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EZ Newswire Releases 2025 State of the Newswire Report

January 28, 2025
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EZ Newswire, an AI-enabled platform empowering organizations to turn their news into brand performance, today announced the release of its 2025 State of the Newswire Report. The report draws from an extensive survey of senior professionals in marketing, corporate communications, and public relations across both brands and agencies to better understand how they communicate news today, whether newswires still serve their purpose, and what improvements they recommend.

The research indicates that while newswires remain a staple product of brand messaging, satisfaction with legacy services is low due to concerns about price, quality, and impact—underscoring the need for modernization.

Key findings from the report include:

  • Overall satisfaction is low. 71% of respondents are dissatisfied with their newswire provider, citing high cost, low-quality distribution, and lack of targeting as the three most important reasons why.
  • There is a disconnect between value and price. 78% of respondents have a negative view on the return on investment offered by newswires.
  • Visibility and discoverability are paramount. 100% of agencies and 98% of brands surveyed use a newswire to either increase reach and visibility of the news or for SEO value.

“As the CEO of an agency serving global enterprises, we infrequently recommend newswire distribution to clients due to their cost, poor return on coverage and low quality of distribution. There is also a complexity in working with them that dissuades use. Certainly, the system that exists is not aligned with the current needs of agencies for most use cases and a better model is needed,” said Bill Daddi, founder of DBC Brand Communications, whose client roster includes Kantar, Roland Berger, LG Ads and other large U.S. and multinational corporations.

For decades, the newswire industry has been dominated by PR Newswire and Business Wire, which were founded in 1954 and 1961, respectively. However, the proliferation of the internet, social media, and more recent technological advances, including artificial intelligence, have transformed media and how news is created, shared, and consumed. This has put pressure on the durability of legacy industries, such as the newswire, and tested the hegemony of its largest traditional players.

In July 2024, Dow Jones filed a lawsuit against PR Newswire’s parent company, Cision, for failure to pay on a $174 million contract, less than one year into a multi-year partnership. In November, Bloomberg reported that Moody’s downgraded Cision’s credit rating, citing weak performance, and that Cision had parted ways with its CEO. In December, S&P Global Ratings also downgraded Cision’s credit, maintaining a negative outlook. Just last week, Bloomberg reported that talks between Cision and its lenders had fallen apart, further casting a shadow about the company’s future.

Business Wire, a wholly owned subsidiary of multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, has been steadily reducing its workforce from 501 employees in 2015 to 352 in 2023, according to Berkshire’s public filings.

To access the full report, visit https://www.eznewswire.com/state-of-the-newswire-report.