Brand-produced video has become a key component in garnering positive media coverage, according to a new study from D S Simon Media.
The “DS Simon Brand Visibility 2020” report, which surveyed 366 journalists, found that media platforms across the board want to use brand video. The appetite for brand video is strongest among blogs—with 85 percent saying they use it—and television stations, which come in close behind at 84 percent. About two-thirds of radio station web sites (66 percent) say they use brand video, as do 54 percent of print media outlets.
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In addition, more than eight out 10 media organizations (82 percent) who use brand video said they use the entire video with no editing. That number reaches 94 percent for blogs, and the overall number is up 11 percent from Simon’s 2018 survey.
In-house spokespeople are more popular with journalists than are outside sources. Almost nine out of 10 respondents (87 percent) said they would rather interview an in-house spokesperson than a third-party expert. The reason for that: 83 percent of those surveyed said in-house spokespeople make brands appear more authentic, while only 44 percent thought that a third-party expert added to a brand’s credibility.
Making CEOs available to the media was seen as an effective way of boosting the appearance of brand authenticity by 76 percent of survey respondents.
And for those afraid that the messages they get into the media may be drowned out in a tidal wave of political news coverage over the next year, the study finds cause for optimism. Only 12 percent of TV news stations surveyed said more than half of their news coverage would be political in nature, with 67 percent saying that political subject matter would fill 25 percent or less of their air time.
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A new Burson report finds that a general lack of trust in social and political institutions has spilled over into the business arena.
Research has always been a “black box,” but with the adoption of new technologies and reduced budgets, less rigorous and even fraudulent methods have proliferated at the hands of inexperienced vendors.
Changing marketing forces continued to push back against both growth and profitability for PR agencies in 2025, according to a recently released report from Gould+Partners.
Japan has kept its position as the country with the strongest ties to the U.S. for the third consecutive year in the recently released 2026 BGR Impact Index.
