PR Campaign Measurement in 2026
Over the past few months, we have been interviewing our Collectivist agency members to gather their thoughts and insights on what might change in the PR and marketing world during 2026. Here, Mike, Rahme, Simon, Louay, and Ricardo discuss PR campaign measurement in 2026 and predict a greater focus on messaging pull-through, quantifying impact on a broader range of B2B influencers, and greater use of AI in measurement.
PR campaign measurement in 2026
Ricardo Schell, Noizze Media (Spain and Portugal) suggests success is different for every customer, but for media relations activities he says:
“There’s coverage volume, ROI, earned media value, etc. We recommend a combination of volume and quality.”
He cautions PR managers away from comparing earned media to paid:
“PR managers often compare PR to paid media – clicks from Google or Facebook ads etc – but we’re not only generating leads. We’re building brand image and awareness.”
Rahme Mehmet, TechComms (UK) sees an increasing focus on reputation in 2026:
“We are moving away from simple coverage volume as the primary success metric, finally! Clients are increasingly focused on message pull-through; defining core messages and ensuring they align with target audiences is critical. Messaging must appear in the right publications, not least because they are often the sources LLMs pull from. Clients are now checking these models to see whether their brand appears with the right messaging.”
Simon Vericel, Influence Matters (China, Indonesia, China and Taiwan) is looking towards measuring campaign impact against journalists but also a much broader range of B2B influencers:
“AI will make a difference in how we calculate ROI.
More than simply responding to client expectations, we’re leading the shift with our Golden Circle of Influence framework.
Our AI tool—built around our Golden Circle of Influence framework—identifies the top influencers for our clients: journalists, analysts, in-house engineers, and others. We quantify their relevance to our clients’ business or product lines (AI-supported). Based on that quantification, we can benchmark campaigns and measure results against that benchmark. It doesn’t fully solve the challenge of connecting PR to sales, but it shows where the budget is going and why we prioritise certain influencers over others—sometimes rejecting influencers the client thinks are important.”
Louay al Samarrai, Active DMC (Middle-East) also predicts the greater involvement of AI in PR measurement:
“We’ll measure success by the work we deliver, and the results achieved for our clients through a combination of human expertise and new AI technology.”
READ MORE
