In the last five years, the market of the PR agency in Poland has undergone a significant transformation. This was influenced by Pandemia, the outbreak of war and accompanying inflation, as well as the development of artificial intelligence. The number of agencies has increased and today is almost 1090, but at the same time nearly 330 entities have completed operations, which may indicate the high instability of the sector. Among the 444 newly opened companies are dominated by sole proprietorships – according to research conducted by the EXACTO team and the University of Warsaw.
– We must first take into account the unpredictability of the market, dynamically changing customer expectations, changes resulting from the development of new technologies, including artificial intelligence. We must quickly respond to the changes that take place in the economic space – emphasizes in an interview with Newseria agency prof. dr hab. Dariusz Tworzydło, head of the Department of Social Communication and Public Relations at the University of Warsaw, co -author of the study.
Exacto research team and employees and associates of the Journalism, Information and Bibliology Department of the University of Warsaw They examined the PR sector in Poland for the second time. Compared to the 2020 survey, the industry increased by almost 17 percent, but as many as 329 entities out of 934 agencies that operated in 2020, suspended or liquidated their activities. Among the newly opened communication companies, three out of four are conducted in the form of a sole proprietorship.
– I think that the main reason for this is the fact that it is very simple to set up, suspend or eliminate business activity. It looks different in the case of e.g. limited liability companies. We also see that a group of entities with traditions that already have a lot of experience on the market is strengthened – explains prof. Dariusz Tworzydło.
The study shows that over a thousand business entities assign themselves a qualified activity in PKD as public relations (70.21.Z), but in fact they are neither PR agencies nor even freelancers from the communication industry. Among them are people dealing with, among others Cosmetology, photography or construction services, sports trainers, teachers, translators and language teachers or retail sellers.
– Officials often suggest to choose as much PKD as possible or diverse, not necessarily what the company is ultimately to do, hence such chaos. The problem is the lack of the ability to actually define and describe at the stage of creating a company what it is to do, and this mainly concerns sole proprietorships – the expert assesses.
In total, in the years 2021-2024 444 entities appeared on the market, of which 76 percent They constituted sole proprietorships. For comparison, 107 companies began to operate at the same time. The companies that have fallen from the previous edition of the study for various reasons are dominated by companies (in total they constitute 81 percent, and sp. Z oo – 68 percent).
In 2020, only every fifth company operated less than five years, in 2024 there are 43 percent. At the same time, however, the indicator of companies providing consulting services has been growing for at least two decades. In 2020 it was 7 percent, now – already 11 percent.
– The agencies that survived have become more stable. They understand changes and are able to react properly to what is happening on the market, and thus become even stronger. Those that enter the market are largely sole proprietorships. They will now and in the future provide services to PR agencies and companies as experts as advisers as spokespersons. There is a significant change in the market structure of agencies and companies providing public relations services – announces prof. Dariusz Tworzydło.
While in 2020 the strength of the PR sector were mainly sp. Certainly, the increase in labor costs contributed to the decrease in the number of employees employed in professional PR agencies. There is a transition from full -time jobs to B2B contracts, which allows some to protect itself in the event of unforeseen events and their economic consequences. On the other hand, the growing number of freelancers and cooperation with them is associated with risk agencies.
– It's definitely a matter of fears, because they appear, regarding whether the person who works with us by accident will not go with the client. Because they get used to specific people. Agencies, however, respond to such threats and prepare appropriate provisions of contracts that will protect them – notes the expert.
As he indicates, recent years is not only a change in the structure of public relations companies, but also a change in communication. The promotion passed primarily towards the LinkedIn platform, which occupies high places in various types of trust in social media, including Digital Trust Ranking.
– For four years, companies from the Public Relations industry have understood that LinkedIn is the place where design, proklien and business communication plays a very important role. They transfer their Facebook activity to this platform. I rate it very positively – says prof. Dariusz Tworzydło.
