The AI Appetite: Why PR Budgets are Doubling (and the Plot Twist We Can’t Ignore) 

Jeff Rusack, Media Relations Manager

The marketing tables have officially turned. According to the research and advisory firm Gartner, PR and earned media budgets are projected to double by next year.

For years, digital advertising and classic SEO got all the love (and the budget). But this new era of zero-click searches has fundamentally altered how users discover and consume information. Instead of scrolling through the 10 blue hyperlinks ranked by keyword relevance, users are now asking AI engines for answers.

AI search engines don't care about organic visibility or paid ads. Instead, large language models (LLMs) crawl the web for trust, authority, and genuine storytelling. And earned media is one of the strongest signals of all three. If you want a chatbot to recommend your brand, you need credible, third-party validation. In short, Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the new SEO, and PR is the engine powering it.

But here is the million-dollar plot twist: AI eats data, but journalism feeds it. If organizations don’t make an intentional effort to support the actual news outlets creating this trustworthy content, the algorithms run out of food. When news outlets fold due to lack of financial support, there’s a significant reduction in credible training data, which leads to a major decline in high-authority AI recommendations.

If your company has (or wants to have) a robust PR program, the media ecosystem is essential to your authority and influence. Here are five practical ways a company can actively support the news outlets keeping our industry alive:

• Pay for Corporate Subscriptions: Don't let your team rely on bypass tricks or shared logins. Invest in enterprise-wide subscriptions for top-tier industry publications, local papers, community journalism, and niche tech journals.
• Allocate Budget to Paid Newsletters & Ads: Earned media is the goal, but sponsored content and paid advertisements keep newsrooms financially afloat. Treat them as valued media partners.
• Prioritize Expert Access, Not Corporate Fluff: Stop sending journalists generic, AI-generated press releases. Give them exclusive access to your data, your C-suite, and real scientific or technical insights that help them write deep, high-value investigative pieces.
• Expand Your Media List to Independent & Niche Outlets: Don't just chase the massive mastheads. Actively pitch and support independent substacks, trade publications, and local journalists who dive deep into tech and healthcare.
• Amplify Their Work (With Direct Attribution): When a journalist features your company, don't just take the win and run. Post and amplify on social platforms with a paid budget, share it in your newsletters and on your website, and drive traffic back to their site.

Supporting journalism isn't just corporate altruism anymore; it's the ultimate defense strategy for your future brand visibility. Let's make sure our PR budgets are feeding the ecosystem that feeds us.