2019 Digital PR: A Year In Review

Our Best Year Yet.

We ended the decade with our best year of media coverage to-date. From features in major national news outlets to local news segments and articles across the US–2019 represents a new level of outreach success for DTC’s clients.

Between December 1, 2018, and November 30, 2019, Digital Third Coast launched 58 content marketing campaigns. These data-rich pieces consisted of surveys, data scrapes, and Google Trends analyses covering a range of topics from personal finance to travel to career development.

The graphics and research tapped into the year’s news cycles, earning our clients 3,083 media placements across 2,016 unique media outlets (including 117 overseas). 

National News Coverage

• 2,760 total backlinks
• 26% of placements from DA 80+ websites
• 67% of placements from DA 50+ websites
• 695 national news placements

In 2019 we maintained a strong focus on getting our client’s content featured in national news publications for two primary reasons: audience size, and the value of the publications’ domain authorities.

This strategy of digital PR, focused on getting our clients featured in national news outlets; thus allowing our clients’ brands to be exposed to larger audiences and often leads to increased web traffic. When it comes to domain authority (DA), a metric developed by MOZ, national news outlets are extremely authoritative. 

The higher the DA, the stronger a link from that website is. Think of a link as a vote of trust from one website to another. Our objective with our outreach strategy is to earn as many high authority backlinks as possible to strengthen the domain authority of our clients’ websites. National media outlets also have the added benefit of name recognition. Audiences trust the sources cited by the national media; when our clients’ work is referenced in these types of publications, that credibility transfers to them.

A Unique Approach: Local News

Half of our total media coverage in 2019 was earned in local news markets. Many PR agencies focus solely on pursuing national and digital publications when building backlink profiles, while we execute a more holistic approach to digital PR that recognizes the value of local television, radio, and newspaper to amplify coverage geographically.

2019 Highlights

• Coverage in all 50 states & 477 cities
• 1,545 placements in local publications
• 454 (30%) of local placements in “Top 25” media markets

The average domain authority of the 1,545 local news placements we secured in 2019 is 65, which carries significant weight and strength to our clients’ backlink profiles. Local news also produces an added PR value in the form of television and radio coverage. Our clients’ combined works were featured on 565 television stations’ websites across the country, including several on-air reports, as well as 348 radio station websites, and 356 digital and print news articles. 

Important to note is the potential audience base of this type of local news coverage. Roughly one-third of all local placements earned by our clients’ research occurred in the 25 largest media markets in the US. Local news markets are ranked by population. The largest television media markets have the greatest potential viewerships; including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. The top-25 television media markets have a potential audience of more than 55 million homes.