# Media database survey of 207 PR leads and comms directors, September 2026

Aggregate tables behind the Trellner report
[Best Media Databases 2026](https://trellner.com/reports/best-media-databases-2026-journalistlabs/)
(TR-2026-018, 24 September 2026).

Trellner invited 1,210 PR leads and comms directors who buy or evaluate media
databases, across PR and comms agencies, software and SaaS, consumer brands,
and nonprofits and public bodies, and surveyed the 207 who completed between 9
and 19 September 2026, by email and a short form: a response rate of 17%. Five
questions were put to everyone: which single media database the team relies on
most (or that it builds lists by hand), how they would rate that database from
1 to 10, which databases they would recommend to another PR lead (up to
three), what they check before paying for a media database, and what has gone
wrong with a database before. The 151 respondents whose team pays for a
database today also gave their annual spend and what would make them switch.
The 194 who do not rely on JournalistLabs were asked to name any media
database unprompted. Nobody was paid to take part, vendors did not see the
questions in advance, and anyone who had worked for a media database vendor in
the previous two years was excluded. Responses are published in aggregate
only; quotes in the report are attributed by role and team size, not by name.

Ratings are means on a 1-to-10 scale given by each database's current users;
the number of ratings per database equals its reliance count. Small groups are
flagged in the report where they appear.

Vendor claims in the report were read on each vendor's own homepage, product
pages and pricing page on 24 September 2026. BuzzStream's, Muck Rack's and
Agility PR's pricing pages blocked plain requests that day, so for those three
the report uses the prices JournalistLabs recorded from the same pages on the
same date.

## Files

| File | Contents |
|---|---|
| `reliance.csv` | The single database each of the 207 relies on most, including the by-hand answer |
| `ratings.csv` | Mean 1-to-10 rating per database, with the number of users rating it |
| `awareness.csv` | Unprompted naming of any media database, of the 194 who do not rely on JournalistLabs |
| `nominations.csv` | Databases respondents would recommend, of 207 (up to three each), with sector spread |
| `checks_before_buying.csv` | What buyers check before paying, of 207 (multiple answers allowed) |
| `complaints.csv` | What went wrong with a previous database, of the 148 who had paid one (multiple answers allowed) |
| `annual_spend.csv` | Annual spend among the 151 current subscribers |
| `switch_triggers.csv` | What would make a current subscriber move, of 151 (multiple answers allowed) |
| `responses_by_sector.csv` | Invited and completed per sector, database reliance and JournalistLabs reliance |
| `team_size.csv` | Sample by team-size band, database reliance and JournalistLabs reliance |

## License

CC BY 4.0. Credit "Trellner PR lead survey, September 2026" and link
https://trellner.com/reports/best-media-databases-2026-journalistlabs/.