Journalist Responses Down 20%, Reaching Lowest Level Ever
The Propel team is elated to announce that the data is in for the Q1 2023 Media Barometer report, though unfortunately not all of the results are positive.
Did you know the average journalist response rate to media pitches dropped by 20.6% between Q3 and Q4 of 2022?
By analyzing approximately 500,000 PR pitches sent to the media during Q4 of 2022, it has been determined that the average journalist response rate to PR pitches decreased drastically by a full 20.6% between Q3 and Q4 of 2022.
While many journalists were on vacation for the December holidays, this is likely not the reason for the low responses, as Q4 of 2021 saw a 3.23% response rate. However, the significant decrease in the number of responses coincides with mass layoffs seen in the industry at major outlets.
Meanwhile, there are more PR professionals than ever before.
This news is concerning to PR pros who are now facing a greater challenge, but Propel's latest research report containing the analysis of half a million pitches may help alleviate the difficulty.
In this report, you can uncover important data such as the optimal length of a pitch subject line, or the ideal time to send a pitch in order to gain the highest number of responses from journalist contacts, and so much more.
Here is a sneak peak at some noteworthy insights from the report:
- Journalists continue to open the majority of pitches they receive within one hour of the email landing in their inbox (54.79% of pitches).
- Moreover, in Q4, journalists responded to the most pitches on Tuesday (23.73% of pitch responses) and Monday (22.05% of responses), whereas the previous barometer report found that journalists replied the most to pitches on Wednesday in Q3.
- While the majority of pitches that result in published articles convert in a matter of three days, approximately 11% of articles published take more than a month to convert.
- The subject of ChatGPT is becoming more and more popular among PR professionals, as evidenced by the 1,200 pitches mentioning the chatbot and the 6.18% average journalist response rate these pitches gained.
Be sure to get your copy of the full report here to learn more!
What is the Propel Media Barometer?
The Propel Media Barometer is a quarterly data report that gives PR pros a benchmark for PR pitching at large. No need to craft your pitch based on intuition or outdated strategy.
Every three months the Propel team analyzes hundreds of thousands of real PR pitches sent through our PRM platform to help you understand which pitches are getting the best engagement from journalists. With these findings you can make sure that your media outreach strategy is cutting edge, and that your story gets told.
Whether you are pitching journalists or managing a team, these quarterly reports about the media relations landscape will make you a more effective PR pro.
And for the most up-to-date findings, download the Q1 2023 Propel Media Barometer here.
