Abstract
Most of the research conducted on the effectiveness of public service announcements has focused on improving internal characteristics of advertisements, such as message design and appropriate targeting. Scant research has been conducted on PSA effectiveness in terms of media placement. The purpose of this study is to estimate the audience coverage achieved by the broadcast television portion of the Ad Council's drunk driving prevention campaign. The results show that on average, only 11.2% of households in the top 30 markets were exposed to at least one of the PSAs in a monthly campaign. Almost half of the total 962 advertisements were aired during late night (1:00 a.m.-6:59 a.m.) whereas fewer than 10% were aired during prime time. Overall, the data suggest that despite the seemingly large amount of airtime and media dollars donated to PSAs by television stations, the advertisements are reaching a very limited number of people. Since most public service messages are important, failure to reach consumers with these PSAs due to poor placement is a problem that broadcasters must continue to address.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 150-170 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Journal of Consumer Affairs |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| State | Published - Dec 2002 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Economics and Econometrics
Cite this
Reaching insomniacs with television PSAs : Poor placement of important messages. / Lancaster, Alyse; Lancaster, Kent M.
In: Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 36, No. 2, 12.2002, p. 150-170.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Reaching insomniacs with television PSAs
T2 - Poor placement of important messages
AU - Lancaster, Alyse
AU - Lancaster, Kent M.
PY - 2002/12
Y1 - 2002/12
N2 - Most of the research conducted on the effectiveness of public service announcements has focused on improving internal characteristics of advertisements, such as message design and appropriate targeting. Scant research has been conducted on PSA effectiveness in terms of media placement. The purpose of this study is to estimate the audience coverage achieved by the broadcast television portion of the Ad Council's drunk driving prevention campaign. The results show that on average, only 11.2% of households in the top 30 markets were exposed to at least one of the PSAs in a monthly campaign. Almost half of the total 962 advertisements were aired during late night (1:00 a.m.-6:59 a.m.) whereas fewer than 10% were aired during prime time. Overall, the data suggest that despite the seemingly large amount of airtime and media dollars donated to PSAs by television stations, the advertisements are reaching a very limited number of people. Since most public service messages are important, failure to reach consumers with these PSAs due to poor placement is a problem that broadcasters must continue to address.
AB - Most of the research conducted on the effectiveness of public service announcements has focused on improving internal characteristics of advertisements, such as message design and appropriate targeting. Scant research has been conducted on PSA effectiveness in terms of media placement. The purpose of this study is to estimate the audience coverage achieved by the broadcast television portion of the Ad Council's drunk driving prevention campaign. The results show that on average, only 11.2% of households in the top 30 markets were exposed to at least one of the PSAs in a monthly campaign. Almost half of the total 962 advertisements were aired during late night (1:00 a.m.-6:59 a.m.) whereas fewer than 10% were aired during prime time. Overall, the data suggest that despite the seemingly large amount of airtime and media dollars donated to PSAs by television stations, the advertisements are reaching a very limited number of people. Since most public service messages are important, failure to reach consumers with these PSAs due to poor placement is a problem that broadcasters must continue to address.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036904118&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036904118&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036904118
VL - 36
SP - 150
EP - 170
JO - Journal of Consumer Affairs
JF - Journal of Consumer Affairs
SN - 0022-0078
IS - 2
ER -