You can't improve what you don't measure. And when it comes to press releases, PR professionals all too often either don't track them at all or use outdated and irrelevant metrics. However, press release tracking is the only way you can improve your PR outreach efforts.
Today, we show you everything you need to know about press release analytics: what to measure, when and how.
Why traditional PR metrics are holding you back
Traditionally, PR professionals have judged the success of a press release by metrics such as impressions, media pickups, and open rates. But it's 2025, and these PR KPIs no longer make that much sense, for several reasons.
- Lack of tangible impact. If you get high impressions or media pickups, it won't necessarily result in more meaningful engagement, increased brand credibility, or more sales.
- Decline of traditional media influence. Today's audiences consume news through different channels, such as social media, blogs, and niche industry influencers, rather than mainstream press releases. In other words, your press release can get media attention, but it won't necessarily break through to the right audience.
- The rise of direct audience engagement. Many brands now have direct communication channels with their audiences, such as owned media (blogs, websites, email lists) and social media platforms. They no longer have to rely on traditional media pickups as a KPI.
- Vanity metrics vs. real outcomes. KPIs such as open rates and impressions are considered vanity metrics in PR analytics because they don't describe real interest or action from a target audience. Modern PR teams can measure success by engagement, such as social shares, website traffic, and inbound inquiries, rather than by passive exposure.
- Shift towards measurable business goals. PR and media relations are now aligned with marketing and sales. Businesses prioritize metrics such as lead generation, referral traffic, brand sentiment, and share of voice over traditional media placement counts.
- There is no brand sentiment analysis. Traditional press release analytics don't tell you if the coverage was positive, negative, or neutral. Instead, you just learn that a story was picked up.
What’s changing in press release measurement?
Press release distribution now is wildly different compared to even just a few years ago. There are a lot of contributing factors and here are just some of the changes happening in the ways press release coverage is measured:
AI-driven analytics for deeper insights
Modern PR platforms, such as Prowly, use AI-powered analytics to track message consistency, sentiment, and engagement trends instead of just counting the number of views or shares.
These tools analyze how a press release resonates across different media channels. They tell you whether the sentiment is positive or negative and whether the key messaging is consistent across publications.
Comprehensive audience insights
Platforms like Prowly provide in-depth audience analytics, including traffic sources, audience demographics, and engagement behavior.
This helps PR teams understand who is engaging with their content, how they found it, and whether it leads to further interaction with the brand.
Media monitoring beyond pickups
Instead of simply tracking media pickups, advanced PR platforms like Prowly offer real-time media monitoring to gauge brand sentiment and visibility across news sites, social media, and influencer platforms.
These tools provide a more holistic view of PR's impact, allowing PR pros to adjust messaging strategies in real time instead of waiting for days or weeks to see the results.
Focus on engagement and business impact
Press releases are now evaluated based on their impact on website traffic, lead generation, and conversions. Metrics like Share of Voice, brand authority, and customer actions taken after exposure to a press release are becoming the new standard for success.
With these changes, modern PR measurement goes beyond superficial numbers to offer actionable insights that align PR efforts with business growth.
The New AI-driven press release analytics model
There is a common thread in all the changes happening in press release analytics: artificial intelligence.
Instead of focusing on superficial reach, AI and advanced PR tools shift the focus to real engagement and business impact. With this in mind, there is a new set of AI-powered press release coverage metrics you should watch out for in 2025.
Advanced press release metrics to track in 2025
👉 Before you send your press release: AI-Powered content review
Even the best press release needs fine-tuning before publication.
AI-driven PR tools now review your content against industry best practices, offering actionable suggestions to refine your structure, tone, and clarity. By incorporating these recommendations, PR teams can ensure their press release is optimized for readability, engagement, and media pickup—before it even reaches journalists.
👉 Sentiment & emotional impact tracker
AI scans all the mentions of your brand and target keywords in real-time to measure public sentiment. It looks across news articles, blogs, forum discussions, social media posts and other sources to identify tone shifts (positive, neutral, negative). The PR tool then alerts you about potential issues before they snowball into crises.
👉 Conversion-driven PR metrics
With some PR tools, you can track who reads your press release, which source they came from, and what they do after reading, e.g. sign up for something, download a file, or make a purchase. This lets you connect press release coverage to tangible business outcomes.
How to track press release performance in 2025
The old way is clearly no longer working, so what does? Here is how press release tracking will work in 2025.
Instead of relying on surface-level metrics, PR teams need real-time, AI-boosted insights to measure what actually matters. Here’s a step-by-step approach:
Step 0: Before creating a press release – identify the most influential platforms
Before drafting a press release, the key to success is knowing where it will make the biggest impact.
Not all media outlets hold the same influence over your target audience, and blindly distributing your press release to a broad list won’t cut it.
Instead, use audience analytics to identify which publications, journalists, or platforms your ideal audience actively engages with.
By leveraging tools like Prowly, you can analyze readership demographics, social engagement levels, and past media performance to pinpoint the most effective distribution channels. This ensures that your press release reaches the right people in the right places—maximizing exposure, relevance, and ultimately, results.
💡 To do so in Prowly, go to the Media outlets tab and use relevant filters. Then, sort the results according to the influence score (which also includes the number of social media followers the outlet has) so that your results are arranged from most popular to least.
Step 1: Track traffic sources & referral data
The basis for great press release analytics is finding out where people read them. Tools such as Prowly let you track these key metrics:
- Direct visits (people who accessed the press release directly)
- Search engine traffic (organic discovery through Google, Bing, etc.)
- Social media referrals (engagement-driven discovery)
- Email campaign traffic (how many readers came from your PR distribution emails)
💡 In Prowly, you can head to your analytics dashboard and view these traffic sources through automated reports. You can learn through past press release performance and guide future distribution efforts.
Step 2: Monitor media pickups & mentions
Just because someone picked up your press release doesn't mean that they are using it correctly and conveying the message the way you originally phrased it. With the right tools, PR professionals can analyze metrics such as:
- Number of media mentions – How many times has your press release been covered?
- Message consistency – Are journalists quoting your key messages correctly?
- Tier of media coverage – Are you being picked up by high-authority sources or just small blogs?
💡 With Prowly, you'll have a tool that scans the web 24/7 for new mentions of your brand (or your competitors) so you can see when, where and how outlets and authors use your press releases.
Step 3: Analyze sentiment & emotional impact
Traditionally, PR professionals tracked if someone picked up their press release, but there was not much information beyond that. Tracking how people feel when they comment on your press release gives you more in-depth information to inform your PR strategy.
These are some of the KPIs you can track with Prowly:
👉 Sentiment distribution (positive, neutral, negative coverage)
👉 Crisis flagging (AI detects negative spikes before they become PR disasters)
Get email notifications for chosen types of mentions. You can choose what situations need your immediate attention. With alerts, you can react quicker and put out a fire before it spreads.
Conclusion
The future is already here and if you're in public relations, the good news is that AI is not coming for your job.
In fact, new press release analytics features make it easier for you to do your job, analyze your performance, improve future campaigns, and provide more value to your business or client.
With Prowly, you can eliminate the guesswork and make sure that every press release is guided by data and not gut feeling. As insights come in in real-time and you get information on sentiment, message penetration and reader activity, every new press release will be better than the last.
