Why are PR Professionals turning
to Programmatic Advertising?

The hidden costs of Programmatic Advertising

While programmatic ads promise precise targeting, the reality is clicks don’t convert to real results. PR is about shaping narratives and building credibility—something advertising simply can’t do. Trust isn’t bought; it’s earned. Paid placements are often ignored, dismissed as inauthentic, or blocked altogether. Worse, programmatic campaigns require constant spending, making them a high-cost, low-reward strategy for many organizations.

Why advertising fails in a crisis

In times of crisis, programmatic advertising is virtually useless. When public trust is at stake, a well-placed news story can shift perception, while an ad, no matter how well-targeted, feels like damage control. In fact, excessive reliance on advertising can make organizations appear disconnected from public sentiment rather than engaged in real dialogue.

Lookatmedia™: The AI-driven alternative

Lookatmedia™ offers a far more powerful alternative; a media center with an integrated digital asset management (DAM) system designed to meet the growing demand for high-quality visual narratives. In an era where newsrooms are under-resourced and struggling to compete with social media’s entirely visual ecosystem, journalists need more than just press releases, they need ready-to-publish, media-compliant visuals that enhance their storytelling.

For the first time, PR professionals can proactively shape the visual narrative by providing journalists with everything they need, images, videos, infographics, and animations, all optimized for newsroom use. By acting as a resource hub for the media, Lookatmedia™ accelerates the speed at which stories are published and dramatically increases their reach and impact. Unlike programmatic ads, which require ongoing spend, this approach embeds an organization's stories directly into the editorial ecosystem, making them far more credible, shareable, and influential.

The future of PR in an AI-driven Media Landscape

Beyond individual news stories, Lookatmedia™ is built for the AI-driven future of media. As news aggregators, trusted voices in the media, and AI-powered search models like ChatGPT become the primary way audiences consume information, organizations need more than just visibility, they need credibility. Stories that are well-structured, supported by strong visual narratives, and hosted on trusted platforms will gain traction in AI-generated search results, be prioritized in news aggregators, and cited by authoritative voices. Lookatmedia™ ensures that PR professionals are not just adapting to this shift but leading it, giving their stories the best chance to be discovered, trusted, and widely shared.