Independent Research Firm Generates First Statistically Valid Report on Industry Following Three-Month Analysis of News Stories Resulting From Press Releases
NEW YORK, Sept. 24 /Xinhua-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™, MEDIAtlas™, Search Engine Optimization, MediaRoom, MediaSense™, MultiVu™, 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).
