Data analytics and the future of PR

Here's a question: is data analytics delivering business models that work across the news media, or threatening original journalism as we know it?

Ten, or even five, years ago, news organisations invested in journalists and original journalism when they had the money - and processed more agency news if they didn't. Now many of those same organisations are as, or even more, likely to invest in data insight teams, hiring not just journalists but techies and data analysts.

Teams with names like "Audience Engagement" or "Data Insight" present editorial departments and individual journalists with detailed breakdowns of who's reading and responding to which stories - commercial value obviously rising with click through.

If this helps to underpin more sustainable business models across news media, perhaps this is good. Subscription has delivered - not least for mighty titles like the FT and Times, and this is another stage. But it does raise questions about the viability of original journalism, explored in my latest article in the CIPR's "Influence" magazine https://influenceonline.co.uk/2019/10/24/why-prs-may-need-to-widen-their-pitch/

Digging up stories in the public interest and shining a light into the shadows is what good journalism has always been about. But breaking new stories takes time. Many, for instance involving white collar crime or fraud, may never generate much audience engagement and, just as significantly, often come to nothing.

It takes a brave journalist to ignore all the metrics and doggedly focus on topics which generate little or no audience engagement and click-through, particularly if these metrics are linked to individual performance. As one FT editor succinctly put it: "on a slow news day there can be a huge temptation to pick stories which tick the right boxes."

All this has implications for PR, notably corporate communications. If editorial judgements become more influenced by data insight and audience engagement, then we need to think about this more. Selling a story may become less about what's new, counter-intuitive or different and more about its ability to drive audience engagement, notably in social media.

A new bunch of stakeholders are in town - we need to embrace the challenge.