What the UK media are looking for in September and beyond

Looking for insight on what journalists will be covering in September? What will make the news isn’t always predictable, but the ResponseSource Journalist Enquiry Service can give a strong indication of what will be trending and popular with the press.

Below, we analyse what journalists have been requesting from PRs during August and shed light on what we expect them to be sending enquiries for this month and beyond.

Christmas content in demand

In July, we saw the first flurry of ‘Christmas’ requests. August saw a more substantial covering as over 6.5% of requests contained the word last month.

The majority of enquiries in August were focused on gift guides. This meant lots of requests for review products. However, we also saw journalists looking for Christmas decorations, throwing a successful Christmas party and festive events taking place around the UK.

Going forward? September 2023 saw the amount of Christmas requests double from the August number and we would expect similar numbers again this year. Gift guides and advent calendars will likely be the most in demand. Journalists from The Independent, PA Media, Country Living and Prima all sent enquiries last month, presenting opportunities to get featured in high profile media titles.

Summer season falls into Autumn

A lot of media professionals use the Journalist Enquiry Service to source seasonal content and August saw a shift from requests for ‘Summer’ towards ‘Autumn’. 2.5% of the total enquiries last month were for ‘Summer’ but this was surpassed by ‘Autumn’ which appeared in just over 3% of journo asks.

These encompass all sorts of topics and angles, and included health and wellbeing, fashion, home decor, fitness, and recipes. Journalists from The Daily Express, Good Homes, Bella, The i Paper and Sunday Brunch all sent requests last month.

Going forward? Topics such as getting your garden ready for Autumn, changing your wardrobe for the new season, and health concerns as we head into the colder months are all common requests around this time. Make sure you have gardening and fashion experts ready and doctors and health professionals to comment on these areas.

Four day work week, winter fuel payment, and AI

UK politics is always a focus for the media, even more now with the change of government. Topical issues like the proposed four day working week, the cuts to the winter fuel payment, and changes to pensions have all been the subject of enquiries by journalists during August.

‘Work’ proved popular as a keyword, appearing in over 3% of enquiries, and ‘pension’ cropped up in over 1%. ‘AI’ also regularly performs well on the service and in August even more than usual as 5% of the total requests included the topic. That could be in part due to the Government’s plans to scrap funding for an AI project.

Going forward? September in the UK is annual Party Conference season and journalists will be keen to cover the major policies and announcements. If you have political commentators as clients then have them ready to provide comment – you could get coverage in titles such as The Times, Metro and Reuters. Information and experts on AI are also likely to get write-ups, as it remains a popular topic to cover in the media.

Other opportunities for PRs in September and beyond

Halloween is just over six weeks away and journalists are always keen to cover it. Requests are usually for products to review such as costumes or party decorations. This presents a good opportunity to get items featured.

Fashion experts are likely to be in demand with London Fashion Week (12-17 September). Fitness proved popular in September 2023 with nearly 3% of requests containing the keyword, likely linked to National Fitness Day, coming up on 25 September this year. We also expect the Food & Drink category to get lots of enquiries, with many towns and cities holding events for Oktoberfest. If you have experts or information about this, relevant journalists will want to hear about it.

To connect with the media on these topics, and much more, check out the Journalist Enquiry Service and the Vuelio Media Database.

Find out more about how Vuelio can help you gain and track your coverage in the media here.