How to run a profitable PR business in 2025 - new report details challenges

Beyond the Noise - the PRWeek podcast

Delving into a new report from the specialist accountants Moore Kingston Smith, PRWeek's latest podcast examines big business performance trends such as agency revenues, profit margins and the costs of employing people.

The report contains some worrying figures on average profit margins at agencies that were reported to have fallen from 18.5% the previous year to 12.9% this year. There was also a slight overall year-on -year fall in income.

And when adjusted for inflation, gross income grew by a 6.5%, though this figure has been impacted by rising inflation.

PRWeek's weekly Beyond the Noise podcast looks at some of the biggest issues affecting communications and PR. Download the podcast via Apple, Spotify, or listen in the browser above or on your favourite platform.

In this week's episode, PRWeek editor-in-chief Danny Rogers speaks to Esther Carder, partner at Moore Kingston Smith, about business performance across the PR sector and beyond.

Speaking about agency profits, Carder says the report confirmed a "big dip" in figures across the PR industry.

She said: “I think it can largely be explained by the contraction fee income. While it looked like there was some growth in fee income, by the time you adjust that for inflation, actually income had on the whole contracted.”

The PR sector was not alone in that, Carter added, saying that every business discipline across the marketing services spectrum that was examined showed income had contracted when adjusted by inflation.

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