✅ PR industry hiring slowdown, but growth in AI roles
Industry analysis suggests the market for public relations and public affairs services is improving
The public relations industry kicked off 2025 with a notable slowdown in hiring, reflecting the uncertainty that characterised the end of the previous year.
Job postings in the first quarter of 2025 among the top 50 UK agencies have hit their lowest point in the past 12 months, according to Jobs in PR. The number of roles advertised in Q1 2025 compared with Q4 2024 fell by 27%.
The data aligns with the broader economic and political backdrop in the UK. A salary guide published by Reuben Sinclair in February 2025 noted the stop-start nature of the market.
There has been a noticeable rise in AI and data-driven positions in the past three months, including product, strategy and technical roles. It suggests the industry is innovating with increased digital and strategic integration.
The latest PRWeek UK agency analysis of new business for February 2025 suggests that the market is at an inflexion point. Likewise, the latest PRCA Confidence Index reported an improved outlook among members.
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Have a great week ahead.
Media
💼 INFLUENCER SHIFT: Unilever's new CEO plans to increase influencer marketing from 30 to 50 percent of total advertising spend, focusing on micro-influencers with smaller, engaged audiences. While this is a means of creating authentic, local engagement, it’s challenging at scale and requires careful management of disclosure and risk management. Source: Tortoise.
📰 PRINT DECLINE: UK regional daily newspaper print circulations fell 16% in 2024, with no title now exceeding 20,000 copies per day. Total newsstand sales dropped to 279,000 copies across 69 dailies. Despite print's decline, digital subscriptions remained stable with major local news websites growing online audiences. Source: Press Gazette.
🗞 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: Reach CEO Jim Mullen said that the company's print titles will become loss-making by 2031. “We are maintaining a well-loved but declining print business,” he said. However, digital revenues increased by 2.1% to £130m in 2024 and will eventually support the print business through its digital-first transformation. Source: The Guardian.
Management
🔄 CORPORATE RECALIBRATION: International companies are removing climate change references from websites asm President Trump's administration attacks environmental policy. This retreat from climate commitments reflects corporate caution amid political pressure, presenting communications professionals with considerations about balancing stakeholder expectations with political realities. Source: The Financial Times.
Artificial intelligence
🤔 MINISTERIAL AI: UK Science Secretary Peter Kyle has used ChatGPT for policy advice on AI adoption barriers among British SMEs. The disclosure was made through a Freedom of Information request, which found that Kyle consults the AI tool for technical definitions and business insights. It establishes a precedent for AI interactions being subject to FOI legislation and the need for governance on AI use. Source: New Scientist.
⚠️ DISINFORMATION ALERT: UK Science Russia's Pravda network is manipulating Western AI chatbots by flooding language models with pro-Kremlin falsehoods. Ten leading chatbots repeat Russian disinformation a third of the time. Researchers warn this "LLM grooming" threatens democratic discourse as propaganda articles infiltrate AI training data. Source: NewsGuard.
🔀 AI TRANSFORMATION: New research identifies five emerging themes about AI's role in public relations: relationship management, practice boundaries, societal alignment, ethics and creativity. The International Journal of Strategic Communication paper explores how AI and other technologies augment public relations practice. Source: Wadds Inc.
🗃 CITATION CHAOS: AI search tools fail to properly cite news sources, with more than 60% of responses containing inaccurate attributions. Paid for chatbots provide more confidently incorrect answers than free versions. Even AI companies with formal news partnerships fail to consistently cite partner content correctly, threatening publisher traffic and credibility. Source: Columbia News Review.
Social media
👎 FACEBOOK ALLEGATIONS: Former executive Sarah Wynn-Williams claims Facebook worked with Chinese authorities on censorship tools for market access. Her book Careless People alleges that Facebook considered allowing China access to user data and used algorithms targeting vulnerable teenagers. Meta denies allegations, stating they terminated her for "poor performance." Source: BBC.
📉 ORGANIC COLLAPSE: Social media platforms have limited organic reach over the past decade. Successful organisations now test content organically before amplifying high-performers with paid support, prioritise video formats, leverage first-party data and measure business outcomes rather than "bullshit metrics." Source: Immediate Future.
Sarah Waddington CBE is a director of Wadds Inc. and interim CEO, PRCA.
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Thanks to Katy Howell, Laura Mitchell, Alan Morrison, Paul Stollery, Sarah Waddington and everyone who shares and debates the stories in the newsletter via our Facebook and LinkedIn communities.