Analysis of Public Service Announcements on National Television, 2001-2006

Although public service announcements (PSAs) are used extensively in social marketing campaigns, few studies have examined the overall landscape of PSAs. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of all PSAs aired on national television from 2001-2006. Data are from an all-inclusive industry database. Units of analysis were the number of ads, estimated amount of airtime, and estimated dollar value of airtime. Over 183,000 PSAs aired on average each year from 2001-2006, estimated to be worth about $1.6 billion per year. PSAs represented 2% of advertisements on national television, with more (30.5%) PSAs airing overnight between 1: 00 am and 5: 00 am than at other times of the day, and more appearing in the fall than other times of the year. The most common topic of PSAs was health. Sports programs contained a smaller percentage of PSAs than other types of programs. The results can help policymakers ensure that PSAs air in sufficient quantity and at effective times, inform campaign decisions about allocation of funds and placements of PSAs, and point to the need to monitor PSAs for each campaign.