Close

AIVIA ASK-AIVIA


Hello! I’m AIVIA your friendly AI Virtual Assistant.

Please ask me anything about Black Sun Global – our expertise, work, news or our latest thinking.

I’m sorry, I do not know the answer to your question. You may be able to find your answer at https://www.blacksun-global.com/.

Potentially abusive, vulgar, or irreverent language detected. Please accept our apologies if this is an incorrect detection. Try asking again using different words.

AIVIA can make mistakes. The more specific your questions, the more accurate the responses are likely to be. Any important information should be separately verified.
AIVIA is powered by Black Sun Global

Access to the microphone has been blocked by your web browser.

You can configure your web browser to allow access to the microphone.

The Digital Index 2025:
New Direction, New Realities

digital index launch 2025 new direction new relaities top banner

By Richard Dixon


Share

The digital communications landscape is rapidly changing. AI is transforming how content is created and consumed, and new regulatory frameworks are setting a higher bar for transparency, meaning companies are facing growing pressure to communicate more clearly, credibly, and compellingly.

This year, Black Sun Global’s Digital Index 2025 explores the key digital trends shaping corporate communications—and how leading organisations are responding.

Our theme, “New Direction, New Realities”, reflects the need for companies to reimagine their digital presence, meet rising stakeholder expectations, and harness the full potential of digital transformation.


digital transformation

Impact of AI
increasing regulation

Shifts in consumption
channel proliferation

Regulatory scrutiny
harnessing ai

Technological advances

The Changing Landscape: Four Trends Reshaping Corporate Digital Communications

Against a backdrop of declining trust, there are 4 key streds that are impacting the future shape of digital communications and websites in particular.

  1. Impact of AI: AI is redefining the digital value chain - 
    Content generation: Auto-translations, podcast creation, text to video et al. 
    User experience: Conversational AI, chatbots, hyper-personalisation
    Search visibility: SEO strategies now include optimisation for AI-powered tools
  2. Shifts in Media Consumption: From skimmers to divers, continued rise of social media even for investor audiences, and rapidly emerging new technologies such as text to speech and screenless interactions. How we will interact and engage with content is chaging.
  3. Legal and Regulatory Scrutiny: Balancing the pressures of full reporting with effective communication of the narrative; meeting accessibility laws; and adhering to data security without losing analytical insights are all increasginly challenging. 
  4. Technological advances: which are enabling integration of platforms and 'write once' publish everywhere capabilities are enabling greater efficiencies of content production and an accelerated 'content velocity'

These trends are fundamentally altering how digital channels are structured, used, and measured.

 

Why Digital Matters More Than Ever

Whether it's investors assessing performance, future employees evaluating culture, or stakeholders scrutinising ESG commitments—corporate websites and digital channels remain the most powerful owned platforms for engagement.

Amid these shifts, companies must deliver a digital experience that is engaging, accessible, and future-ready. At Black Sun Global, we help organisations do exactly that.

 

The Digital Index

Now in its tenth year, the Digital Index assesses how well companies are communicating with and engaging their stakeholders online.

Our analysis investigates how companies are rising to the challenge of digital communications, assessing both the content and the drive for engagement, to help our clients understand how they can better leverage their channels to deepen stakeholder engagement. 

The analysis we do is grounded in our deep understanding of stakeholder needs drawn from our own experience and from expert organisations that represent these stakeholder groups.

The result is a powerful tool to create enriching digital experiences that will deepen stakeholder engagement and improve the performance of your digital communications.

We analyse nearly 200 variables across websites and social media, focusing on three performance areas. This year’s research covers leading global companies, including the FTSE 100 and STI 30.


84%

Analysts say a poor website can dampen investment decisions

43%

Say websites can be persuasive on investment decisions

51%

Say websites are used to assess stock

79%

Investors use LinkedIn weekly

74%

Management of ESG important in investment decision making

75%

Workforce expect their employer to be a force for good


test

2025 Key Trends and Findings

1. Connected Narratives

A strong corporate story is now the cornerstone of digital engagement. The best-performing companies align their purpose, value creation, and governance with targeted stakeholder content. We are seeing a continued growth in more connected narratives driving stakeholder content. 

  • Best performers: Centrica, Coca-Cola HBC, Haleon

85%

present a purpose-led narrative

76%

connect sustainability directly to purpose

61%

purpose-led job seeker narrative


2. Building Investor Confidence

Investors are placing greater emphasis on digital transparency. This year, we’ve seen a notable increase in dedicated investment narratives and online financial reporting. 

  • Best performers: HSBC, Coca-Cola HBC, Vodafone

62%

include an introductory narrative

54%

articulate an investment case

51%

publish a full online report


3. Material Sustainability

Leading companies are moving beyond commitments to evidence, linking material sustainability topics to measurable outcomes. They are also more clearly articulating their material issues and their materiality process to explain why specific issues are material to their business.

  • Top performers: Reckitt, Rio Tinto, Sainsbury’s, Vodafone

76%

link sustainability to purpose

81%

share case studies

33% 

outline their materiality process


4. People & Culture in Focus

Last year there was a big step up in enabling job seekers to search and apply for jobs. This year we have seen a growth in the communication and emphasis on culture and values - aimed at attracting the right talent and better explaining what it is like to work at the company. 

  • Top performers: AstraZeneca, Anglo American, SSE

+16%

increase in values-based content

+10%

growth in employee profiles

+16%

uplift in promoted employee benefits

5. Harnessing Social Media

The use of social media continues to grow. We have analysed the 'active' publication of content through different channels. The big shift was a big drop in active use of X - as predicted last year. 


Linkedin logo

91%

use LinkedIn
X logo

28%

use TikTok
Youtube logo

65%

use YouTube
Instagram logo

57%

use Instagram

Laggards & Leaders: The Widening Digital Divide 

As the bar continues to rise, so does the gap between those leading the charge and those falling behind.

Leaders

The strongest companies excel across all three dimensions of our Triple A framework. They:

  • Craft cohesive, multi-stakeholder narratives

  • Use interactivity and content to foster deeper engagement

  • Leverage social media to extend reach and relevance

  • Prioritise accessibility, compliance and user-centred design

Overall leaders in 2025: Coca-Cola HBC, Vodafone, Centrica
Leaders in experience: Anglo American, Haleon, Coca-Cola HBC

Laggards

At the other end of the spectrum, laggards demonstrate:

  • Minimal or outdated content

  • Weak or non-existent narrative

  • Low engagement levels

  • Little to no social amplification

  • Dated digital experiences

This year, we’ve observed a 52% performance gap between top and bottom performers – the widest yet. As digital becomes more strategic and stakeholder-driven, companies can no longer afford to treat it as a simple 'shop window'.

 


Turning Insight into Action

Our Digital Index helps clients identify where they stand—and what steps to take next.

We offer a full suite of digital services to help clients:

  • Benchmark digital performance
  • Review content for effectiveness
  • Reimagine design for engagement
  • Apply analytics to optimise performance
  • Integrate AI and SEO strategies for future growth

We are your end-to-end digital partner—from strategy and design to development and analytics.

How Do You Stack Up?

Are you a digital leader—or falling behind?

Get in touch with Black Sun Global to receive a personalised benchmark of your digital communications and discover how to build stronger, more meaningful relationships with your stakeholders.

Get in touch to book your Digital Benchmark review

 





Get in touch

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We’d also like to set optional analytics cookies to help us improve it. We won’t set optional cookies unless you enable them. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie policy


Analytics cookies

We’d like to set Google Analytics cookies to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie policy

: