# Pathos CEO: AI will test if PR firms can scale

> Omar Hamdi argues AI tools will separate PR agencies that can grow profitably from those selling hours at fixed margins.
- Title: Pathos CEO: AI will test if PR firms can scale · The Next Web
- Summary: Omar Hamdi argues AI tools will separate PR agencies that can grow profitably from those selling hours at fixed margins.
- Keywords: pathos communications, omar hamdi, public relations, business scaling, pressella, pathosmind, The Next Web
- Source: The Next Web — https://thenextweb.com/news/omar-hamdi-pathos-ai-pr-scale
- Author: Alexandru Stan
- Published: 2026-11-05T20:58:32+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: pathos communications, omar hamdi, public relations, ai, business scaling, pressella, pathosmind, technology, startups
## UK PR spending falls as AI rises
City A.M. reported on October sixth that UK firms' spending on public relations and management consultants fell to four point two percent in September, even as overall business spending rose three point one percent year…
## The real test for PR agencies
For Omar Hamdi, chief executive of London-listed Pathos Communications plc, the question is not whether companies will cut agency budgets as AI spreads, but whether agencies can deliver more useful work at prices and margins…
## Pathos's growth numbers
Pathos reported fourteen percent revenue growth and thirty-six percent adjusted EBITDA growth for the six months ended June thirtieth, twenty twenty-six, with reoccurring customers rising to thirty-six percent of revenue from sixteen percent a year…
## How Pathos uses AI in practice
Pathos's technology analyses news and prepares article ideas and materials before prospects speak to anyone.By meeting time, the team has article drafts, business cases and current news hooks ready.
## Targeting four hundred million SMEs
Hamdi points to a global market of four hundred million small and medium enterprises. The technology is intended to make serious PR experience available to companies that may not have had the time, budget or…
## The client reaction Hamdi recalls
Prospects sometimes respond to Pathos's outreach as if the firm is already doing part of the publicist's job. One reaction Hamdi recalls is: I feel like you're already my PR firm.

> I feel like you're already my PR firm.
## From services to technology company
Hamdi says Pathos is becoming a technology company with a service layer rather than simply a services company.The firm is adding larger publishers to its platform to support better margins.

> We're getting more efficient as we scale.
## Key takeaway

Pathos Communications CEO Omar Hamdi says AI will force PR firms to prove they can use technology to scale while maintaining margins and quality.