TV Stations donate an average of 17 seconds an hour to Public Service Advertising.

While the media environment is evolving rapidly, television continues to be the dominant medium used by the American public. TV advertising is therefore still a core component of most major public service campaigns, on topics such as childhood obesity, drunk driving, or cancer prevention. To help inform the work of non-profits seeking to communicate with the public, the Kaiser Family Foundation is releasing a new, updated study that examines the extent and nature of public service advertising (PSA) on both broadcast and cable television.

The report – Shouting To Be Heard (2): Public Service Advertising in a Changing Television World – found that broadcast and cable stations in the study donated an average of 17 seconds an hour to PSAs – totaling one-half of one percent of all TV airtime. The most frequent time period for PSAs to air was between midnight and 6 a.m., accounting for 46% of donated PSAs across all stations in the study; looking only at broadcast stations, 60% of donated PSAs ran overnight. The time period with the fewest donated PSAs was during prime time (8-11 p.m.), with 13% of all donated PSAs.

The most common issue among donated PSAs was health (26% of all donated PSAs), followed by fundraising (23%), family and social concerns (12%), community organizations or events (8%), and volunteerism (6%).

“PSAs can be an important tool, but obviously they have to be seen to be effective,” said Vicky Rideout, vice president and Director of Kaiser’s Program for the Study of Entertainment Media and Health. “With so little airtime being made available, making sure PSAs get seen frequently by their target audience can be a daunting task.”

This report updates a previous study released in 2002, which allows for some comparisons over time. While the time allotted to donated PSAs increased from 7 seconds to 15 seconds per hour on cable television during this period, overall, there was no statistically significant change in the average amount of time donated to PSAs when broadcast television was factored in. Also during this period, the study found that paid commercial advertising increased from 11:45 of ads per hour to 12:25. In addition, during this period the proportion of donated ads featuring a Web address increased from 32% to 75%.

For more information at http://www.kff.org>