Is Advertising Making PR Harder?

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By: Mike Bush

Ad Blocking has become a thorn in the side of many publications. 144 million people use some type of blocking every month (Ht/T Digiday, numbers from Adobe and Pagefair). There’s plenty of blame to go around as to why these handy little tools are gaining widespread adoption, but the reality is simple: a combination of overly aggressive advertising and tracking, coupled with publications that value(d) income over user experience has led to customers tuning out advertising.

More than a thorn in the side of publications, it’s been a drain on the income of publications, which generally leads to a declining number of reporters at publications. The fine folks over at Shift Communications did some basic math, and identified that there’s around six flacks for every reporter. That ratio portends a HUGE challenge in terms of a signal to noise ratio for writers and editors…and worse…will likely continue to grow unless there is a dramatic change to the macro-environment (a new business model for the media? Is Blendle the Holy Grail?).

Whatever the case, the idea that newsrooms are shrinking as more customers turn on their ad blocker seems to be very real.

This should be a very real concern for anyone in the industry who makes their nut earning media for clients.

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About the Author

Mike Bush is a PR and Marketing freelancer with more than a dozen years of experience in the field. Find him on and connect Twitter @mikebush or at www.mikebush.nyc.

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