Blog post
October 28, 2024

What Can We Learn About the State of News Audiences in ANZ?

This week, we had the privilege of touring Australia, engaging with media thought leaders in Sydney and Canberra to explore the rapidly shifting media landscape across the region. The conversations centred on evolving patterns in news consumption, the rise of alternative news sources on social platforms, and a marked shift in public trust toward independent journalism. As we discussed these developments, the implications for public relations, communications, and the broader media industry in Australia and New Zealand came into focus, thanks to contributions from notable speakers, including Michelle Ainsworth PSM, Edward O’Daly, Anna Draffin, Shane Allison, and Dr. Lisa Portolan.

News Consumption & Digital Evolution

Digital platforms like TikTok are reshaping how news is delivered and received, especially by younger audiences. Yet reaching audiences effectively demands more than just digital access—authenticity and accessibility are vital.

  • Digital-first engagement: News needs to be on platforms where younger audiences are active.
  • Authenticity is key: Audiences seek credible, transparent sources amid a landscape often riddled with misinformation.
  • The shift to short-form video: Explainable, bite-sized content is crucial for engaging users quickly and effectively.

Independent Journalism on Social Media

Platforms like TikTok and YouTube have given rise to independent journalism, with journalists and content creators leveraging their influence to reach new demographics with tailored, relatable content. For a more in-depth analysis see our report.

  • Rise of niche storytelling: Short, compelling explainers help distil complex issues.
  • Independents vs. traditional outlets: Independent content creators often provide fresh perspectives that traditional media may overlook.
  • Youth-driven news: Independent creators can engage younger audiences effectively by prioritising issues that resonate personally and socially.

Trust in Traditional Media

Trust in legacy news outlets is shifting, with audiences questioning the credibility and motivations of traditional sources. Independent journalists, on the other hand, often resonate due to their perceived authenticity and focus on specific stories.

  • Trust concerns: Audiences sometimes view traditional media with scepticism.
  • The ABC’s mission: Amid evolving media dynamics, outlets like the ABC emphasise transparency and accountability to counter misinformation.
  • Deepfakes and misinformation: Addressing these challenges requires fact-checking and investing in verification efforts.

Misinformation & Fact-Checking

With the rise of misinformation and the challenges posed by AI and deep fakes, reliable fact-checking and transparent communication are more crucial than ever.

  • Transparency on social media: Platforms need to ensure more transparency in their algorithms and fact-checking processes.
  • Challenges in verification: Even experts struggle with the complexity of identifying deep fakes.
  • Role of mainstream media: Investing in fact-checking resources distinguishes credible outlets from those that may prioritise virality over accuracy.

The Future of Journalism in ANZ

Discussions also underscored how journalism must evolve to remain relevant and trusted in ANZ, particularly with the advent of more independent voices.

  • Evolving storytelling: Journalists are increasingly becoming advocates for accuracy and integrity.
  • Media’s role in education: Public sector media plays a critical role in supporting informed citizenry through accessible, accurate news.
  • A collaborative approach: More partnerships across media, academia, and tech are essential to meet the evolving demands of audiences.

In the face of these rapid shifts, the journalism community in Australia and New Zealand is adapting to preserve its value and relevance in today’s ever-changing media landscape.

Our events in Sydney and Canberra underscored the evolving state of journalism in ANZ. Traditional media is adapting to digital-first audiences, while independent journalism rises in importance, especially among younger, more sceptical readers. As social platforms become news sources, maintaining trust, transparency, and quality is essential in combating misinformation.

The future of news in ANZ lies in balancing reach, relevance, and responsibility—leveraging new formats while fostering public trust. We extend our gratitude to our speakers and attendees for enriching these discussions, and we look forward to seeing how the industry continues to thrive and adapt in a digital era.

Interested in learning more? Email us at info@isentia.com

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The role of communications professionals is evolving rapidly. AI is now actively shaping how organisations build trust, manage reputation, and engage key audiences, moving beyond theoretical discussions.

Gartner’s latest forecasts for Chief Communications Officers (CCOs) highlight a growing profession under increased scrutiny. Traditional methods such as press releases and media relationships are no longer sufficient. Communication is now central to business, and supporting tools must evolve accordingly.

Isentia’s platform combines AI-driven media intelligence, real-time narrative tracking, and expert human analysis. These capabilities address several urgent needs identified by Gartner. Below, we outline key predictions and how Isentia’s tools help meet these challenges.

AI is transforming how brands are discovered and evaluated

Gartner predicts that, as large language models replace traditional search, PR, and earned media, PR and earned media budgets will double by 2027. Stakeholders will increasingly view organisations through AI-generated summaries. The quality, authority, and timeliness of earned media will directly influence how AI systems represent your organisation.

Gartner emphasises that this is a communications challenge, not a marketing or SEO issue. Search engine optimisation requires PR and communications expertise to build trust, secure media coverage, and maintain consistent messaging across stakeholders.

Isentia’s Lumina AI suite and Narratives AI tools address these needs. Narratives AI identifies, summarises, and ranks stories from billions of news articles and social media posts in real time and historically. It reveals how stories develop and spread, enabling communications teams to understand both the content and its influence on AI-generated perceptions.

Isentia’s upcoming Lumina AI View feature enables organisations to see how their brand appears across AI platforms and understand the information shaping those results. Intelligence is no longer a luxury.

Gartner’s second forecast was that by 2029, 45% of CCOs will use narrative intelligence technologies to monitor reputation amid rising disinformation. Traditional monitoring tools often miss early signs of harmful stories because they focus on keywords rather than story development and spread.

Isentia has addressed this challenge. Our crisis monitoring teams provide 24/7 coverage and real-time alerts via email, mobile app, and WhatsApp, delivering the intelligence-driven support Gartner recommends. 

Our Media Impact Score (MIS) supports this approach. It evaluates not only the volume of coverage but also its reception, combining tone, importance, and audience reach into a single human-coded score that reflects true reputational impact.



The growth of AI-powered internal communications

Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of employees will use chatbots for internal information instead of intranets, newsletters, or manager updates. This shift from push-based to pull-based, conversational access raises important governance considerations.

Isentia’s GenAI-powered Insights Chatbot addresses this need. It allows users to query past reports and data, providing clear, evidence-based answers from the organisation’s media intelligence archive. Teams can interact with their data, compare trends, identify patterns, and access insights efficiently.

This principle guides Isentia’s approach. Our platform combines AI with over 100 local analysts across Southeast Asia (SEA) who review AI-generated data for cultural context, slang, and sarcasm. This model achieves up to 95% sentiment accuracy, ensuring reliable results through human expertise.

Analytics must move from retrospective to predictive

Gartner’s last key prediction is that analytics must shift from retrospective to predictive, much on data, and Gartner’s final key prediction is that by 2029, communications teams will double their spending on data and analytics to 6% of budgets. This reflects increased pressure to demonstrate business impact. Nearly half of CCOs struggle to prove their value, and a third report their teams are viewed as cost centres. 

RepID and interactive dashboards go far beyond simple metrics. For example, RepID measures an organisation’s reputation by analysing stories and posts across areas such as leadership, ethics, and quality. This gives a clear, evidence-based view of how reputation is really changing, not just how much coverage there is.

Our interactive insights reports enable clients to track share of voice, narrative sentiment, and influencer impact in one platform. This real-time, results-focused measurement aligns with Gartner’s recommendations for credibility in communications.

Implications for communications leaders

Communications teams must achieve more, operate with greater precision, move faster, and deliver measurable business results. AI is both the driver and enabler of this change, but success depends on investing in the right intelligence systems.

Isentia’s platform already provides the essential tools Gartner recommends, including Narratives AI, real-time risk alerts, AI-powered chatbots, human-verified insights, and advanced measurement systems. For PR & Comms leaders in Asia-Pacific and beyond, the key question is how quickly they can implement this intelligence.

Join the conversation

We invite you to attend our upcoming webinar, Inside the AI Shift: How Communications Leaders Are Adapting, on Tuesday, 28 April 2026 at 11am SGT / 1pm AEST / 3pm NZST via Zoom. 

Isentia’s VP of Revenue and Insights for SEA, Prashant Saxena, and ANZ’s Director of Insights, Ngaire Crawford, will discuss how communications teams are meeting increasing demands for speed, insight, and measurement, while adapting to evolving executive expectations as AI becomes a new stakeholder.

The session will explore how communications leaders discuss AI with executives and boards amid increased pressure on risk, measurement, and strategy. It will also examine how teams are adapting workflows and decision-making, the challenges communicators face, and emerging opportunities.

Register below to secure your place.

Please fill up this form if you're in the ANZ region

Please fill up this form if you're in the SEA region

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Blog
How is Isentia responding to AI reshaping communications leadership?

Taking from the recent PR & Comms predictions for 2026 by Gartner, we observe how Isentia leads in creating a robust AI-powered workspace.

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The media landscape is accelerating. In an era where influence is ephemeral and every angle demands instant comprehension, PR and communications professionals require more than generic technology—they need intelligence engineered for their specific challenges.

Isentia is proud to introduce Lumina, a groundbreaking suite of intelligent AI tools. Lumina has been trained from the ground up on the complex workflows and realities of modern communications and public affairs. It is explicitly designed to shift professionals from passive media monitoring back into the role of strategic leaders and pacesetters. 

“The PR, Comms and Public Affairs sectors have been experimenting with AI, but most tools have not been built with their real challenges in mind.” said Joanna Arnold, CEO of Pulsar Group

“Lumina is different; it is the first intelligence suite designed around how narratives actually form today, combining human credibility signals with machine-level analysis. It helps teams understand how stories evolve, filter out noise and respond with context and confidence to crises and opportunities.”

Setting a new standard for PR intelligence

Lumina is centered on empowering, not replacing, the human element of communications strategy. This suite is purpose-built to help PR, Comms, and Public Affairs professionals significantly improve productivity, enhance message clarity, and facilitate early risk detection.

Lumina enables communicators to:

  • Understand & Interpret: Move beyond basic alerts to strategically map the trajectory and spread of narrative evolution.
  • Focus & Personalise: Achieve the clarity necessary to execute strategic action before critical moments pass.
  • Execute & Monitor: Rapidly deploy strategy firmly rooted in real-time, actionable insight.

Get a demo today: Stories & Perspectives module

We are launching the Lumina suite by making our first module immediately available: Stories & Perspectives.

In the current fragmented, multi-channel media environment, communications professionals need to be able to instantly perceive not just how a story is growing, but also how it is being perceived across different stakeholder groups.

Stories & Perspectives organizes raw media mentions into clustered, cohesive Stories, and the Perspectives that exist within each, reflecting distinct media, audience, and public affairs angles. This unique functionality allows users to:

  • Rise above the noise: Instantly identify which high-level topics are gaining momentum or fading from attention.
  • Get to the detail, fast: Uncover the influential voices, niche communities, and specific channels actively shaping the narrative.
  • Catch the pivot point: Precisely identify the moment a story shifts—from a strategic opportunity to a reputation risk—or when a new key opinion former begins guiding the conversation.

"Media isn’t a stream of mentions," said Kyle Lindsay, Head of Product at Pulsar Group. "But rather a living system of stories shaped by competing perspectives. When you can see those structures clearly, you gain the ability to understand issues as they form, anticipate how they’ll evolve, and act with precision. That’s what we mean when we talk about AI built for communicators, and that's what an off-the-shelf LLM can't give you."

The Lumina Roadmap: AI tools for the future of comms

The launch of Stories & Perspectives is the first release of many. Over the upcoming months, we will systematically roll out the full Lumina roadmap, introducing a comprehensive set of AI tools engineered to handle every phase of the communications lifecycle.

The full Lumina suite will soon incorporate:

  • Curated media summaries: AI-driven daily summaries customized specifically to the priorities of senior leadership, highlighting only the most relevant stories.
  • Reputation analysis: Advanced measurement tracking how critical themes like ethics, innovation, and leadership are statistically shaping corporate perception.
  • Press release & media relations assistant: Tools designed to accelerate content creation and craft hyper-focused, personalized pitches that reach the precise contacts faster.
  • Predictive intelligence layer: Technology engineered to track and anticipate story momentum and strategic change before the window of opportunity closes.
  • Intelligent agents: Background agents continuously scanning all media channels for emerging key spokespeople and previously undetected reputation risks.
  • Enhanced audio, broadcast & crisis detection: Complete, real-time oversight of all channels—including audio and broadcast—enabling rapid context building and optimal crisis response delivery.


Want to harness the power of Lumina AI for your PR, Comms, or Public Affairs team? .

Complete the form below to register your interest.

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Blog
Announcing Lumina: The purpose-built AI suite for PR, Comms, and Public Affairs

An intelligent suite of AI tools trained on the language, workflows, and realities of modern public relations and communications.

Ready to get started?

Get in touch or request a demo.