Media and PR Influencers Survey Findings August 2010

8/8/2019 Media and PR Influencers Survey Findings August 2010

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Media and PR Influencers Survey Findings

>Malaysia

>Singapore

Presented by Leon Hudson, General Manager, South East Asia

Analysis by Sanjay Khanna, Market Research Manager

August 2010


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Media Monitors - Thought Leadership

The Media Analysis Series examine the discourse regarding key

issues in traditional and new media, providing valuable insight intotodays media landscape.

The Energy Debate -

Discussion on nuclear, coal, solar, wind

and other energy sources in Asia Pacific.

The Climate Change Debate -

Discussion about solutionsdiffered greatly, ensuring the

most likely outcome is indecision

and therefore inaction.The Obama Report

Analysing the Media Response to

President Obama across the Asia-

Pacific Region.

The Water Debate in Australia -

A Drought of Action; A Flood of

Politics, Vested Interests and

Nimbyism.

The Global Financial Crisis

Report

Analysing the Media Response to

Global Financial Crisis across the

Asia-Pacific Region.


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Table of contents

1) About the survey

2) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: key take-outs and key findings

3) PROFILE of survey respondents? (PR professionals/Media)

4) Which Media are most INFLUENTIAL? Why?

5) What CHALLENGES are faced by PR/Media professionals?

6) PR - Media RELATIONSHIP: A snapshot

7) Media PREFERENCES

8) CONCLUSIONS and Recommendations

Making Sense of the Media


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Survey background

Surveys conducted in

Malaysia (in collaboration with Public

Relations Consultants Association of

Malaysia) andSingapore

Survey Period: 15 June to 9 July 2010

Online survey ~ 10 min; closed-ended

questions, tick one/more as applicable

Two separate surveys: with some common

questions

Public Relations (PR) professionals: in-

house and agency

Media professionals: Press, Broadcast,

Online, News-wires, Bloggers

378 completed surveys in total:

About the SurveySurvey Objectives

As part of our thought leadership series,

Asia Media Monitors has surveyed PR

practitioners and media professionals in

Malaysia and Singapore markets. The majorobjectives of the survey are to find out

1. media that are considered most

influential by the PR professionals,

2. current challenges faced by PR/media

professionals

3. state of the relationship between the

PR professionals and media

professionals and areas where it could

be improved

4. media preferences for getting

information from PR practitioners

Key survey findings are included as the

Executive Summary on the following pages

and detailed findings have been graphically

presented in the report that follows.

Demographics - PR professionals:

> 309 respondents in total (Malaysia +

Singapore)

> A mix of agency (1/3) and in-house

professionals (2/3)

junior, middle and senior management

levels represented from small, medium

and large organisations

PR/Communications qualifications is

the highest level of qualification for40% respondents

Previous role most likely in

PR/Communications only ~13% have

had held a journalism role previously

Median age is ~37 years, with a median

~10 years of experience in

PR/Communications

Gender balance: more female

practitioners overall, in-house

practitioners comprise ~60%

female/40% male and agency sample

has an equal representation of both

genders

Demographics - Media professionals:

69 respondents (journalists, writers,

correspondents,editorial,management

staff) from publications, online newspublications and broadcast stations.

Twelve bloggers are also included

Unlike PR sample, the gender

breakdown indicates a skew towards

male gender (64% of the sample)

Median age ~39 years; 12 years

experience in media/communications


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The greatest challenge faced by the

PR profession in Malaysia is to raise

the profile of the sector and to

demonstrate tangible value of PR

that impacts the bottom-line of an

organisation.

PR professionals do not have much

control over exogenous factors such as

the domestic political and economic

environment impacting the sector.

However, factors such as talentmanagement, demonstrable value

through monitoring and analysis,

managing the growing use of

digital/social media and interaction with

the media might be well within the

sphere of control of PR professionals.

Clients are more demanding of thePR/communications practice in

Singapore and the profession is much

more accepted, recognised and

established here. Yet there is anapparent dichotomy - traditional media

is still considered relatively more

influential compared to that in Malaysia,

while the penetration of social media

usage is high as well.

The biggest challenge in Singapore is to

clearly demonstrate the value of

traditional as well as new mediacommunications to demanding

internal/external clients by using

appropriate media monitoring and

analysis tools and showing the

contribution to the bottom-line.

Media is comfortable with the use of

technology for research / news-

gathering as well as providing onlinenews content. However, the need of

the hour is to provide unique and

more relevant online content that is

interactive, user-generated content

that is also more engaging for the

target audience.

Executive Summary Key Take-outs

Demonstrating the value ofcommunications to the

bottom-line of organisations

is the key

Relationship between the two

professions is and has been tenuous.

There is scope for improvement by

twoway communication on a timely

basis, where relevant and withtransparency. Finding a common

middle ground is a challenge but this

can be overcome by understanding the

needs and preferences and delivering

accordingly whether it is media

information (e.g. broad based industry

trends provided with product news) or

media providing a timelyacknowledgement and response to a

media release.

More research in this area is

recommended to uncover the dynamic

and growing needs and requirements of

in-house as well as agency practitioners

and media professionals.

Two-way communication is

required to understand the

needs and preferences


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1. INFLUENTIAL MEDIA

Traditional media (especially newspapers

and television) are perceived to be most

influential for communicating with the

target audience in both markets, asreported by PR professionals in the survey.

The key reasons are:

>traditional media is considered relevant

to the target audience by a majority of

respondents, relatively more in

Singapore than in Malaysia

>traditional media is also perceived

better on quality of analysis and opinion

as compared to digital/social media

Communicating with the target audience

using digital/social media is, however quite

common (80% of respondents reported

using these media in the last 12 months as

part of their communication strategy).

These new media are seen to be relatively

more influential than magazines, radio,

outdoor and below-the-line media

Malaysia PR: Malaysia PR professionals

have much better perceptions of

digital/social media than their Singapore

counterparts. In Malaysia, digital/social

media is perceived to be

>balanced/unbiasedcompared to

traditional media and

>is already performing the social

monitoring/ watch-dog role. This

watch-dog role has been held by

traditional media ever since the

evolution of media. Media

professionals responses also support

this finding as well.

Recently the PR week commented that

Malaysia has in fact become the poster-

child for the transformative power of social

media. (see slide 23)

Singapore PR: Perceptions of traditionalmedia are better on

>relevance to target audience

>quality of analysis and opinion and

>being balanced and unbiased

However respondents are equally divided

when asked to compare traditional media

to social media for the social watch-dog

role

Most survey respondents who have used

digital /social media believe that this

medium

>provides a wider reach

>reaches a niche target audience such asyoung adults

>allows the organisation to engage

directly with the audience and

>works faster, more effectively and

efficiently

Looking into the future, it is highly likely

that the future media mix for an

organisation would incorporate both

traditional media and digital/social media.

It would also work best if communications

through these two channels can be

integrated. Media intermediation is also

becoming important and organisations can

use this to get more media attention than

was ever possible through using just press

releases and focussed pitching in the past.

Executive Summary key findings

Future media mix will

incorporate both

traditional as well as

digital/social media

Malaysia has become the

poster-child for the

transformative power ofsocial media.


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2. CHALLENGES

Survey respondents were asked - to pick

one challenge that they believe is the

greatest challenge for them as PR/media

professionals, from amongst the severalchallenges listed on the questionnaire.

In both the markets, PR professionals

greatest challenges are

>determining the return on investment of

PR campaigns and

>managing social media discussion

Dealing with traditional media only

interested in paid contentis also mentionedas one of the top challenges.

The greatest challenges for media

professionals are

>declining audience/circulation

>declining advertising revenues and

>working with limited budgets/resources

These three challenges are related and

dependent on each other. Another survey

finding puts a context to the above finding.

The proposed and much publicised

business/revenue model for traditional

media especially for publications is charging

for online content or putting up the pay-

walls. More than 60% of all respondents

answered in the negative when

asked as a consumer of news, would you

pay for online news content?.

Experts have opined that consumption of

online news is likely to grow as it is a

dynamic medium and news is delivered real-time. But online news is also seen by many

as a commodity - media pay-walls are likely

to face resistance unless niche, original and

unique content can be delivered in a cost

effective and efficient way.

Malaysia PR: In Malaysia, other challenges

voiced by respondents are

>recognition of the strategic role of PR

>getting commitment from senior

management(although 60%

respondents indicate a direct line of

relationship of their PR /

Communications head to the CEO)


Singapore PR: In contrast, recognition and

commitmentare not viewed as major

challenges in Singapore, possibly due to PR /

Communications being a mature, relatively

well established and recognised sector in

Singapore. However, a challenge that ranks

high is

>dealing with demanding

internal/external clients who expect

greater value from PR

In Malaysia, a question about PR

accreditation and implementation of the

proposed PR Act was asked. There isconsensus within the two groups i.e. in-

house and agency professionals , but

polarised perceptions exist between the two

groups

>Would mandatory PR accreditation

raise PR industry standards? (only in-

house PR professionals are in favour)

>Should PR Act be implemented?(onlyin-house PR professionals are in favour)

GFC and its impact: GFC has had its impact

on PR agency revenues and in-house

communication budgets but optimism is

returning in line with the recovery in the

broader economy.

Determining the Returnon investment (ROI) of

PR campaigns is the

greatest challenge for

PR professionals


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3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PR AND

MEDIA PROFESSIONALS

This section of the survey explored the

overall experience and state of relationshipthat PR professionals have with traditional

media professionals and vice versa.

PR professionals: The overall experience

with media is rated positive in both the

markets.Accuracy in reporting by the media

(particularly in Singapore) and availability to

discuss story ideas are seen as goodorfairbymost respondents.

However, in both markets PR professionals

expect

>better acknowledgement of media

information sent

>better acceptance of follow-up by media

Media professionalsare not so positive intheir overall experience rating of PR

professionals. Attributes that influence this

rating are

>little awareness of deadlines

>perceived lack of understanding of topics

coveredby media

>perceived low level of familiarity with

media outlets/broadcast stations and

>lack of authenticity

The above findings are re-inforced by

responses to another question where morethan half the media respondents rate less

than 50% of the media releases received as

timely and relevant.

Looking at the above aspects impacting the

overall relationship between the two

professions, it is evident that a few of these

are communication issues in itself (such as

awareness of deadlines) that can beresolved with both sides. finding a middle

ground and communicating openly.

4. MEDIA PREFERENCES

Media releases sent through e-mail are the

most preferred means of contact by the

media because most media professionals

are seldom available at their work-place.This also allows the media to review the

information unobtrusively and judge the

newsworthiness independently. As

mentioned above, a majority of media

releases currently need to improve in terms

of timeliness and relevance.

Another factor for PR professionals to


consider is that most media professionals

work with multiple platforms nowadays. So

there is a need to customise media releases

to suit each of these platforms - including

tailoring these to the bloggers needs.

(Most bloggers surveyed, welcome contact

with PR professionals.)

Face-to-face communications seems to

have a role to play as well - events

/conferences/media visits are perceived

effective due to

>the direct interaction with company

/client PR staff

>the opportunity to interview/ask

questions and

>to get first hand information/visualsrelated to the product/service/process

being showcased

Media professionals are most interested in

industry trends followed by

company/product news. Research sources

most used are news websites/portals,

traditional media and corporate websites.

Less than 50% of the

media releases are

timely and relevant


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3.1 Survey respondents profilePR professionals


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Current Role - PR professionals

Wide cross-section of PR professionals includedn = 309


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Organisation size - PR professionals

Malaysia, n = 118

Singapore, n = 108Small , medium and large organisations represented


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Management level - PR professionals

n = 258Influential PR professionals from all levels of management


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Reporting Relationship of PR Head to CEO

n = 217

6 in 10 Head of PR/Communications have a direct, hard line of reporting to

the CEO

Direct hard

line

63%Indirect line

(regular

contact)

16%

Indirectdotted line

14%

No line

7%


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Highest Level of Education PR professionals

n = 309

Bachelors -

Mass

Comms/Media16%

Grad. Cert.-

Mass

Comms/Media

13%

Masters - Mass

Comms/Media

10%Bachelors -other

34%

Masters - other

15%

Secondary

School or

under3%

Other

9%

~40% have PR academic qualifications as their highest level of education


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Gender - PR professionals

n = 256

Female gender predominant in PR;

Agency professionals: 50 / 50 split, In-house: 60% F, 40% M


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Gender Media Professionals

n = 50Gender balance is quite different between the two professions


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Current Role Media Professionals

n = 69Cross-section of editorial/non editorial staff and bloggers included


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Media platforms

n = 69

Most media professionals now work across multiple platforms (avg. 2 platforms -

print and online common)


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4. Influential Media


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Singapore PR have a relatively better perception oftraditional media

In Malaysia,

>Traditional media is perceived to be relevant to target audience (34% rated it

better)

>And seen to offer a better quality of analysis and opinion (41% respondents

rated better and 34% same as social media)

However,

>Social media seen as balanced and unbiased (44% rated better + 31% same)

>Unlike Singapore, in Malaysia, social media is perceived as the socialmonitor/watch-dog (40% PR have rated it better + 36% same)

recent PR Week story

Malaysia PR:Traditional Media vs. Social/Digital Media


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Malaysia


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>Overall, views of media professionals are similar>Traditional medias

Relevance to target audience is being eroded by social media

Social monitoring/watchdog role is now with social media

>However traditional medias strength is evident in the area of

offering quality opinion and analysis (58% rated it better)

and presenting a balanced and unbiased view (43% rated it better)

Media:Traditional Media vs. Social/Digital Media:


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5. Challenges


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Greatest challenge PR professionals

n = 309Demonstrating the strategic value of PR is the biggest challenge

15%

13%

13%

17%

11%

6%

18%

16%

13%

10%

3%

15%

Campaign ROI

Managing social

media

Dealing w/ trad.

media

Recognition

Commitment by

mgmt.

Demanding

clients

Malaysia Singapore


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PR Measurement: Media Monitoring and Analysis

n = 309Image Credit: Gauges and Dials by mag3737
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1997114236/http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1997114236/


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PR Measurement: Media Monitoring and Analysis

n = 309Image Credit: Gauges and Dials by mag3737

What was the impact of GFC on the PR budgets/revenue?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1997114236/http://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/1997114236/


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What was the impact of GFC on the PR budgets/revenue?

What is the outlook for next 12 months?

Singapore PR

>Impact on most corporate/govt sector budgets across the board: 44% saidbudgets declined, 7% increased

>Mixed impact on PR agency revenue: 33% said declined, 31% recorded anincrease

>Optimism is returning fast (>30% said budget likely to go up in next 12m, only

6% likely to decline)

Malaysia PR

>Compared to Singapore, slightly less impact on corporate/govt. sector : 36%declined

>Compared to Singapore, slightly more impact on PR agency revenue: 40%declined

>Outlook for next 12m is positive in Malaysia as well (25% said likely to go up,only 13% said likely to decline)

Malaysia only


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Malaysia only

Mandatory PR Accreditation Higher Standards?

Polarised Perceptions

n = 154

Would mandatory PR Accreditation promote higher standards?

Yes, 26%

Yes, 61%

No, 66%

No, 24%

8%

15%

PR

agency/consultant

In-house

Yes No Don't know

Malaysia only


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Malaysia only

Proposed Public Relations Act: Should it be implemented?

Polarised Perceptions

n = 154

Should the PR Act be implemented?

Yes, 16%

Yes, 56%

No, 74%

No, 24%

10%

20%

PR

agency/consultant

In-house

Yes No Don't know


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Greatest challenge Media professionals

n = 69


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Attitude towards online news consumption

PR, n = 309

Media, n = 69Q: As a consumer, would you pay for accessing news online?


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Nielsen study Feb 2010*

* 27000 respondents, 52 countries


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6. Relationship snapshot:

PR professionals and Media professionals

Singapore PR:


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Singapore PR:

Experience dealing with media professionals

n = 155

5%

5%

6%

8%

35%

35%

32%

50%

45%

32%

43%

48%

38%

46%

17%

14%

11%

5%

10%Acknowledgement

of info

Acceptance of

follow-up

Availability to

discuss

Reporting accuracy

Overall experience

1. Excellent 2. Good 3. Fair 4. Poor 5. Very Poor 6. Don't know

Overall experience good or fair but PR professionals desire media acceptance of PR

follow-up and acknowledgement of media information sent

Malaysia PR:


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Malaysia PR:

Experience dealing with media professionals

n = 154

5%

5%

33%

31%

37%

38%

44%

36%

47%

46%

54%

47%

19%

16%

9%

5%

7%

8%Acknowledgement

of info

Acceptance of

follow-up

Availability to

discuss

Reporting accuracy

Overall experience

1. Excellent 2. Good 3. Fair 4. Poor 5. Very Poor 6. Don't know

Similar experience compared to Singapore. However, accuracy in reporting perceived to

be relatively lower

Media professionals:


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Media professionals:

Experience dealing with PR professionals

n = 63

~1 in 3 media professionals expect a much better understanding of media deadlines, a lack

of spin and much better awareness of their media outlet/blog requirements/subjects

5%

27%

25%

17%

14%

21%

22%

16%

54%

40%

54%

54%

44%

33%

56%

10%

16%

21%

22%

22%

25%

16%

8%

8%

8%

10%

11%

14%

6%

Responsiveness

Access to executives

Understanding of

Authenticity

Familiarity w/

Deadlines

Overall Experience

Excellent Good Fair Poor Very Poor Don't know


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7. Media preferences

Whi h i h f d d f ?


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Which is the most preferred mode of contact?

n = 62

Whi h di l ti ti it i t ff ti ll ?


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Which media relation activity is most effective overall ?

n = 61

Whi h t id i t t di th t?


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Which story ideas interest media the most?

n = 60

Whi h h f d b di ?


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Which research sources are preferred by media?

n = 59


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Conclusions and Recommendations


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>Future media mix: Traditional + social media = broader influence, wider reach

>Traditional media still relevant and strong on quality of commentary/opinion

>Social media has taken up the watch-dog role (+ seen as unbiased - in Malaysia)

>Greatest challenge for PR is to demonstrate the value and strategic role of PR

>Dealing with traditional media remains a challenge for PR as well as managing

social media

>As media revenue models are challenged and new models/pay-walls are tested,

importance of paid content/editorials might increase

Conclusions continued on next slide



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>Strong economic recovery is aiding the recovery of the PR/media sectors as well

>Gender imbalance in PR and media sectors does it have an impact?

>Communication between PR and media professionals is still a challenge

PR professionals want more acknowledgement/acceptance of follow-up

Media want a better understanding of subjects/outlets before PR pitch any

stories

Stories need to arrive timely and be devoid of spin

>Media releases sent through email preferred simple/direct/largely un-

obstrusive

>Events/conferences have a role to play - allow face-to-face contact and industrytrends can be disseminated

Verbatim comments


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Verbatim comments

SG: (We have) used digital/social media to

keep pace with changing information-

receiving habits of audience

SG: . what the writers can gain from you

in terms of press trips determine how

much media interest you hold it alsohow much media dollars you spend with

the publications. Digital media, it is not

really developed in Singapore.

MY: Malaysian corporates have yet to reach

the level of sophistication as other markets

eg Singapore, HK.

SG: Getting enough competent PR and

communications professionals in your

team or to serve your account (is a

challenge)

SG: the role of PR should provide a guide

into the tracking and measuring the

success of digital campaigns and to

provide a roadmap with detailed

objectives and measurables in order to

showcase value

MY: We are seen as the fire-fighters,spin doctors, glamour boys n girls..not

as an essential and strategic

management tool


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Thank you!

The full report is available for download on our website

www.mediamonitors.com.sg
http://www.mediamonitors.com.sg/http://www.mediamonitors.com.sg/http://www.mediamonitors.com.sg/

Media and PR Influencers Survey Findings August 2010

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