The North’s leading PR agencies have delivered a bumper year for profit growth while many in the sector struggle, according to exclusive new research ahead of the release of Prolific North’s Top 50 PR Agencies 2025 tomorrow.
Our annual ranking – compiled once again in partnership with independent research agency Mustard – shows that pre-tax profit among the top 10 agencies in this year’s list surged by 39%. Several posted increases of more than 100%, with one recording a four-fold jump in profits.
However, outside the top tier the story looks very different. Among agencies ranked 11–50, pre-tax profit rose by just 2% overall, and 20 organisations in the Top 50 saw profits fall year-on-year, highlighting the challenging conditions many companies continue to face.
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Alexandra Balazs, Managing Director at Prolific North, said the findings underline both the pressures facing the industry and the remarkable resilience many Northern agencies continue to demonstrate. “PR agencies across the North have had to weather another year of inflationary pressures, budget scrutiny and wider macroeconomic uncertainty,” she said. “This research shows just how resilient, creative and commercially sharp agencies in our region have become in navigating these challenges.
“The Top 50 isn’t just a ranking. It’s a real-time snapshot of how the sector is adapting, evolving and in many cases thriving, despite challenges.”
Overall, across the Top 50 PR agencies, balance sheets were down 7.5% while revenue was up 8% and headcount was largely flat at -0.5%.
READ MORE: The Prolific North Top 50 Digital Agencies 2025
The research offers an interesting contrast with this year’s Top 50 Digital Agencies, published in July. While both sectors appear to be undergoing a similar period of reshaping, the effects are markedly different. The digital list showed strong top-line growth but a steep 63% drop in overall pre-tax profit, whereas the PR ranking presents almost the opposite picture, where revenue is up 8% and headcount remains flat, yet profitability is becoming increasingly concentrated among the very top agencies.
Industry experts say the Northern market’s performance mirrors several national trends reshaping the wider UK PR landscape.
For Tom Salmon, co-founder of Agency by Agency, mapping of the North’s PR and Communications specialists ‘suggests that higher growth is generally associated with agencies that are either more recently founded or have already scaled beyond 30 employees.’
“This is certainly part of the agency sector where growth isn’t guaranteed,” he said. “Indeed, most PR and Communications agencies across the UK are in our ‘Stable’ category and experiencing -10% to 10% annual growth.”
The graph below shows the proportion of agencies that are shrinking fast, shrinking, stable, growing and growing fast and illustrates the diversity of growth rates across UK PR and Communications agencies Agency by Agency has mapped.
Phil Gripton, partner at Waypoint, believes the sector is showing “resilience and selective growth despite economic headwinds,” driven by agencies broadening their offer and becoming more strategically embedded with clients.
Gripton points to a shift towards higher-margin service lines as a key factor. Agencies expanding beyond traditional PR into areas such as strategic comms, UX design and integrated digital services are “commanding premium fees and improving margins,” he noted, which reflects a broader UK trend in which influencer marketing and data-driven PR have become core revenue drivers. He also highlights rapid operational gains as agencies adopt new tools at scale, with AI and automation usage “surging from 19% in 2022 to 74% in 2024,” helping companies reduce delivery costs and boost campaign efficiency without expanding headcount.
Value-based pricing models and a deeper focus on measurable outcomes are also reshaping the competitive landscape, he said. Gripton said agencies that embed analytics and performance metrics into campaigns are increasingly able to secure long-term contracts and justify higher fees. Meanwhile, consolidation continues to reshape the national picture, with leading UK operators achieving triple-digit growth through acquisitions that add specialist capabilities.
Mustard’s methodology for the Top 50s combines financials, headcount data, client lists and confidential submissions from the agencies themselves.
The full Top 50 PR Agencies 2025 will be published on Thursday, featuring this year’s number one agency, biggest climbers, standout performers and new entries across the region.
