-- Baden Bower, a guaranteed PR placement agency, today released The State of Earned Media vs. Paid Media: 2026 Annual Industry Report,, a head-to-head comparison of paid advertising and earned editorial placements based on a survey of 512 verified business owners across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
The study was fielded between March 4 and 21, 2026, with a margin of error of ±4.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All respondents had personally authorized marketing spend on at least two channels in the prior 24 months, and 73 percent had authorized spend on three or more.
The headline finding is definitive. Business owners reported 4.7 times higher ROI from earned editorial placements compared to paid advertising across all eight industries surveyed. The gap widened significantly in trust-dependent sectors, reaching 11.4 times in immigration services, 10.2 times in legal services, and 9.1 times in financial services.
"Business owners do not need to be told that paid ads are getting more expensive," said AJ Ignacio, CEO of Baden Bower. "What they have not had until now is a dataset showing precisely how much better the alternative performs. This is not a marginal improvement. It is a fundamentally different return profile."
Key Findings
Lead Quality and Conversion Rates
Earned editorial placements produced a 31 percent lead-to-close rate, compared to 12 percent for paid advertising and 8 percent for wire distribution. The leads generated by editorial coverage converted at nearly three times the rate of paid advertising leads. Seventy-four percent of respondents reported higher customer lifetime value from earned media leads. Seventy-one percent rated referral traffic quality from earned media as high, compared to 45 percent for paid ads and 18 percent for wire distribution.
Cost Efficiency
The reported cost per impression for earned editorial was $0.21, compared to $1.84 for paid digital advertising. Earned editorial also drove a 68 percent brand search lift among respondents, compared to 34 percent for paid advertising and 11 percent for wire distribution.
The Compounding Curve
Paid advertising follows a familiar pattern. A campaign launches, conversions spike, and when the budget stops, the results stop with it. Earned media follows the opposite trajectory. In month one, earned editorial produced an 8 percent conversion rate, trailing Google Ads at 24 percent and social ads at 18 percent. By month six, earned editorial reached 41 percent, overtaking Google Ads at 22 percent and social ads at 14 percent. By month 12, earned editorial stood at 58 percent versus 16 percent for Google Ads and 8 percent for social. By month 24, earned editorial reached 63 percent while Google Ads had declined to 8 percent and social ads to 3 percent. The crossover point is month five. By month 24, earned media generates eight times as many cumulative conversions as paid channels.
Trust Across Stakeholder Groups
Earned editorial dominated every stakeholder category tested. Customer trust stood at 87 percent for earned editorial, compared to 31 percent for paid ads and 22 percent for wire distribution. Investor confidence stood at 82 percent, versus 28 percent and 19 percent. Partner credibility stood at 84 percent versus 24 percent and 16 percent. Employee pride stood at 79 percent versus 35 percent and 27 percent. Talent attraction stood at 76 percent versus 32 percent and 21 percent.
AI Search Engine Citations
Forty-four percent of earned editorial placements were cited in Google AI Overviews. Thirty-eight percent were mentioned by ChatGPT. Forty-one percent were cited by Perplexity. Wire-distributed press releases were cited between 1 and 2 percent of the time across all three platforms. Paid advertising was cited between 2 and 4 percent. Earned editorial placements are approximately 20 times more likely to appear in AI-generated answers than wire distribution.
The Wire Distribution Reality Check
Only 3 percent of wire-distributed press releases resulted in journalist pickup, compared to 100 percent for guaranteed editorial placements. Only 8 percent generated inbound leads. Only 2 percent helped close a deal. Satisfaction with wire distribution was the lowest among all channels tested, with 47 percent of respondents reporting dissatisfaction, compared to a 74 percent satisfaction rate for earned editorial placements.
Channel Satisfaction
Earned editorial placements led with 74 percent satisfaction and 12 percent dissatisfaction. Google Ads: 47 percent satisfied and 29 percent dissatisfied. Social media ads: 41 percent satisfied and 33 percent dissatisfied. Wire distribution trailed at 25 percent satisfied and 47 percent dissatisfied.
The Biggest Marketing Regret
When asked their single biggest marketing regret over the past three years, 68 percent of respondents said they wished they had started investing in earned media sooner. Nineteen percent said they were satisfied with their current mix. Only 8 percent wished they had spent more on paid ads, and only 5 percent wished they had invested more in wire distribution.
"Every editorial placement is now two assets in one," Ignacio said. "It reaches human readers on the day it publishes, and it enters the training data that AI systems draw on indefinitely. A paid ad does neither. A press release does the first for a day and the second almost never."
Methodology
The State of Earned Media vs. Paid Media 2026 was commissioned by Baden Bower and conducted via an online survey of 512 verified business owners across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia between March 4 and 21, 2026. All respondents were screened to confirm they had personally authorized marketing spend on at least two channels in the prior 24 months. ROI figures are self-reported perceptions, not audited financial data. Industry breakdown: Professional Services (18%), SaaS/Technology (16%), E-commerce (14%), Financial Services (13%), Healthcare (12%), Real Estate (11%), Legal (9%), Immigration Services (7%). The margin of error is ±4.3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
The full survey instrument and raw data tables are available on request at reports@badenbower.com.
Suggested citation: Baden Bower. (2026). State of Earned Media vs. Paid Media: Annual Industry Report. https://www.badenbower.com/research/earned-vs-paid-media-2026/
About Baden Bower
Baden Bower is a guaranteed PR placement agency founded in 2018 that secures editorial features for clients in Forbes, Bloomberg, Vogue, Business Insider, and 700+ publications worldwide. The agency has published over 25,000 news features for more than 3,548 clients across 37 countries and offers a money-back guarantee on all placements.
Baden Bower has posted 685% year-over-year revenue growth and a 264% surge in net profit. The firm maintains a 93 percent client retention rate and operates with a team of over 250 across offices in New York, London, Sydney, Abu Dhabi, and the British Virgin Islands.
Media Contact
Baden Bower Press Office reports@badenbower.com +1 (646) 971-4960
The State of Earned Media vs. Paid Media 2026 is an annual report commissioned by Baden Bower. Full methodology and data tables available on request. Copyright 2026 Baden Bower (Review Rumble Ltd). All rights reserved.
Contact Info:
Name: Catherine Mzungu
Email: Send Email
Organization: Baden Bower
Website: https://www.badenbower.com/
Release ID: 89188901
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