THE TWILIGHT OF THE REACH DICTATORSHIP. THE EVOLUTION OF CONTENT CONSUMPTION AND NEW CHALLENGES FOR MEDIA RELATIONS

For years, corporate communication was built on a simple, almost intuitive assumption: the greater the reach, the greater the success. Presence in the largest news outlets was meant to guarantee influence, while page views – alongside metrics such as AVE – served as the primary measure of PR effectiveness. Today, however, this model is clearly losing its relevance. This is not merely a perception among practitioners, but a conclusion supported by data and market analyses. We are entering a phase that can be described as a transition from the economics of reach to the economics of attention and trust.

The evolution of content consumption has been well documented, among others, in reports such as the Reuters Institute Digital News Report. In recent editions, approximately 36–39% of respondents declare that they deliberately avoid news (so-called “news avoidance”), citing information overload, repetition, and the negative tone of coverage as the main reasons. This represents a fundamental shift in how information is consumed: users are no longer competing for access to content, but are actively filtering it, protecting their attention as a scarce resource. At the same time, research by Microsoft points to a decline in attention spans in the digital environment – although the often-cited figure of eight seconds is a simplification, the overall trend is clear: user attention is becoming increasingly fragmented and shorter.

A model based on maximizing traffic and advertising revenue has led to an overproduction of content. Data from Chartbeat shows that a significant proportion of users spend less than 15 seconds on articles, with many not even reaching the halfway point. Meanwhile, analyses by Parse.ly indicate that more than 50% of traffic to news websites may come from social media, where clicks are often incidental and do not translate into genuine engagement. In practice, this means a profound misalignment of metrics: reach does not equal attention, a view does not equal a read, and publication does not equal impact. As a result, much of the mass media today operates as systems optimized for distribution algorithms rather than for the real needs of audiences. The rise of generative AI tools further intensifies this phenomenon, contributing to an ongoing inflation of content.

At the same time, we are witnessing a clear rise in the importance of subscription models and niche media. According to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook, global revenues from digital news subscriptions are growing at a rate of several to more than a dozen percent annually, and in many developed markets over 20% of internet users declare a willingness to pay for high-quality content. Analyses by WAN-IFRA confirm that publishers are increasingly building their business models around loyalty and engagement rather than mass traffic. Simultaneously, the creator economy continues to expand: according to data from platforms such as Substack and Patreon, millions of users worldwide support individual creators, often choosing specific individuals over media brands. This shift from institutions to individuals is of fundamental importance for media relations, as it redefines the map of influence and the channels through which information is distributed.

The way content is consumed is also changing. The Edelman Trust Barometer has for years shown a decline in trust in the media as institutions – in many countries, levels hover around 40–50% – while at the same time highlighting the growing importance of experts and people perceived as “someone like me.” Trust is no longer attributed to brands, but to individuals. Meanwhile, data from Nielsen and Ofcom point to the dynamic growth of the audio market: podcasts are now regularly consumed by over 30–40% of internet users in many developed countries, and the average consumption time of a single piece of content is measured in tens of minutes, not seconds. This marks a qualitative shift – from rapid scrolling to more in-depth, linear content consumption.

In this context, the role of the media relations specialist is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Data clearly shows that maximizing the number of publications is losing its relevance as a goal. What becomes critical is aligning the context, environment, and format of communication with how audiences consume content. PR is no longer merely a function of information distribution; it is becoming a process of curating a brand’s presence within the media ecosystem. This means selectively choosing channels – often niche but highly engaging – investing in relationships with creators and experts and co-creating content rather than broadcasting it unilaterally. In practice, it also requires a shift in perspective: from asking “how many people will see this?” to “how many people will truly understand and remember it?”

The twilight of the “reach dictatorship” does not signal the end of the importance of media, but rather its profound redefinition. Contemporary market analyses clearly indicate that we are entering an era in which attention becomes the most valuable currency, trust the key form of capital, and context the primary carrier of meaning. In this world, effective media relations is no longer about maximizing visibility, but about precisely placing messages where they have a real chance of being processed into knowledge. Because only under such conditions does communication cease to be merely a signal – and begin to have a real impact.