Spenser Blank

Generative AI and personality-led news are reshaping the future of journalism - and fast. A new article from the Reuters Institute underscores just how dramatically the media landscape is shifting as we head into 2026: • The creator economy’s disruption. 70% of respondents worry personality-led news is pulling time and attention away from publishers, and 39% fear losing editorial talent to creators who have more control—and often better pay. • AI as a dominant force. GenAI is changing how audiences find and consume news. “Answer engines” and AI-generated summaries are increasingly diverting attention away from original reporting and news sites. • Low industry confidence. Fewer than 40% of media leaders feel optimistic about journalism’s prospects this year, citing declining trust, political pressure, and economic strain. • Search and social referrals are falling. Publishers expect traffic from search engines to drop by roughly 43% over the next three years as platforms prioritize direct answers over clicks. • A shift in content strategy. In response, many news organizations are doubling down on original reporting, distinctive storytelling, and greater investment in video and audio to keep audiences engaged. At the same time, it’s worth noting where AI systems are sourcing their answers: Reddit threads, LinkedIn articles, and yes—old-school press releases. The media ecosystem is evolving as quickly as the technology that powers it. That means PR and marketing strategies have to evolve, too. For those of us responsible for getting company news out into the world, adapting to these changes isn’t optional. It’s what we’ve always done, and it’s what we’ll keep doing. https://lnkd.in/gRd7uuBj

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Every year our team comes back from IPRRC with an armload of amazing PR studies, in-depth research focused on the effect media + comms has on the world. We sponsor an award, and this year's winner found that in disaster relief corporate good-doing punches above its weight. I wouldn't be flashy about it, but when you help substantively people will remember forever. As a reporter I saw Rockstar Energy provide an entire truck of water and their drinks when a supplier failed to deliver water for an event with 2,000 participants. It was enough to keep the event from being shut down on a disastrously hot day in Orleans (Ottawa). There wasn't a bill back to the local event organizers. I wrote about it, there wasn't Instagram back then. They just did the right thing.

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On the heels of the 2026 CAGNY Conference, I'm revisiting #MetricMonday to touch on “message pull-through,” a highly underrated data point that communications professionals can use to demonstrate their strategic impact on business outcomes in key moments. Last week, more than a dozen CPG leaders shared their key business narratives with analysts, management teams and media, with each hoping to drive home their most relevant, positive, and timely points. Amid all the presentations and keynote speeches, each company and its senior leadership was likely left with one key question: “Did they believe our story?” One way to assess that is by examining "message pull-through" to underscore: 👉 How many of your key messages appear in earned media, social media, organic search, analyst reports, and LLM query results. 👉 Whether your competitors more effectively positioned their messages across the same channels. 👉 How those messages were interpreted without being recast into new narratives. Keep in mind that any read-out on message pull-through shouldn’t start and end with a percentage, as that number alone doesn't offer much context. I recommend pairing this data with sentiment scores measured over time and applied to each narrative theme. This helps reveal how narratives grow or contract in key moments. If your company presented at CAGNY 2026 and wants to understand how your message came through in subsequent coverage, feel free to reach out.

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