Singapore Budget 2025: how audiences respond to narratives on media and social
The Singapore budget is here and audiences are mindful of the new announcements more than ever. Cost-of-living directly affecting housing, managing enterprise businesses and easy cash benefits are what audiences are paying close attention to.
In anticipation of the budget, we analysed 30k mentions of audience conversation on Facebook, TikTok, Online News, YouTube, TV, Forums, X, Radio, Print News, Threads and Reddit in Singapore between January 1st 2025 – February 20th 2025. What’s fascinating to see is that the interest in the budget, especially by young Singaporeans, rises every year. We’re also quick to analyse how the conversation pans out this year.
Last year’s budget generated the highest level of public conversation compared to previous years, reflecting growing interest and concern over economic policies. Each year, discussions spike around budget announcements with focus on cost-of-living relief, business support, and long-term economic planning under Forward Singapore.
GST hikes from 7% to 9% in the past two years from 2022 to 2024 and economic support measures in the budget of 2023, have led to increased conversation.
Cost of living and voucher benefits make up the majority of the debate online. The budget was introduced as the “budget for the future”, but some viewed the announcements as damage control measures. Young Singaporeans are worried about future prices for public housing and question why private housing prices are sky-high. Some are concerned about the quality of jobs like contract work, gig economy jobs, or even unstable employment.
On a brighter side, audiences on Facebook and Reddit, where the majority of the conversation is happening, also logically break down these relief measures by realising that jobs in Singapore depend on global trends and that the government cannot mass-create jobs for everyone. The more important factor to consider is how jobs are matched on a technical and soft-skills basis. SkillsFuture benefits are a way of up-skilling and are an add-on that might not guarantee everyone a job-talent match necessarily, but draw them closer to getting employed in a field of their choice.
PM Wong introduced a slew of voucher credits under the ActiveSG, LifeSG, Climate Voucher schemes, alongside Medisave top-ups, utility rebates, and personal income tax rebates.
However, Singaporeans are being more judicious with their finances, and are doubtful how immediate cash payouts and Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers work for them on a long-term basis. On the contrary, some expected more cash payouts that provide instant relief to deal with rising costs, as opposed to vouchers that are accessible only to a few merchants and limited to specific uses.
Online and alternative news media have prompted how these narratives take shape. What’s interesting to note is that alternative news media is more in quantity compared to mainstream media that usually wins because of a higher volume of mentions and credibility.
Journalists from alternative media sources like the Independent Singapore stress on individual Singaporean concerns, rather than larger issues. The focus is on how young mid-level workers in Singapore feel financially concerned about managing income with rising costs that could directly affect their family members.
Many of these news sources also have Facebook pages where audience discussions thrive. Many praised the budget for providing relief to low and middle income families and appreciate the SG60 voucher scheme promised to all citizens. They do, however, question how these can be converted to cash, giving us an indication of the majority of audiences wanting some sort of instant financial gratification.
Social media sites rise to the top when it comes to the volume of how content travels across online sources. X, The Straits Times and Facebook see the highest volume in terms of engagements by audiences. On X, for example, the SG budget, bilateral ties with other ASEAN nations and the infrastructure projects are in focus.
For the Singapore budget specifically, upgrading of older HDB flats and ties with Malaysia through SEZ projects make up the majority of the conversation online.
One very important medium to point out are podcasts that have easily become a favourite with young Singaporeans. They’re okay at watching long form content that informs them about budget benefits.
For example, the Daily Ketchup, a quirky news commentary podcast on the happenings in Singapore, touches upon topics around how married homebuyers with children get top priority for HDB BTO (Build-to-order) flats under recent policy updates. They discuss how raising a baby in Singapore is not cheap, but with the Large Families Scheme introduced in the latest budget, young couples have more benefits to support them in growing a family.
Every year the budget becomes a hot topic for a conversation starter and welcomes a mixed bag of responses. What’s important to learn from this year’s budget is that it might not solve all issues at hand, and cannot attempt to perfectly answer the “what’s in it for me?” question. It’s more a way of future proofing and becoming self-reliant, following the Forward Singapore guidelines. Only time will tell how these measures can get truly institutionalised and understood by audiences, giving us a sense of what we can expect for the upcoming General Election this year.
Nikita Gundala manages brand marketing and thought leadership for Pulsar Group across the SEA and ANZ markets. With over three years of first-hand experience in the influencer marketing and PR industries, she specializes in translating real-time insights and audience intelligence into actionable content. Nikita holds a master’s in Marketing and Digital from ESSEC Business School, Singapore. She has contributed to the wider industry conversation by co-authoring articles and reports for The Business Times Marketing Interactive.
The advent of LLMs and AI search means that there has been a colossal shift in how audiences are consuming information today, and a reciprocal shift in how all types of organisations, from government agencies to brands are responding . But while discussion amongst PR and comms pros tends to fall disproportionately on how brands are impacted, the needs of the former are just as keenly felt, and often quite distinctive.
So how can government agencies respond, especially in a time of global flux, when major policy changes need to be communicated and important stakeholders need to be managed? After all, government organisations do care about reputation, much as brands do, but have quite distinctive goals when it comes to ensuring accurate information reaches the right audiences.
There is a new entry point for stakeholders
The era of "Let me Google that" is rapidly fading. Instead of clicking through to official websites, people are asking chatbots for direct answers. What’s striking is that government agencies often have no visibility on how they’re being talked about in the LLM space, even as it becomes a central channel for messaging and reputation.
When AI models become the primary gatekeeper, audiences bypass official portals entirely — driving down site traffic and leaving agencies vulnerable to misinformation, negative sentiment, or worse, being left out of the conversation altogether.
Therefore, the entry point is different. For commercial brands, this shift is profound but in some ways mediated – an FMCG brand, for instance, often discovered through third-party platforms in any case. But for government entities, the stakes are entirely different. As the sole, authoritative source for public information, they need citizens on their websites to get accurate details. Government agencies, especially if they are the authority or regulator in a particular industry or sector, need to make sure audiences know where to go to get the right information.
Different types of government agencies have different considerations
Not all government agencies are alike, and they all have different parameters that are quite non-negotiable for them, just by the way they function.
Service delivery agencies - these rely heavily on content freshness. They can’t risk outdated sources impacting eligibility or process changes not reaching audiences.
Regulators - these need to transmit authority and trust. Regulators have to make it a priority that they’re amongst the first place audiences go to for information and that the industry they’re regulating does not put them in the shade on the channels stakeholders are actually using
Policy departments - did the AI's account of a policy match what was actually announced? They want to be able to make sure the accuracy of a policy (and ideally, its effectiveness) is translated when audiences search through LLMs.
Local and state authorities want to make sure the services they carry out on behalf of locals are visible too. Much like service providers, there is a question around access and awareness of programmes and regulations, but also an added consideration: not appearing on LLMs discontent amongst those wishing to see a return on taxation and electoral mandates, and give credence to bad actors.
What do government agencies want to get out of this new LLM-mediated landscape?
Reputation is important, but that exists downstream from maintaining a flow of accurate information. It’s useful for communications teams in government organisations to self reflect and ask themselves the following questions:
Where are citizens going to find information about your services if not your website — and do you know what they're being told?
If there was a significant policy change or incident in the last twelve months, do you know how it's currently being characterised when someone asks an Al tool about your agency?
When you communicate a major service change or policy update, do you have any way of measuring whether it’s surfacing in searches about you?
How do you currently understand the gap between what your agency publishes and what citizens actually receive when they search for information?
Are there community groups, advocacy organisations, or media outlets shaping perception of your agency - and do you know if that's feeding into what Al models say?
These are gaps they already realise, but they don’t actually know what to do about it – how to manage or measure them. They need a tool that allows them to know this critical piece of information and make informed decisions.
Ngaire Crawford, Pulsar Group’s Executive Director for AI Strategy says, “It’s easy to disregard LLM reputation as part of a difficult AI landscape or something that is only really relevant to more product-based communication or marketing. Government communications is about social licence, and ensuring the public have access to up to date and accurate information about things that matter to them, the role that Generative AI plays in how a community understand an issue will only continue to grow, and knowing the impact that you can have in that through small shifts in channel strategies or more consistent messaging is a crucial part of the communications toolkit.”
Lumina AI View: AI visibility for PR & Comms
Lumina AI view is built for communicators who want to understand how their organisation and their competitors are being talked about by various AI models – including ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. AI View users get an insight into which sources are being cited, and how they would need to respond as a way of protecting their reputation or making sure correct information about them is being disseminated.
The tool provides an AI view score — a composite metric ranging from zero to 100, designed to help track brand performance over time and facilitate comparisons against competitors. It is calculated using five weighted factors — sentiment, visibility, authority, dominance and freshness. Beyond the overall score, the platform provides a summary of a brand's AI narrative based on four distinct reputation pillars — direction, performance, integrity and innovation.
These pillars help users identify exactly which dimension of a brand's reputation is under pressure, offering specific, actionable insights for board presentations or reviews. Ultimately, while the AI view platform provides the necessary intelligence, the strategic decisions regarding how to respond to these insights remain with the organisation.
Spotlight: An Australian Council
This progressive local government council is located in Australia’s leading center for culture and sports.
The council earned an AI view score of 74 reflected by strong reach and authority. Publications like CBD News and its own website are the most cited by LLMs — interestingly, most of them being cited by Claude.
Content freshness scored lower at 48. Their website still carries error pages and annual reports from a few years ago. If a report — one that is seen as an organisation’s most comprehensive and authoritative content, is still being cited even if it’s older, might potentially be in the way of the organisation’s own perception. Which means more work is needed to prevent outdated content from still appearing.
What type of content is showing up?
Most citations for the council originate from government sources, followed by news outlets, reports, and blogs. The domain is evenly split between owned content and content earned from external sources media articles and independent authorities.
While most are recent, some older articles from major outlets such as The BBC remain visible and may significantly influence how LLMs perceive the council. Owned content typically addresses last year’s budget plans and the council’s latest vision for the city, which LLMs are referencing. Government sources are the major content type, however, external sources have a greater impact on the council’s overall LLM score.
The stakes are higher for government agencies
When brands track LLM visibility, they often ask, "Are we shown in a positive light?" or "Are we cited accurately?" For the government, additional questions arise: "Is this information accurate enough for someone to act on?" and "Are we still viewed as more authoritative than what we oversee?" Mistakes can have serious consequences, such as individuals applying for ineligible programs or missing critical deadlines for new initiatives or elections. This can quickly lead to public frustration. It is essential for government communicators to recognize these risks.
If you would like to know more about our Lumina suite, please reach out here and our team will get in touch with for you a quick demo.
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Blog
Why is tracking government visibility on LLMs different from tracking brands?
Government agencies often can’t see how AI chatbots describe them. Here’s why LLM visibility matters and how to track it.
There is a new frontier where public perception is shaped: Large Language Models. Right now, LLMs are answering critical questions about your organisation. What are they saying? And more importantly, which sources are shaping those answers?
To navigate this landscape, public relations professionals don't need generic tools, but rather technology that speaks their language, and addresses the realities of a changed media and informational landscape.
That is why we're unveiling Lumina AI View, the latest addition to our intelligent suite of AI tools from Isentia. Trained specifically on the workflows and challenges of modern PR & communications, Lumina AI View helps you understand exactly what AI knows about you, and how it learned it.
A new standard for AI visibility
AI View tracks your citation strength and source quality alongside those of your competitors, giving you a clear view of where you hold authority and where you have gaps.
Lumina AI View maps your AI reputation from the ground up, allowing you to:
See which sources matter: When tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini discuss your organisation, which outlets do they cite? Track your source footprint over time and view the impact of key target media on how you’re discussed. We measure your citation strength and source quality alongside those of competitors, giving you a clear view of where you have authority and where you have gaps.
Gain industry-specific insight: Your competitors get cited from Financial Times and Bloomberg. You get cited on Reddit. Each brings opportunity – and risk. Discover how you measure up against industry standards, and target the sources that actually influence how AI represents you.
Catch narrative shifts early: AI responses change when new sources appear, sentiment shifts, or old controversies resurface. Get alerts when citation patterns change suddenly, before they impact the way you’re perceived by stakeholders.
Measure your progress: From media monitoring to full media intelligence
Lumina AI View is built on the principle that insights get stronger with repeated measurement. To help you maintain a clear view of your reputation, our proprietary scoring system provides regular updates that show you:
Evolving trends in how sources cite your organisation
Competitive standing and benchmark metrics
Where models differ in information presented, and sources cited
Whether you run it weekly, on-demand, or whenever you need a check-in, patterns will emerge, trends will become clear, and you will build a baseline that makes any sudden narrative changes both comprehensible and the prerequisite to action.
Lumina AI View is part of Lumina AI, a comprehensive suite of AI tools built specifically for communicators. Our Lumina suite evolves traditional media monitoring into narrative intelligence, enabling you to truly understand how perceptions form, evolve, and impact your reputation.
Get in touch to register your interest and see what Lumina AI View can do for you.
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Blog
Introducing Lumina AI View: AI Visibility Built for PR & Comms
Lumina AI View, the latest in Isentia’s AI suite, is trained on PR & comms workflows to help you understand what AI knows about you — and how it learned it.
