If PR has been sitting at the bottom of your budget priority list, there’s never been a better time to move it up.
Gartner — one of the most respected research and advisory firms in the world — recently predicted that by 2027, the mass adoption of public large language models (LLMs) as a replacement for traditional search will drive a 2x increase in PR and earned media budgets.
That’s not a PR agency making the case for PR. That’s an independent, third-party research giant telling CMOs and business leaders that the way people find information is changing, and earned media is at the center of it.
Here’s why this matters and why it should inform how your company is thinking about communications right now.
AI search trusts earned media more than paid.
When someone types a question into ChatGPT, Claude or Google’s AI Overviews, the answer they get isn’t pulled from a sponsored post or a display ad. It’s pulled from credible, editorial content. Research from Muck Rack shows that more than 95% of links cited in AI-generated answers come from non-paid sources, with half of all AI citations coming from content published within the last 11 months.
The content AI is drawing from is almost entirely earned and owned. Think press coverage, thought leadership articles, organic LinkedIn content, blog posts and bylines. Brands that have been investing in PR are quietly building an advantage they may not have even realized they had.
AI-driven discovery is already changing how buyers find you.
According to Semrush, AI search visitors convert at 4.4x the rate of traditional organic search. That means the people finding your brand through AI-generated answers aren’t just browsing; they’re ready to take action.
For years, the argument for paid media was reach and conversion. If AI-driven discovery is outperforming traditional search on conversion, and AI is disproportionately citing earned media, the math starts to look very different for where your marketing dollars should go.
PR has always mattered. AI just proves it.
Ask any PR professional why earned media matters and they’ll tell you that third-party validation carries a weight that paid advertising can’t buy. A journalist choosing to write about your company, an industry publication featuring your perspective, or a national outlet covering your product launch will always have more credibility than paying for placement.
It can be hard to put a number on credibility, but AI is starting to change that. When the data shows that most of AI’s citations come from non-paid sources, and that AI-driven visitors convert at over four times the rate of traditional search, the ROI conversation around PR gets a lot easier.
The value was always there. Now we just have receipts.
Thought leadership and organic channels are playing a bigger role.
It’s not just traditional press coverage, either. Organic channels like LinkedIn, authored articles and executive thought leadership are all part of the ecosystem AI draws from. If your leadership team has a visible, consistent presence sharing insights and perspectives in your industry, that content contributes to how AI understands and represents your brand.
The full picture of how your brand shows up in credible, non-paid channels matters, and that means thinking about PR as more than just media relations.
The bottom line.
For years, there’s been a perception among some C-suite members that PR is a “nice to have” – something to consider after the paid media and digital advertising budgets are locked in. Now, data makes a compelling case that this thinking needs to change.
PR is about more than visibility with human audiences; it’s a core driver of discoverability in an AI-first world.
If your company isn’t actively investing in earned media, thought leadership and a consistent PR strategy, you could miss out on building the foundation for how the next generation of buyers will find you.
Ready to build a PR strategy that works for both human and AI audiences? Get in touch with Dittoe PR today.
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