Press Releases: 1.5% Pickup in 2025. Why?

Let’s be real: just 1.5% of press releases sent out in 2025 got any real media pickup. That figure shows a massive gap between what we send and what journalists actually want. The press release used to be a reliable tool, but now it mostly just dies in an inbox, unread. If you want to create a viral press release, you need a whole new game plan that focuses less on just blasting it out and more on smart story pitching and real media engagement. So how do brands actually get noticed by a media that’s seen it all?

Only 1.5% of Press Releases Achieve Significant Pickup

That 1.5% number comes from a full analysis of over 2 million press releases from 2025 by a big media intelligence platform, and it’s a brutal reality check. This isn’t a small dip, it’s a systemic failure of an old model. For years, the go-to move was to write a release, spray it across a generic list, and cross your fingers. That’s dead. After almost two decades in this business, what this data tells me is that pure volume gets you nothing anymore. Journalists are absolutely buried in content, and their inboxes are a war zone where your generic press release is the first thing to get shot down. A reporter covering enterprise tech is way more likely to open an email with the subject “Startup’s AI Slashes Healthcare Data Breach Risk by 30%” than “Company X Announces New Product.” The first one has a real story with a tangible hook. The old thinking was “get the news out.” The new reality is you have to make the news impossible to ignore. The challenge is distinction, not just distribution.

Personalized Pitches See a 22% Higher Open Rate

HubSpot research from 2024 showed that personalized email pitches to journalists get a 22% higher open rate than mass emails. This is common sense in marketing, but in PR it’s often ignored when people are in a rush. I’ve seen teams burn hours getting a press release perfect and then spend five minutes on the actual outreach. That’s completely backward. A great release is only half the job. The other half is getting it to the right person with the right angle. And personalization means more than just a `[First Name]` mail merge. It means you’ve read their recent articles, you know their beat, and you can explain exactly why your story fits their specific audience. You wouldn’t pitch a new sustainable packaging material to a reporter at The Wall Street Journal the same way you’d pitch it to an editor at Packaging Digest. The WSJ reporter wants the market disruption angle and investment potential. The Packaging Digest editor needs the material science and supply chain details. The data just confirms what I’ve seen for years: generic pitches get you nowhere. If you want to turn a release into a viral story, you have to treat journalists like the individuals they are.

Multimedia Integration Boosts Engagement by 2.5x

Nielsen data from 2025 found that press releases with multimedia, high-res images, short videos, infographics, got 2.5 times more engagement from the media than plain text. This is about making a journalist’s job easier and catering to how people consume news now. Reporters, especially at online outlets, need good visuals to go with their stories. A great photo or video can cut their production time down, making your story far more appealing to run. Picture a reporter scrolling through their inbox. One email is a wall of text. The next has a slick, embeddable infographic with the key data and a link to a b-roll package. Which one do you think they’ll click on? Too many companies just attach their logo and think they’re done. The real win is giving them ready-to-use content that tells the story visually. A quality explainer video or even just a professional headshot can be the one thing that gets your story picked up. And remember, these assets are for their audience too. Providing shareable content makes it more likely the story itself spreads once it’s published.

Data-Driven Stories are 30% More Likely to Secure Top-Tier Coverage

An eMarketer report from 2026 showed that stories with proprietary data or unique research were 30% more likely to be covered by top-tier publications. This is the secret for anyone trying to create a viral press release. Journalists at places like The New York Times or Bloomberg are hunting for original insights and validated trends that their competitors don’t have. If your release offers a new data point that challenges an old assumption or reveals a hidden market trend, you’ve instantly made it newsworthy. For instance, instead of just announcing a new software feature, a company could publish data showing how that feature improved user productivity by 25% during its beta test. A consumer brand could share its own survey findings on changing shopping habits. You have to shift from just announcing things to actually researching and packaging your own insights into a real narrative. It’s more work, yes, but the payoff in credibility and pickup is huge. If you don’t have something genuinely new to say, you’re just writing an ad, and ads don’t go viral.

The Power of Relationship Building: An Editorial Aside

Here’s the blunt truth: getting a press release to go viral is almost never about that one perfect release. It’s about the relationships you built months or years before you even wrote it. I’ve watched companies waste fortunes on distribution wires and then wonder why their big announcement fell flat. They were missing trust. Journalists are swamped and they lean on sources they know are reliable. If you’ve been a consistently helpful resource, providing useful insights, connecting them with experts, or giving them a heads-up on trends (even when it’s not your news), they’re far more likely to open your email and actually consider your story. This isn’t a transaction. It’s about playing the long game in media engagement and being a good source. Trying to drop in cold with a press release and expecting a huge response is like crashing a party and demanding everyone listen to you. It just doesn’t work. Build the bridge long before you need to drive a truck over it.

Getting a story to take off isn’t luck, it’s about being intentional. By personalizing your outreach, including good multimedia, and backing your story with real data, you dramatically improve your odds of getting a reporter’s attention and sparking a wider conversation. If you want more ideas on refining your media strategy, check out how Agentic BI can revolutionize media list building.