How Much Do Public Service Announcements Cost

Learn how to create a PSA to spread the message regarding your organisation'south mission, vision, or community bug.

What is a public service proclamation?
When should you consider using PSA'south?
How do you write a PSA?
How practice you produce a PSA?
How do you get your PSA on the air?
How tin can you lot tell if your PSA was effective?

Photo of megaphone illustration

"This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs. Whatever questions?"

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

"Friends don't allow friends drive drunk."

"You lot could learn a lot from a dummy."

How many of these phrases ring a bong? These widely recognized slogans from national public service annunciation campaigns by the Ad Quango accept become a part of our civilisation.

While the to a higher place examples were all big-budget campaigns, your ain organisation'south public service announcements (also known every bit PSA's) -- even if they're a pocket-size, locally-produced campaign -- can be a great cheap way to get your message out to the public.

What is a public service annunciation?

Public service announcements, or PSA's, are brusk messages produced on film or audio file and given to radio and boob tube stations. Mostly, PSA's are sent every bit prepare-to-air sound or video files, although radio stations (specially community or public stations, such as campus radio or National Public Radio affiliates) sometimes prefer a script that their announcers can read live on the air. They can be washed very simply with a single actor reading or performing a message, or they can be elaborate, slickly-produced messages with music, dramatic story-lines, and audio or visual effects.

Broadcast media -- radio and television -- are required past the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) to serve "in the public interest." Most stations use PSA's as one of the ways they encounter this requirement. While they aren't required to donate a fixed percentage of air fourth dimension per day to PSA's, stations do take to state in their licensing and renewal applications how much air fourth dimension they plan to devote to PSA'southward. Almost stations donate about a third of their commercial spots to non-commercial causes; in other words, if a station has 18 minutes of commercials in a given 60 minutes, six minutes of that will probably be devoted to PSA'southward.

Advantages of PSA'south

PSA's are generally inexpensive. Since the airtime is donated, your but toll is product. If you lot keep to a tight upkeep, you lot can brand PSA's very cheaply.
Nigh stations volition permit you lot to include a telephone number for more than information in your PSA.
PSA's tend to be really effective at encouraging the audience to do something -- for example, telephone call a phone number for more information, use condoms, or have your pet spayed or neutered.
PSA's can raise sensation of your issue.

Limitations of PSA's

Considering PSA's depend on donated time, you'll ofttimes find you're not able to get them run on all the media outlets yous'd like to, or you may find yourself at the mercy of station staff members who may be overworked, capricious, or personally opposed to your group'southward piece of work. PSA'due south are often run every bit "filler" in the middle of the dark or during other times when only a few people are listening or watching.
The competition among non-turn a profit groups for costless air time is very stiff -- depending on the market, there could exist hundreds of other groups vying for time on whatsoever given station. Y'all may non be able to count on getting a lot of air time for your PSA'south.
Stations tend to shy away from "controversial" PSA's. If your group focuses on an outcome that is the subject of heated public fence -- anti-abortion advocacy or gay rights, for example -- you may take a hard fourth dimension convincing stations to run your PSA.
Stations may non track and written report when your PSA'southward have been played, but they will do this for paid ad.
PSA's do crave a bit of work on your part, and they tend to be ineffective at influencing policy. Consider them more when you have a specific action yous desire the viewer or listener to have, or coordinate with other activities designed to influence people'due south behavior.

When should you consider using PSA'due south?

Hither are some guidelines for deciding when y'all might want to incorporate PSA'due south into your media campaign. Keep in listen that y'all don't necessarily have to encounter all of these criteria -- this is but a list of times that PSA'southward may be a good idea for your group:

When your group is a nonprofit organization
When yous have a specific announcement to make (for instance, the time and place of a meeting or upshot).
When yous have a articulate and easy-to-understand event
When you're requesting a very specific activeness
When you have practiced contacts for getting your PSA on the air
When you lot have good writing and product skills
When you've previously used PSA's with success
When it'south going to be part of a larger media campaign

How do you lot write a PSA?

Determine upon and clarify the purpose of your PSA. What are your goals hither? What exercise you want to accomplish by putting a PSA on the air? And for that thing, why use a PSA instead of other publicity outlets?

Target your audition. What type of people are you lot hoping to reach through your PSA? This will assist you lot focus in both your desired media outlets, and also upon your PSA content.
Survey your media outlets to all-time achieve that audience. That ways that you demand to know what media outlets are bachelor in your particular geographic area.
Prioritize your media outlets. That is, you need to know which outlets your target audience is near probable to adopt. For example, is your audience more likely to melody in to the 24-hour land music station than to the one that plays mostly golden oldies? If so, then you point toward the country music outlet.

Likewise, when does your audience tend to tune in to these outlets? For instance, is your desired audition a bunch of early risers? Then you'd probably want to reach them early in the morning, as opposed to late at night, if you possibly can. However, don't count on existence able to pick the time of twenty-four hour period for your PSA to run. That'due south why getting to know your media personnel is then important -- it's easier to inquire a favor of someone you know.

Approach your preferred media outlets. Here you desire to make a personal contact, as all-time y'all tin can, directly with the station manager in pocket-sized markets, or with the person who'southward responsible for choosing PSA's for circulate. A telephone call is good; a personal coming together is better. Discover out a bit about their requirements for PSA's -- what format they want to receive them in, preferred length, when to submit them, etc. See "How practise you get your PSA on the air?" afterward on in this section for more detailed information on how to go about this.

Write your PSA. The actual writing waits until this betoken, because you commencement demand to know your audience, your markets, and their policies.

Central points to remember about the writing:

Because you've only got a few seconds to accomplish your audition (ofttimes 30 seconds or less), the linguistic communication should be simple and vivid. Take your time and make every give-and-take count. Make your message crystal clear.
The content of the writing should have the right "hooks" -- words or phrases that take hold of attending -- to attract your audience (once again, you need to know who your audience is). For example, starting your PSA off with something like, "If you're between the ages of 25 and 44, you lot're more likely to die from AIDS than from whatsoever other disease."
The PSA should usually (though maybe not 100% of the time) request a specific activeness, such every bit calling a specific number to get more information. Yous ordinarily want listeners to practise something as a effect of having heard the PSA.

Getting gear up to write your PSA:

Cull points to focus on. Don't overload the viewer or listener with too many different letters. Listing all the possible messages you'd like to get into the public heed, and so decide on the 1 or two most vital points. For case, if your group educates people nearly asthma, you might narrow it downwards to a simple focus betoken like, "If you have asthma, you shouldn't smoke."

Brainstorm. This is also a adept time to expect at the PSA'southward that others have done for ideas. Get together with your colleagues to toss effectually ideas about ways you can illustrate the main point(s) you've called. If possible, include members of your target grouping in this process. If you're aiming your PSA at African-American youth, for example, be sure to invite some African-American youth to take role in brainstorming.

Check your facts. It's extremely important for your PSA to be accurate. Any facts should be checked and verified earlier sending the PSA in. Is the information upwardly to date? If in that location are any demonstrations included in the PSA, are they done clearly and correctly?

Identify a "claw". A claw is any you lot use to grab the listener or viewer'due south attention. How are you going to continue them from irresolute the channel or leaving the room or letting their attention migrate when your PSA comes on? A hook tin exist something funny, it can be tricky music, it can be a shocking statistic, it tin can exist an emotional entreatment -- whatever makes the listener or viewer interested enough to watch or mind to the rest of your PSA. For example, if you lot're aiming for Hispanic listeners, your hook might be to take your PSA use Tejano or salsa background music.

At present you're ready to write your script!

Basic guidelines for PSA format:

Virtually stations prefer 30-2d spots. If you're writing a television PSA, yous'll want to keep the journalist's copy 2 or three seconds shorter than the entire length of the PSA. Goggle box stations run on a much tighter, more than rigid schedule than radio stations, and you may find that if your PSA runs exactly xxx seconds, for case, the station may sometimes cutting off the end.

Length of PSA x seconds 15 seconds 20 seconds 30 seconds

Number of words 20-25 words 30-35 words 40-50 words 60-75 words

Length of PSA	x seconds	15 seconds	20 seconds	30 seconds
Number of words	20-25 words	30-35 words	40-50 words	60-75 words

Your copy should be typed, double or triple-spaced.

Yous tin put more than one spot per page for the shorter ones, but with 30 and sixty second spots, put them on carve up pages.

The top of the sheet should listing:

how long the PSA should run (i.due east., "FOR Apply: November xviii - December twenty" or "Imnediate: TFN" [til further detect])
length of the PSA
what agency or grouping the PSA is for, and
title of the PSA.

The script itself should be carve up into two columns; the left cavalcade will listing all directions, photographic camera angles, audio effects, etc. and the correct cavalcade lists all dialogue.

Don't use hyphenations or abbreviations.

The bottom of the sail should exist marked with "###", the standard ending used in releases to the media to let the media outlet know there are no further pages to the script or story.

Your script can be sent equally "live copy"-- a simple script that'south gear up to exist read by a live on-air announcer -- or equally a pre-recorded file. While live copy is inexpensive and is used extensively in radio, television stations rarely apply alive re-create scripts.

Below is an example of a live copy PSA script for radio. Two longer scripts -- one for radio and one for television -- are shown with the other examples at the end of this section.

Sample radio PSA script -- live re-create

Use: Imnediate: TFN
Time: 20 seconds
Bureau: Gay and Lesbian Brotherhood Against Defamation
Title: "Day of Compassion"

Main Point: Day of Compassion will be held June 20 Xv years agone, most people thought it couldn't happen to them. Today we know better. AIDS has taken more than 320,000 lives nationwide. Information technology could happen to someone you beloved. Turn on your radio or Television receiver on June 20th and experience a Day of Compassion. It could save lives. Be aware. Be safe. Be empathetic.

###

If you lot can go help from an outside professional person or somebody who has radio/television receiver experience, this is a skilful time to practice then. He or she can review your work for yous and offering suggestions. Information technology won't have much time, since PSA's are so short.

Pretesting your script is always a good idea. Observe some people who are members of your target audience, show them or let them read the script for the PSA, and enquire them for disquisitional feedback. In add-on to members of your target audition, y'all might as well desire to ask health professionals and activists, teachers, and religious leaders to take part in pretesting. It doesn't accept to be a big, hairy, formal process. Any corporeality of time you spend pretesting will about always pay off in greater effectiveness of your PSA.

Now you have a script that's ready to go! If yous're just making live re-create scripts, you can skip the next part ("How practice yous produce a PSA?") and go directly on to "How do you get your PSA on the air?" If you're going to be sending in a pre-recorded file, read on!

How do you produce a PSA?

If yous're planning on sending in a pre-recorded PSA, determine whether you should produce it yourself or bring in outside aid at this point. Generally, it's not a expert idea to produce it yourself unless y'all're certain you can do a professional-quality task. Everyone has seen or heard at least a few badly produced local PSA's in their time; you lot know it can negatively affect your stance of an organization. If yous can't be certain you lot can practise a genuinely good task of it, yous shouldn't try to produce your own PSA.

But don't despair! Yous tin have a well-fabricated PSA without going to the expense of paying a professional television or radio production company. Discover out if anyone in your group has broadcasting experience. Arroyo surface area advertising agencies and production companies to see if whatsoever of them would donate personnel, studio fourth dimension, or equipment for your PSA. Consider tapping into broadcasting students at whatever area universities. They're hungry for the experience and most upperclassmen will have had some formal preparation and feel.

As a final resort, you can pay a professional production or advertizement company to produce your script. You lot may be able to get a reduced rate for nonprofit agencies, and then be sure to ask virtually that possibility.

Tips for radio:

Finding professional announcers is helpful but not vital. Volunteers at community or campus radio stations, people who read for the bullheaded, and storytellers are all experienced in doing voiceover piece of work. Just keep your target group in mind when choosing actors. People tend to respond amend to those who sound like they might be their approximate age and background.
In radio, your audience is usually doing at least 1 other thing in addition to listening; driving, reading, partying, studying, working, gardening, cleaning, etc. It's important to grab the audition'southward attention quickly and concur it.
Endeavor to use short, absorbing sentences aimed straight at the listener at the beginning of the PSA to aid grab their attention. For example: "Your heart could be a ticking time bomb. Has one or both of your parents had centre disease? If then, your chances of developing heart disease after in life are a lot higher than for most people."

Tips for television:

You have to tell the Telly staff exactly what you desire them to pic. You must depict each shot in writing, and give the correct dialogue to go with that shot.
Drama clubs, customs theater groups, and the drama departments at your local loftier schools and universities are dandy places to discover talent, and near of the members are eager for experience.
Consider using slide/journalist spots, because they're cheap and easy to produce. In a slide/journalist spot, an announcer reads the script while 35-mm slides are used for the visual portion of the PSA.
If you're producing a television spot yourself, make upward a storyboard for your script earlier you brainstorm shooting. A storyboard shows sketches or photos of each individual spot in a television receiver piece. Information technology helps the manager figure out how the unabridged piece will flow and what sort of camera angles and staging need to be prepare.
Avoid special effects. They're generally plush, and usually only distract viewers from the message.

Chances are adept that you can go help from your local community access cable Tv set station. Many of them also offer complimentary product courses, which could exist useful to you if you might be producing videos on a regular ground.

Many local cable TV stations also do "scrolls," or community-calendar type announcements. Your message might also exist included every bit one of these. The annunciation is often 25-l words of re-create, sometimes even less, and is often written similarly to a radio PSA. Check with your cable Television receiver station for details.

Overall tips

If y'all tin can afford to, make multiple PSA's so that the aforementioned i doesn't play over and over. You don't want your audience to become sick of your message, so having different versions of the same message, or several different PSA's with different letters, is one way to mix things up and continue their attending. Proceed it brief and elementary! Focus what you want the viewer to practice or remember after they run into or hear your PSA. Stick to having only two or three principal characters in the PSA to aid your audition focus on the bulletin. Let the actors requite you feedback and make suggestions on the script. They will capeesh that you take their input seriously, and they frequently accept keen ideas. When data changes (for example, with AIDS PSA's, where new treatments are being developed all the time), modify your PSA'south as soon as possible. Contact the station(south) playing it and become them to end running old material, and produce new PSA's with updated information as quickly as y'all can. Talk with your actors and production staff near payment or donated time, and have a written agreement in place earlier production begins.

How exercise you get your PSA on the air?

Dissimilar stations have different policies for PSA's. For example, in some small communities, you can just call in your PSA by telephone. Other stations require the PSA script, while others require a fully produced, ready-to-air version. Find out alee of time what their requirements are -- never send a PSA without knowing the rules and guidelines of the station first. Stations besides vary around maximum PSA length and minimum accelerate notice. In other words, you want to know what the local ground rules are earlier you accept to the field.

Radio

It'south mostly a lot easier to get a PSA run on the radio than on tv set. Once you're familiar with submission requirements, transport your PSA, post-obit station guidelines. This volition normally include a cover letter, forth with any specific requests or instructions.

Even if you've already talked to your contact on the phone or in person you should have care to write a good cover letter when you send your PSA in. Mention previous conversations with the contact, and any specific air times you've discussed. Be sure to list whatever and all enclosed items or boosted pages. And, well-nigh importantly, be appreciative!

PSA Comprehend Letter of the alphabet

Anytown Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition
789 Walnut Drive, Suite 88 * Anytown, PA 12345 * (215) 555-5678

Oct 10, 1998

Mai-Lin Huang
Public Diplomacy Director
KPSA 98.6 Radio
1234 Broadcast Lane
Anytown, PA 12345

Dearest Ms. Huang:

As per our telephone conversation on Oct eight, enclosed please find 3 index cards with set up-to-read announcer PSA'due south for our teen parents speaker'due south bureau program, as well as 4 sound recordings with the post-obit:

5 10-2d spots

Three 15-2d spots

Three xxx-2nd spots

2 60-second spots

As per your request, all of the 10-second spots are on a single file, all the 15-second spots are on some other, so on. For your reference, I have besides enclosed copies of the scripts for the recorded spots.

Thank you for taking the fourth dimension to explain KPSA'southward policies and requirements on submitting public service announcements when I spoke with you on Tuesday. I look forrard to hearing the starting time of our PSA'south during Jammin' Jeska's Morning Madhouse on October 22,. If I'm mistaken virtually this engagement, delight let me know.

We feel confident that with KPSA's support nosotros'll have a significant touch on on teen pregnancy in our customs. Again, thank you very much for your assistance and guidance in getting these important letters on the air.

Sincerely,

Alicia Rodriguez
Director

Anytown Teen Pregnancy Prevention Coalition

Enclosures:

Index cards (3)

Recorded files (4)

PSA scripts (4 pages)

Make sure y'all keep your own copies of everything! Media outlets receive a lot of PSA's; misplacing or losing them is common, so be prepared to provide a new re-create if necessary. Follow up with a phone call a few days later.

Tv

Getting a PSA shown on television is highly competitive. It helps to make a personal contact with someone on the station's staff. Telephone call to notice out who is in charge of selecting which PSA'due south are run. Depending on the size of the market and the structure of the particular station y'all're dealing with, your best contact person could be the public affairs manager, traffic managing director, program managing director, promotions manager, or even the station director.

Once yous know who your contact should exist, telephone call and ask if you lot tin can make an appointment to talk near the possibility of airing your PSA. Exist on fourth dimension, and bring an air-ready copy of the PSA and the script as well equally information on your arrangement or initiative. It might assist to bring proof of your group'south tax exempt condition too. If your contact is unfamiliar with your group, you may have to spend the kickoff few minutes explaining who yous are and what you do.

Explain how the PSA fits into your overall media entrada, the goals of the campaign, and how running it at the times you're asking for will aid the entrada be more than constructive. And of grade, be gracious and professional at all times -- whatever station that runs your PSA is doing y'all a favor, and if you come off as too pushy or unappreciative it only hurts your chances of getting your PSA on the air.

Once you've gotten approval for your PSA

After you've gotten an agreement to run your PSA from a radio or tv set station, find out the 24-hour interval and time that it will get-go playing. Your contact may not be the same person who really schedules the spots, then if necessary inquire him or her who is in charge of scheduling and and then contact that person.

Listen to or sentinel the station for the start ambulation to make sure your PSA is shown (and that it is shown correctly). Follow upward past sending a thanks note and, if you can, some pocket-size token of your gratitude, such as a certificate of appreciation or an invitation to 1 of your group's events.

Do go on in heed that your spot might not run exactly at the time that your contact says it will. PSA schedules are always subject to change.

How can you lot tell if your PSA was effective?

The all-time way to judge effectiveness is to request a specific action, and then to monitor the actions taken. For instance, if you're requesting listeners to call a number, then you measure the number of calls received before the PSA aired. The same applies if you lot're request for postcards.

Alternatively, if you lot were asking for attendance at an effect, you could both measure out attendance and besides ask those attention how they heard about the event, and annotation the percent mentioning PSA's.

Once it's on the air, see if you can use the PSA to go more extensive media coverage, such equally a media story on your work, or being a guest on a panel show, or peradventure -- depending on the station and the media market -- being able to do a radio editorial or getting editorial reply time. This is using the principal of leverage, a very powerful principle in doing community piece of work.

Finally, equally noted before, pre-testing should help you figure out how constructive a PSA may or may not exist.