped being enough

Every year someone declares the press release obsolete, yet the data still says otherwise. Global PR studies show most communicators are sending the same or more press releases than last year, and that those with clear headlines and multimedia perform best. But here’s the nuance: the reason they’re still working isn’t nostalgia, it’s adaptability.

In 2025, press releases aren’t the story. They’re the structure around it.

What the data actually tells us

Across the industry, product and service launches still make up the largest share of releases. But interestingly, “original content” - things like survey results, expert tips and thought-leadership pieces - is rising fast, especially in Asia. That shift says a lot.

Brands are realising a press release can’t just announce something; it has to add context, insight or authority. Otherwise, it vanishes into the noise.

The AI shift: from SEO to GEO

One of the biggest findings is how much AI has changed the game. Search visibility used to depend on keywords; now it depends on clarity. As generative AI tools pull from factual, structured sources, press releases have become reference material for AI summaries.

It’s why some teams are starting to talk about “Generative Engine Optimisation” (GEO) - writing content that’s not just search-friendly but AI-readable.

But again, this doesn’t mean every brand needs to flood the wire. It means factual, well-formatted information will travel further when paired with intelligent narrative control.

Structure still matters, but so does story

Releases with headlines between 76 and 100 characters perform best, and adding images or video increases engagement significantly. Yet none of that helps if the story itself doesn’t connect.

That’s where traditional and digital PR meet. The release might feed Google’s crawlers, but the emotion, the part that makes someone care, still happens on social platforms, in interviews, and in how the person or brand responds publicly.

AI can polish, but not replace

Around two-thirds of communicators now use AI tools to help with writing or editing. The best use cases are proofreading, translation, and shortening long copy. What still needs a human is tone. AI can’t read a crisis, sense how a headline might land, or predict backlash.

In other words, it can tidy your sentences, but it won’t save your reputation.

Where this leaves PR in 2025

The press release isn’t irrelevant. it’s just no longer enough on its own. It now sits somewhere between a media reference and an AI data source.

The brands getting it right are the ones treating it as one piece of a wider comms plan: part credibility, part discoverability, never the full strategy.

For everyone else, it’s a reminder that the goal of PR has never really changed. to be understood before being judged. The methods just keep evolving.