Nawrocki, Tusk and Kaczyński Lead Poland’s Political Media Value Ranking

Karol Nawrocki is Poland’s most valuable political figure in terms of online media exposure. Content featuring the Polish president generated an estimated advertising equivalent value of PLN 340.94 million. Prime Minister Donald Tusk ranked second with PLN 274.66 million, while Jarosław Kaczyński came third with PLN 98.29 million, according to an analysis by the Leadership Institute, which assessed the media value of Poland’s most prominent political leaders using advertising value equivalent.

Advertising Value Equivalent, or AVE, represents the estimated amount that would have to be spent to achieve comparable exposure if the publications were paid advertising. Its value depends on factors including the reach of a publication, the type of media outlet and the prominence given to the person concerned.

– This year’s ranking, which for the first time covered as many as 170 political leaders, shows the clear dominance of Karol Nawrocki. Taking office as President of Poland made him one of the most frequently discussed figures in the Polish media landscape. His lead over Prime Minister Donald Tusk amounts to more than PLN 66 million in advertising equivalent value. Interestingly, in the first edition of the ranking in 2021, then Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki ranked first, while President Andrzej Duda was only third – says Dr Piotr Gąsiorowski, President of the Leadership Institute.

The top ten

This year’s top ten clearly shows that the media value of politicians is now determined primarily by their actual influence on the most important events in the country.

The ranking includes representatives of Poland’s most important centres of political power – the presidency, the government, the governing coalition and the opposition.

The president and prime minister occupy the top two positions. Jarosław Kaczyński’s third place, with media coverage valued at almost PLN 100 million, or PLN 98.29 million, demonstrates that despite remaining outside government he continues to be one of the most important figures in Polish politics in terms of media interest.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz ranked fourth with media value of PLN 87.51 million, followed closely by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski at PLN 84.94 million.

Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty ranked sixth with PLN 62.5 million.

The top ten also included Przemysław Czarnek with PLN 59.1 million, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek with PLN 51.18 million, Zbigniew Ziobro with PLN 47.92 million and Mateusz Morawiecki with PLN 47.66 million.

Members of the Council of Ministers are strongly represented in the ranking. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz is the highest-ranked government minister with media value of PLN 87.51 million, ahead of Radosław Sikorski at PLN 84.94 million, Waldemar Żurek at PLN 51.18 million and Andrzej Domański at PLN 35.27 million.

– Holding key state positions remains one of the most important factors influencing media presence. Increasingly, however, media value is also determined by current events, communication activity and the ability to generate public debate – Dr Piotr Gąsiorowski explains.

Confederation strengthens its media presence

The strong representation of Confederation politicians is another notable feature of the ranking.

Sławomir Mentzen placed in the top 20 with media value of PLN 25.95 million. Krzysztof Bosak ranked 21st with PLN 25.58 million, while further down the list were Przemysław Wipler with PLN 5.35 million, Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik with PLN 4.97 million and Konrad Berkowicz with PLN 4.02 million.

Grzegorz Braun, leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown, ranked 15th with estimated media value of PLN 32.2 million.

– Just a few years ago, representatives of Confederation appeared much lower in these rankings. Today, their media presence is becoming increasingly visible on the Polish political scene – Gąsiorowski notes.

Another interesting conclusion from this year’s ranking concerns the media value of politicians associated with Mateusz Morawiecki’s Rozwój Plus association.

The combined media value of 42 members of the association included in the analysis amounted to approximately PLN 99.5 million.

This means that the combined media value of the Rozwój Plus political environment is comparable with Jarosław Kaczyński’s individual media value of PLN 98.29 million.

Piotr Gąsiorowski notes that Mateusz Morawiecki remains Rozwój Plus’s greatest media asset, with an estimated value of PLN 47.66 million.

He therefore accounts for almost half of the total media value generated by the political environment analysed. In practice, this demonstrates how heavily the association’s public communication remains concentrated around the former prime minister.

Apart from Mateusz Morawiecki, the members of the association with the highest media value are Marek Jakubiak with PLN 9.57 million, Michał Dworczyk with PLN 6.88 million, Janusz Cieszyński with PLN 6.51 million and Krzysztof Szczucki with PLN 5.69 million.

They constitute the most valuable media support base for the Rozwój Plus association.

– In the case of Rozwój Plus, we see a very clear concentration of media capital around Mateusz Morawiecki, who accounts for almost half of the association’s total media value. This is a natural stage in the development of a new political project – the leader attracts attention, sets the direction and becomes the main carrier of the message. From a leadership perspective, however, long-term success depends on the ability to develop other strong leaders. Organisations and political movements whose recognition is based exclusively on one person are more vulnerable to crises and find it harder to maintain a lasting influence on public debate. The strength of leadership is demonstrated not only by the leader’s charisma, but also by the ability to build a team of people capable of independently creating value and strengthening the position of the entire organisation – Gąsiorowski says.

Former presidents remain part of the public debate

Former presidents also ranked relatively highly despite no longer holding office.

Andrzej Duda generated media value of PLN 34.07 million, Lech Wałęsa PLN 11.45 million, Aleksander Kwaśniewski PLN 10.46 million and Bronisław Komorowski PLN 9.55 million.

– This shows that authority and recognition built up over many years continue to translate into media interest. Comments from former heads of state remain an important element of public debate – the expert says.

The total value of publications concerning the 170 most prominent political leaders exceeded PLN 2.1 billion.

This illustrates both the scale of media interest in politics in Poland and the enormous communication value generated by the country’s most important public figures.

Importantly, as Piotr Gąsiorowski points out, almost 30% of that figure is attributable to just two leaders – President Karol Nawrocki and Prime Minister Donald Tusk – confirming the strong concentration of attention around the main participants in Poland’s political debate.

The Leadership Institute analysed mentions of selected political leaders published between 1 January and 14 July 2026 on online portals, news websites, blogs and social media platforms including Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and BlueSky.

Facebook and Instagram were excluded from the analysis because of their policies governing access to information.

The media value of the coverage was calculated using advertising value equivalent without taking advertising discounts into account.

Online media value of Polish political leaders

Source: https://ceo.com.pl/nawrocki-tusk-kaczynski-oto-najdrozsi-medialnie-politycy-w-polsce-13066