Public media audiences care about their communities and the world around them. Members are generally influential, cultured, and engaged. They’re also passionate about environmental and public causes.
Audiences respect public media so much that any business sponsoring a station benefits automatically from the association. The phenomenon is called the Halo Effect. Essentially, the high-regard and respect that the audience feels for public media transfers to the sponsor. Public media sponsorship allows the audience to associate the sponsor with the same values they share with public media.
You're on a Mission
Public media is mission and membership driven. Public sector media includes television, radio, and other media outlets whose primary mission is public service. These outlets dedicate their efforts to bettering the world through education and awareness of various subjects, such as history, science, ecology, the arts, and public affairs. Their programming engages everyone from young preschoolers through those with a lifetime of experience.
Audiences associate sponsors as donors or benefactors that are supporting a valued community asset. By supporting public media through sponsorship, you leverage public media's considerable reach and influence. The effect of sponsorship results in a level of success that is difficult to achieve through traditional ad campaigns alone.
You Pay to Play
Public media audiences are also donors. They are loyal to their stations and commit to supporting their community institutions through individual gifts. This support can come in many forms, from small cash donations to more significant gifts and bequests. In essence, they pay for what they get for free, due to deep appreciation for their local station.
Public media supporters align themselves with the values that these outlets represent and believe in contributing to the availability of cultural programming, local news, and other valuable information. That loyalty and value alignment transfers to any brand that sponsors public media. Seventy-two percent of public radio listeners say that they have a more favorable opinion of a brand that sponsors public radio.
You're Influential
Public media audiences are largely affluent, informed, and influential, not to mention eager to hear your message. Eighty-seven percent of public media audience members discuss the information garnered from public programming with friends, colleagues, and family. Word of mouth marketing is one of the most influential and valuable tools for brand awareness and affinity. Ninety-two percent of consumers trust the recommendations of friends and family over advertisements.
Sponsors who invest in public media influence key decision-makers to choose their products and services over competitors by supporting the causes and communities the audiences care about. Seventy-two percent of consumers believe that the brands they purchase from should reflect their values.
Public Media Sponsorship Exhibits Shared Values
Viewers, listeners, and supporters of public media believe in supporting causes that positively impact their communities and contribute to a better world. They identify with the stations that make it their mission to inform, educate, and motivate people to take action for causes they believe in. Public media audiences feel that the stations they support share their values, and they confer those shared values onto sponsors of public media through the Halo Effect.
Audiences believe in supporting their stations financially as well as through viewership or listenership, and they respect brands that do the same. Public media sponsorship has significant influence over the audience. When they feel that the brands reflect their values, they will use word of mouth to recommend the products or services to their friends, family, and colleagues.
Sponsorship allows your target audience to identify with you by supporting and championing the causes they care about. By working with an experienced public media partner to develop a sponsorship campaign, you can realize an enhanced level of influence and brand trust.
