Research Breakdown
We reverse-engineered 5,272 real media placements to find out what actually gets published
“Trace enough real placements and the pattern jumps out: data-driven stories anchored to real numbers beat everything else, by a wide margin.”
— Salva Jovells, on what this analysis revealed
⏱ 10 min read
In This Article
Key Findings At a Glance
- 5 topics account for 78% of all placements
- Reach PLC network drives ~734 placements through syndication
- Google search data is the #1 data source — and it’s free
- February is the densest month for reactive PR
- 10 repeatable patterns generate ~90% of placements
Most digital PR advice is a gut feeling wearing a case study. “We earned 50+ links!” Great — from where? Using what angle? With what data? On what timing? Nobody says.
So we went and got the specifics ourselves.
To be clear: these aren’t our placements. Over several months we traced and catalogued 5,272 real media placements earned by Search Intelligence, one of the UK’s largest reactive PR agencies — tagging every one by topic, outlet, journalist, data source, seasonal hook, and campaign pattern. It’s research that shaped how we run campaigns at Presslei, not a tally of results we produced ourselves.
This isn’t 200 PR professionals describing their “best practices” in a survey. It’s what actually got published. Here’s what the data shows.
The Dataset
Quick context on what we actually analyzed, before the findings.
The seed: 931 documented campaign cases from Search Intelligence, a UK-based reactive PR agency with 50,000+ claimed placements. We traced every one we could verify, confirmed the outlets, mapped the campaign mechanics, and grew the dataset to 5,272 total placements.
Each entry is tagged: outlet domain, journalist name (when we could confirm one), topic category, data source type, seasonal hook (if any), and campaign pattern used.
This isn’t exhaustive — no earned-media dataset ever is. But 5,272 verified entries is more than enough to see real patterns, not noise.
Finding #1: Five Topics Dominate Everything
Topic distribution in reactive PR isn’t close to even. It’s dramatically skewed toward five categories.
~1,090 (20.7%)
~901 (17.1%)
~790 (15.0%)
~722 (13.7%)
~597 (11.3%)
(These add up to more than 100% because most placements span multiple topics. A story on the priciest celebrity homes hits both Celebrities and Property. A holiday food trend piece counts under both Travel and Food. Real coverage rarely fits one box.)
The top 5 topics — Finance, Fashion, Travel, Health, and Property — account for roughly 78% of all placements.
If your brand can credibly connect to one of these five topics, your odds of getting placed jump significantly. An outdoor-gear ecommerce brand has a built-in travel angle. A B2B SaaS company has to work harder for it — tie the data to finance or health trends, or it’s a much longer road.
Fashion has a twist worth knowing. It’s the #2 topic with 901 placements, but the brands behind those studies are rarely fashion brands — they’re gambling sites, VPN providers, and casinos using fashion as a hook to earn links. Of all 5,272 placements, only 13 actually mentioned suits, tailoring, or bespoke fashion.
That gap between the topic used as bait and the topic actually covered is one of the reasons I started Presslei.
Pro Tip
Track your pitch-to-placement rate by angle, not just overall. That single number tells you faster than anything else which stories are worth repeating.
Finding #2: The Outlet Landscape Is More Concentrated Than You Think
We expected a long tail of outlets. We found concentration instead.
Key Takeaway
One placement in a Reach PLC title (Express, Mirror, Daily Star) can cascade to 5–8 domains automatically. Target networks, not individual outlets.
The Reach PLC effect is massive. Express, Mirror, Daily Star, Wales Online, Birmingham Mail, and Daily Record all belong to Reach PLC, the UK’s largest commercial publisher. Combined, Reach titles account for roughly 734 placements in the dataset.
Here’s why that matters: land a story in one Reach outlet and it often syndicates across the whole network. One placement becomes 3, 5, sometimes 8 — each on a different domain with its own authority. Paid link building can’t replicate that network effect.
MSN tops the list (589 placements) because it aggregates content from hundreds of publishers. A story in Express or Mirror will often show up on MSN automatically — a second high-authority placement for free.
Don’t obsess over pitching 500 journalists. Get into the right networks instead. One Reach PLC hit can outperform a month of guest-post outreach.
Finding #3: Seven Data Sources Power Most Campaigns
Some data sources punch far above their weight. Here’s what actually shows up in published placements:
Pro Tip
You don’t need an expensive proprietary dataset. Google search volumes and Trends data are free, and together they account for the biggest share of successful placements.
The lowest barrier to entry is Google search volume data. No expensive dataset required — the most common source in the whole analysis is simply packaging what people search for into a ranking or trend story.
Instagram data ranks #2, which tracks: celebrity follower swings after a big event are newsworthy and easy to measure.
Expert quotes (128 occurrences) matter for a different reason — they need zero data, just a credible spokesperson with a relevant opinion on a trending topic. If your brand has no data assets, expert commentary is your fastest route to earned coverage.
Finding #4: February Is the Densest Month (And Timing Matters More Than Quality)
The seasonal calendar was the most surprising part of this whole analysis.
February is the densest month for reactive PR. Valentine’s Day, the Oscars, the Grammys, and the Super Bowl all land in the same 28-day window — that’s 162 seasonal placements tied to February hooks alone.
Planning one big reactive PR push a year? February gives you the most hooks to attach to — but also the most competition for journalist attention.
The smarter play is the underserved windows. Back to school (22 placements) and Prom season (10 placements) get far less competition and still give you a clear hook.
Finding #5: The 10 Patterns That Generate 90% of Placements
This is the most useful finding in the whole analysis. Nearly every placement in the dataset follows one of these 10 campaign patterns.
Pattern 1: State/City Ranking + Search Volume
Rank US states or UK cities by Google search data. “Study reveals the most [X] states in America.”
Frequency: Highest in the entire dataset — hundreds of placements.
Pattern 2: Celebrity + Google Trends Spike
After a celebrity event (Oscars, album drop, scandal), immediately analyze the search spike.
Frequency: 80–100 placements.
Pattern 3: Expert Tips + Seasonal Hook
Company spokesperson provides 3–7 tips tied to a seasonal moment.
Frequency: 128+ placements.
Pattern 4: Most Expensive/Cheapest Ranking
Compare prices across regions or categories.
Frequency: Very high across finance, property, and travel verticals.
Pattern 5: Fictional Property/Wardrobe Valuation
Calculate what a TV or film character’s home or wardrobe would cost today.
Frequency: 15–20 placements, but a near-100% pickup rate when it’s executed well.
Pattern 6: Social Media Follower Analysis
Analyze Instagram follower changes or TikTok engagement after a viral event.
Frequency: 50+ placements.
Pattern 7: Government Data Repackaged
Take public datasets (Census, ONS, Eurostat) and brand the analysis.
Frequency: 40–50 placements.
Pattern 8: Brain Teaser / Visual Puzzle
Create a shareable visual puzzle credited to the brand.
Frequency: 10–15 placements, but very high tabloid pickup.
Pattern 9: YouTube/Spotify View Count Ranking
Rank performances or songs by view/listen counts tied to an event.
Frequency: 30–40 placements.
Pattern 10: Wedding/Dating Data + Seasonal Hook
Wedding costs, popular songs, dating app trends — timed to Valentine’s Day or wedding season.
Frequency: 60+ placements.
We turned these patterns into 5 ready-to-pitch campaigns with actual templates in our campaign ideas post.
Finding #6: Journalist Concentration Is Extreme
A small number of journalists account for a disproportionate share of placements:
- Dr. Tim Sandle (Digital Journal): ~93 placements
- Steven Smith (Reach PLC): ~31 placements
The top 10 journalists by volume out-place the bottom 500 combined.
That doesn’t mean you should only pitch 10 people. It means some journalists have a proven, consistent appetite for data-driven stories. Building a relationship with them is worth 10x a mass blast to a thousand strangers.
What This Means for Your Brand
If you’re weighing digital PR, here’s the practical summary — we turned these patterns into 5 ready-to-use campaign templates.
Your best angle is probably a ranking. State/city rankings built on search data are the highest-frequency pattern in the dataset. If your product connects to any geography-based trend, start there.
You don’t need expensive data. Google search volumes and Trends data are free and account for a huge share of successful placements.
Target networks, not individual outlets. One placement in a Reach PLC title can cascade to 5–8 domains.
Time your campaigns to seasonal hooks. February and the summer months give you the most attachment points for reactive stories.
Don’t sleep on expert commentary. If you have a credible founder or spokesperson, 128+ placements in this dataset came from expert quotes alone — no data required.
Want to see how these patterns would work for your brand specifically? Here’s what working with us looks like, and what it costs.
Continue Reading
I Spent 10 Years Buying Links
The honest story of why I stopped buying links and started earning them.
5 Campaign Ideas You Can Steal
These patterns turned into actionable campaigns with pitch templates.
What Digital PR Actually Costs
Transparent breakdown — from industry averages to our $3,000 Power Pack.
DO
- Use placement data to identify patterns in what earns coverage
- Analyze which angles, formats, and timing produce the highest-DR placements
- Share data-driven insights transparently, including what doesn’t work
- Update your analysis regularly as new campaign data comes in
- Use data to challenge assumptions about what makes PR effective
DON’T
- Cherry-pick data to support a predetermined narrative
- Present correlation as causation in placement analysis
- Ignore outliers or underperforming campaigns in your dataset
- Generalize from a small sample of placements
- Use data analysis to justify tactics you know don’t serve clients
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did the 5,272 placements come from?
They come from a UK-based digital PR agency’s publicly visible portfolio. We reverse-engineered every placement to extract patterns in topic selection, data sourcing, outlet targeting, and timing.
Do these patterns work for any industry?
The 10 campaign formats are industry-agnostic — they’ve been used successfully across ecommerce, SaaS, finance, travel, and B2B. The key is adapting the format to your brand’s data and audience.
Can I replicate these results without an agency?
Yes, if you have the journalist relationships, trend monitoring tools, and bandwidth to pitch within hours of a story breaking. The patterns are the easy part. Speed and execution are what separate campaigns that earn coverage from those that don’t.
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About this research: Compiled by studying publicly available campaign results and verifying them against outlet archives. About Presslei: we run campaigns using the same patterns this data surfaced. PR Power Pack: 8-14 placements, 30-45 days, $3,000. Learn more →
Free tool: See what your campaigns would be worth with our PR ROI calculator — backed by this dataset.
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About the Author
Salvador Jovells
Founder of Presslei. 12+ years in ecommerce SEO across international markets. After a decade of link buying for Hockerty and Sumissura, I reverse-engineered 5,272 earned media placements and founded a reactive PR agency that builds authority through data-driven stories journalists actually want to publish. Based in Zurich.
