Only 13 per cent of press releases include multimedia according to RealWire research

• 81 per cent of press releases that do include multimedia are limited to a photo or graphic
• 2 per cent of press releases include audio or video elements

RealWire, the UK press release distribution company that targets the online media, has carried out an analysis of the extent to which multimedia is being used by PR practitioners to enhance their press releases.

The analysis was based on 2,847 press releases distributed across six newswires in the early part of December 2009. The key findings are:
 
• 46 per cent include content other than text
• 71 per cent of these “multimedia” releases just consist of the company logo
• 13 per cent are “true” multimedia releases where “true” means include content other than a company logo
• 2 per cent include audio and/or video
• 2 per cent include social media content such as embedded YouTube videos

Commenting on the results Giles Shorthouse, RealWire Business Development Executive said “In an online digital world where content can be created in multiple mediums and then shared in social media communities, it is surprising, and a little disappointing, to see such a small proportion of PR stories taking advantage of these opportunities.”

RealWire has been at the forefront of helping the PR community to tell its stories more creatively. It doesn’t charge clients extra to distribute images, supporting documents or include related links within their releases and its audio/video distribution is believed to be amongst the most cost effective in the industry. This investment in multimedia support is reflected in the fact that 46 per cent of RealWire’s releases were found to be “true” multimedia releases.*

The company was also the first UK distribution company to implement the Social Media News Release format as an option in the summer of 2007 and is ranked top of Google.co.uk for this topic.

Adam Parker, RealWire’s Chief Executive said “From our perspective the barriers to utilising multimedia that seem to exist are the prohibitive costs that some services charge to distribute multimedia content, a lack of planning and collaboration between different marketing disciplines with regards to sharing relevant content and an apparent skills gap where audio and video creation is concerned. As an industry we need to address these challenges so we can enhance the creativity of our storytelling.”

More commentary from Adam about the research can be found here.

Notes on analysis
The research was carried out in house by RealWire from 9th-14th December. The analysis was performed on 2,847 releases distributed on 2nd December 2009 by a combination of PRNewswire, Businesswire, Marketwire, PRWeb, Sourcewire and RealWire.

*The comparison figure for RealWire was from an extended sample of releases sent over the period 2nd-9th of December so that the sample size was more significant to base the comparison on.

Full details of the analysis can be found in the findings report here.

RealWire
RealWire is a press release distribution company that specialises in the online media. Since its inception in 2000 it has worked on behalf of PR agency and corporate clients throughout the UK and Europe. The company is UK based and distributes news to relevant journalists, editors, bloggers and publishers across thousands of online media sites which cover a range of industries including Telecoms, IT, Consumer Tech, Gaming, Broadcast, Pharma/Healthcare and Banking and Finance.

It provides a unique service by not only distributing news and multimedia content, but by also providing clients with analysis of the potential influence that their news has generated online. RealWire was the first UK distribution company to introduce the Social Media News Release - a new kind of press release to cater for the online media world.