Independent Research Firm Generates First Statistically Valid Report on
Industry Following Three-Month Analysis of News Stories Resulting From
Press Releases
NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Press releases distributed by PR
Newswire get used by media more often than copy from competing services and
generate more clips when they are picked up, according to a landmark study
of commercial newswires.
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The comprehensive study was conducted by the market research and
intelligence firm Diagnostics Plus. Other third party data from web
analytics providers shows PR Newswire outperforms its peers in web traffic
rank and reach and in blog links, as well.
"Our entire team is gratified that an impartial review of our industry
has verified that there is a significant difference in newswire services,"
said Dave Armon, president of PR Newswire. "In our estimation, this study
verifies a long-held belief within PR Newswire that successful news
dissemination is more than simply putting a release over a wire. Consistent
and impactful coverage requires a combination of state-of-the-art
technology, the ability to simultaneously issue news on a global scale and
in an extremely targeted manner, and a deep understanding of the media
industry, in all its forms. To this point, we have always treated the news
media as if they were our clients. This dedication, we believe, has endowed
PR Newswire with a high level of credibility and trust that pays off in
better results for issuers."
THE STUDY
To objectively gauge media pick-up of press releases distributed by PR
Newswire and its competitors -- Business Wire, Marketwire and Nasdaq-owned
PrimeNewswire, which has since been re-branded as GlobeNewswire -- PR
Newswire engaged Diagnostics Plus, an independent market research company
located in State College, Pa. On each business day from April 1 to June 30,
20 press releases -- five per wire service -- were randomly selected and
tracked using the online content libraries LexisNexis and Factiva for media
pickup over a two-week period. A pick-up was defined as any reference to
the release subject matter in media published after the date and time of
the release. Republication of the release without alteration was not
counted as pick-up.
"The release selection process was designed to minimize bias and
produce a truly random sampling," said Jim Fong, president of Diagnostics
Plus and head of the five-person team that conducted the study. "The goal
of the study was to measure the frequency with which media outlets pick up
press releases from each of the major newswire services and the volume of
coverage that those announcements received."
PR Newswire beat its competitors across all categories measured,
according to the study.
Press releases transmitted by PR Newswire were used 55% of the time,
versus Marketwire's 43% pickup rate, Business Wire's rate of 38% and a rate
of 37% by PrimeNewswire, according to the study. The difference between PR
Newswire's rate of pickup in comparison to the other wire services produced
a statistically significant p-value of 0.0003. A p-value of 0.05 is the
generally accepted mark of significance in scientific research. 0.01
indicates extreme significance.
Of those releases attracting attention by the media, the volume of
coverage was highest with PR Newswire, followed by Business Wire,
PrimeNewswire and Marketwire. PR Newswire has nearly twice the pick-up
frequency as PrimeNewswire and more than twice that of Marketwire. Pick-up
frequency, the number of times a single press release was reported in the
media, was also significant between PR Newswire and the combined average of
other services, producing a p-value of 0.0298.
Ken Dowell, executive vice president of products for PR Newswire,
commented, "The study affirms the quality of content that is delivered by
PR Newswire as well as the effectiveness of our media relations, including
our PR Newswire for Journalists web site that has registered 100,000
journalists since launching in 1998."
A variety of third party measures also indicate that PR Newswire leads
its competitors in new media realms. For example, by two measures --
Quantcast and Compete.com -- the daily average number of unique visitors to
prnewswire.com was double that of businesswire.com in August.
"Our content has been referred to in more blog posts, Diggs and
Delicious Links than any other commercial wire service," said Armon. "PR
Newswire has the highest Google page rank in our industry, and has been
referenced as a source on Wikipedia more than any other wire service as
well. We believe this proves PR Newswire is the most trusted and credible
source for news from the corporate and public policy sectors."
About PR Newswire
PR Newswire Association LLC (http://www.prnewswire.com/) provides
electronic distribution, targeting, measurement and broadcast services on
behalf of tens of thousands of corporate, government, association, labor,
non-profit, and other customers worldwide. Using PR Newswire, these
organizations reach a variety of critical audiences including the news
media, the investment community, government decision-makers, and the
general public with their up-to-the-minute, full-text news developments.
Established in 1954, PR Newswire has offices in 14 countries and
routinely sends its customers' news to outlets in more than 170 countries
and in more than 40 languages. Utilizing the latest in communications
technology, PR Newswire content is considered a mainstay among news
reporters, investors and individuals who seek breaking news from the
source. PR Newswire's leading services include ProfNet(SM), eWatch(TM),
MEDIAtlas(TM), Search Engine Optimization, MediaRoom, MediaSense(TM),
MultiVu(TM), U.S. Newswire, the preeminent policy newswire in the industry,
Vintage Filings, the fastest growing Edgar filing company, and Hispanic PR
Wire, LatinClips and Hispanic Digital Network, the foremost Hispanic
communications services. PR Newswire is a subsidiary of United Business
Media Limited of London.
About Diagnostics Plus
Diagnostics Plus has been serving clients for over two decades. The
company specializes in providing market and media research for clients in a
variety of sectors. Diagnostics Plus has worked with more than 700
organizations in 18 countries and is a member of several major research
organizations including the Council for Marketing and Opinion Research
(CMOR), Market Research Association (MRA) and the Council of American
Survey Research Organizations (CASRO).
SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC
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