Since its blogging roots in 2004, podcasting has grown into one of today’s most popular audio platforms.
By February 2025, YouTube reported over 1 billion monthly podcast users while a YouGov data highlighted strong weekly listenership across markets such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. A BBC study also found the conversational nature of podcast drives higher brand engagements. Beyond marketing, podcasts are also increasingly leveraged during election seasons, with politicians appearing on the platform as part of their outreach strategies.
As podcasts continue to grow, how can communications professionals tap into this medium and where should they start? Telum Media spoke with agency leaders, Terng Shing Chen, CEO and Founder of SYNC PR, and Odette Barry, Founder of Odette and Co, to learn how they are leveraging podcasts, and gather practical advice for others exploring this space.
Educating beyond the classroom
Back in 2019, Odette launched a paid PR mentorship programme, Hack Your Own PR, to teach businesses practical public relations skills. During live sessions with journalists, she noticed rich insights that emerged, and an idea sparked: why not share these conversations wider via a freely accessible podcast?
“General business leaders haven't necessarily had access to that information and a lot of our cohort of people that we work with are social change makers - so they're charities, not-for-profits, social enterprises, for-purpose organisations, which often times they don't have massive media spend to pay for a publicist,” Odette observed.
Thus, the Hack Your Own PR Podcast was born. To date, the podcast has run for three seasons and Odette has since received testimonials from listeners who successfully pitched stories to journalists after tuning in.
Podcasts as branding powerhouses
For Terng, his personal podcast, Business Over Drinks, started as a way to maintain “human contact” during the COVID pandemic. Today, the podcast has evolved into a branding tool, one that sparks meaningful conversations with individuals he might not have had otherwise.
“The PR industry sucks at talking about themselves,” Terng admitted.
Odette shared the same observation on her podcast’s brand power: “For those people who don't want to DIY their PR, they can see we're having conversations with journalists and editors publicly. And that's good for retainer services as much as it is a marketing vehicle in that space.”
Both Terng and Odette pointed out podcast’s unique ability to allow audiences to engage while multitasking. Odette reflected, “Having an hour of audio in someone's ears is a pretty good relationship-building exercise. That is such a privilege to spend that time with someone that they would invest in listening to a conversation.”
Terng, however, stressed that the content must always add value: “Your customers don't want a podcast about how awesome your product is. Your customers want a podcast about what their pain points are and what they care about because then, you're positioned as an expert.”
Bridging relationships
Odette further highlighted podcasts as an effective tool for industry relationship-building, offering an alternative to in-person meetings.
“Some journalists that we have on the podcast we have a really deep relationship with and others it might be the first time we've had a conversation. In both instances, it’s really valuable for us to enrich our relationship for our clients that we work with as well,” she shared.
Apart from speaking to journalists across the world, Terng also uses podcasting for broader marketing conversations. He does this through SYNC podcast, where he brings in marketers for open, honest discussions with no promotional agenda.
“We laugh about issues that we all face as agency owners or people being in the agency industry for a while. For me, it's like a great cathartic as well as honest way of learning,” Terng shared.
The road ahead for podcasting
When asked for advice on stepping into podcast, Terng was candid: commit to it, or not to start at all.
He stressed that running a podcast is no easy feat, given the costs involved - from equipment to time and creativity. Odette echoed the importance of having a long-term view on podcasts, including proper research to align content with the intended audience: “Investigate who your decision maker is and what they care about.”
She added that podcasts work best when they focus on broader editorial narratives and are properly resourced with time, budget, and support.
While the regional podcasting scene is growing, Terng noted that the business side remains less developed compared to countries like the United States.
In contrast, Odette offered a brighter perspective and rallied readers to tap into podcasting as a medium to be seen and heard, emphasising the need for greater diversity in media representation: “There are so few barriers to entry in podcasting which makes it a wonderful place for emerging voices to cut through.”
While podcasts have become a popular and versatile tool in the PR toolkit, Terng and Odette’s experiences serve as a reminder that creating impact takes commitment, clear purpose, and proper resourcing. For those willing to invest, the rewards can be profound: stronger brands, deeper relationships, greater credibility, and a platform to be truly heard.
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Every few years, someone declares the death of the media release.
Today, the arguments sound familiar. Journalists don't read them anymore. Everything is social-first. AI is replacing traditional media outreach. It's all about the pitch. Press releases are becoming little more than AI-generated filler.
And yet, when we speak with journalists across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, a different picture emerges.
Media releases aren't dead, but expectations around them have changed significantly.
We've analysed more than 10,000 Journalist Interest Survey responses in the Telum Media platform collected over the past five years, alongside insights gathered from conversations with editors, reporters, and producers across the region.
Key takeaways:
- Journalists still value useful PR content
- Relevance matters more than reach
- The pitch and the release serve different roles
- The best releases reduce friction for journalists
- Modern releases need to support multiple platforms
The conclusion is clear: journalists still value media releases, but they value them for different reasons than they once did.
The media release has evolved from a distribution tool into something far more strategic.
The media release is no longer the story
For decades, many PR professionals treated the media release as the centrepiece of media relations activity.
Write the release. Send it widely. Hope for coverage - “spray and pray”.
That approach was far from perfect, but you could get away with it in an era when newsrooms were larger, competition for attention was lower, and journalists had more time to evaluate incoming information.
Today's reality is very different.
Journalists are producing content across multiple platforms, often with smaller teams and tighter deadlines. Their inboxes are flooded with pitches, announcements, thought leadership submissions, and increasingly, AI-generated content.
As a result, journalists have become far more selective about what earns their attention.
The modern media release is no longer just about news stories. It has become a source-of-truth asset, a newsroom resource, and a content hub that supports broader communications activity.
The best PR teams understand this shift.
“The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase: ‘Understand what I cover’. Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement.”
What journalists are actually rejecting
One of the most revealing findings from our analysis is that journalists are not rejecting PR content altogether.
What they're rejecting is low-value outreach.
Across thousands of responses, the same frustrations appeared repeatedly:
- Irrelevant pitches
- Generic outreach
- Mass distribution
- Weak story angles
- Excessive follow-ups
In other words, this is less a rejection of media releases and more a rejection of poor media relations practice.
The strongest message from journalists can be summarised in a single phrase:
"Understand what I cover."
Relevance remains the most important factor in successful media engagement. In fact, our journalist surveys over the past two years have seen a sharp increase in a desire for both relevance and personalisation in pitches.
Journalists increasingly assess pitches within seconds. If the connection to their beat, audience, or current priorities isn't immediately obvious, the opportunity is often lost before the email is even opened.
The pitch and the release have different jobs
One of the biggest misconceptions in modern media relations is treating the pitch and the release as the same thing.
They are not.
The pitch exists to earn attention; the release exists to support the story.
The best pitches are:
- Brief
- Human
- Relevant
- Contextual
- Conversational
The best releases are:
- Structured
- Factual
- Complete
- Reusable
- Easy to reference
At a recent Telum Media event, a senior journalist described the fastest way to kill a pitch with a single word: “Respect”. Or a lack thereof.
A generic greeting. A story unrelated to their beat. A mass-produced email that demonstrates no understanding of their audience.
All signal a lack of respect for the journalist's time and expertise.
High-performing PR teams increasingly write pitches and releases for different audiences. The pitch is written for the journalist. The release is written for the journalist's audience.
That distinction matters.
Why journalists still value media releases
Despite predictions of their demise, journalists continue to actively request media releases.
But they want releases that help them work more efficiently.
The most common requests include concise writing, clear headlines, strong news angles, supporting data (with downloadable images and assets), spokesperson access, and easy-to-use formats.
These preferences reveal the modern role of the release: it functions as a workflow tool.
A strong release helps journalists:
- Understand the story quickly
- Verify information
- Access supporting materials
- Build content efficiently
The best releases reduce friction. And in today's newsroom environment, reducing friction is often more valuable than generating hype.
Think beyond media coverage
Another major shift is that media releases are increasingly serving multiple audiences.
A modern release doesn’t just support journalists; it might also support clients and prospects, employees, investors and analysts, partners, and search visibility.
Rather than creating a single-use document, leading communications teams are building content ecosystems.
The release becomes the foundation for:
- Media outreach
- Newsroom content
- Executive communications
- Social media content
- Email campaigns
- Sales collateral
- Thought leadership activity
This approach not only improves consistency but also increases the return on investment from every announcement.
The role of the modern media release
Not every story needs a release
Perhaps one of the most important lessons is recognising when a media release is the wrong tool.
Releases tend to perform best when there is:
- Genuine news value
- Multiple stakeholder audiences
- A need for factual consistency
- Strong supporting assets
- Broader business significance
They are often less effective for internal milestones framed as major news (or self-congratulatory announcements), generic thought leadership, and untargeted mass outreach.
In some situations, a targeted pitch, LinkedIn strategy, executive commentary programme, or direct relationship-based outreach may be more effective.
Good communications strategy isn't about defaulting to a media release; it's about choosing the right tool for the objective.
A framework for modern media releases
If there is one word that captures what journalists are asking for today, it is respect.
At Telum Media, we summarise this through the RESPECT framework:
R – Relevance
Make it relevant to the journalist, their audience and the moment.
E – Efficiency
Help journalists work faster through clear, concise, and usable content.
S – Substance
Provide genuine value through expertise, data, insight, or access.
P – Personalisation
Demonstrate that you've done your homework.
E – Ecosystem
Think beyond the release and consider how it supports broader communications goals.
C – Clarity
Make the key message immediately obvious.
T – Timing
Reach out at the right time, not simply any time.
What journalists are asking for in a pitch / media release: RESPECT
The future of the media release
The debate over whether media releases are dead misses the point.
The more useful question is how do we make releases work better in today’s media environment?
Journalists still value relevant information, credible sources, strong story angles, and efficient communication. Media releases continue to play an important role in delivering those things.
But success today depends less on the existence of the release itself and more on how strategically it is used.
The media release remains a valuable communications tool.
Just not in the way many of us were taught to use it.
FAQs
Are media releases still useful in 2026?
Yes. Journalists still value media releases, but these days want targeted outreach, relevance to their beat, alignment with their audience, and contextual pitching.
What makes a media release useful to journalists?
Journalists are looking for releases in a format that helps them work efficiently. Which means releases that are concise, factual, with a clear angle, contain usable quotes, and come with downloadable assets and supporting data.
What is the difference between a pitch and a media release?
A pitch earns the journalist’s attention in their cluttered Inbox. A media release supports the story by providing structured, factual, and reusable information relevant to their audience.
With more than 30 years’ experience spanning journalism, corporate communications and media intelligence, Reuben Aitchison is Telum Media’s Head of Insights and Communications.
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