Global survey highlights the balance between human experience and AI innovation

That said, the survey also reveals that the PR industry faces a new era of complexity, in which client budget caution and the integration of Generative AI (GenAI) now share the top concern among 28% of respondents.

IPRN president Rodrigo Viana de Freitas notes that the PR sector has reached a milestone where AI is no longer an emerging consideration, but an operational reality.

“With 100% of our agencies reporting active AI deployment, competitive advantage now lies in the balance between automated efficiency and preserving the irreducible foundation of PR value: human judgment and strategic trust”.

Major findings of the Survey include:

• Top growth opportunities: Integrated communications strategies emerge as the primary opportunity at 28%, followed by corporate reputation (22%) and CEO profiling and thought leadership (19%).
  
• Service evolution: Strategic communications consultancy leads at 26%, reinforcing the industry’s transition toward higher-value, judgment-intensive advisory work.
  
• Sector demand: Technology continues to lead industry growth prospects at 16%, followed by energy & utilities at 15%.
  
• Investment priorities: Agencies are decisively prioritising AI and automation (27%), followed by measurement & analytics (17%) and staff training (17%).
  
• The AI landscape: While 82% of agencies deploy AI regularly, content creation applications have spread more widely compared to 2024, now covering 14% of usage across text, image, and video.
  
• Strategic challenges: Client confidence to invest amid economic uncertainty (28%) and GenAI integration (28%) are now inseparable strategic concerns.

The Survey shows that while content creation remains the leading application of AI at 25%, the industry is increasingly using the technology for more complex functions, such as research and trend analysis (21%) and creative ideation (20%). This shift is largely driven by the demand for greater efficiency and productivity, which agencies identify as the primary benefit of AI adoption (26%).

At the same time, a notable “perception gap” persists between agencies and their clients. While 89% of agencies hold a strongly positive or strategic view of AI, client sentiment remains more cautious. Nearly half of clients (48%) accept AI-assisted work only conditionally, with transparency seen as essential.

While AI is unlocking efficiencies across content development, research, and analytics, the true differentiator in the regional market remains human insight, experience, cultural intelligence, and trusted relationships.

Members across Africa are placing a premium on strategic communications that combine deep local market understanding with international expertise. In a region shaped by rapid economic transformation, geopolitical complexity and digital acceleration, clients are increasingly looking for PR partners who can provide integrated advisory support that goes beyond media relations to encompass reputation management, stakeholder engagement and executive positioning.

These are skills that technology cannot replicate, particularly in diverse and fast-evolving regions such as ours.

The region is also seeing strong momentum around CEO profiling and thought leadership as businesses recognise the importance of visible, credible leadership during periods of uncertainty and change.

So, whilst agencies must ensure their clients remain “visible, credible, and discoverable” within new digital ecosystems like GenAI, there is also a major opportunity for forward-thinking communications firms that are investing in innovation, measurement and strategic capability development – using AI and without it.

About IPRN

The International Public Relations Network is an international network of independently owned and operated public relations and communications agencies with around 50 members in more than 100 major cities and more than 30 countries around the world, on five continents. It represents all sectors of the industry and represents a cumulative turnover of around 100 million dollars, with more than 1,000 employees and 4,000 clients among the different agencies.