What is donated media and how does it work?

Donated media is advertising space or time an outlet provides for a public service message without charging the sponsor the usual commercial placement rate. In broadcast PSA campaigns, stations and networks decide whether to accept a message and when to air it, often using available inventory. The sponsor may still pay for creative production, distribution, outreach, and tracking. PSN helps clients prepare relevant PSAs, make them easy for outlets to use, encourage carriage, and document reported results.

Why do outlets carry PSAs?

Public service messages can address needs that matter to an outlet’s audience, including health, safety, consumer protection, and access to services. Outlet policies, community priorities, technical standards, available inventory, and the message itself affect placement decisions. A strong pitch explains the local relevance and offers a clean, broadcast-ready file and clear sponsor information.

What does “donated” guarantee?

It describes the commercial terms of the placement; it does not guarantee an airing. A station may receive and download a PSA but choose not to run it, may run it fewer times than expected, or may change a schedule as inventory changes. A campaign should therefore distinguish files delivered, outlets that express interest, confirmed placements, monitored airings, and audience estimates.

Can donated PSAs run in valuable dayparts?

They can run across a range of dayparts, depending on the outlet and available inventory. A sponsor should evaluate the actual distribution of monitored airings rather than assume all plays occur at one time of day. PSN reports daypart data from monitored TV and radio airings where available and identifies how unmonitored activity is represented in aggregate charts.

How can a sponsor improve its prospects?

Give outlets a timely and locally meaningful message, multiple usable spot lengths when appropriate, accurate captions and files, a concise advisory, and simple download access. Repeated, respectful outreach matters. PSN also reviews campaign results to identify markets and stations where additional promotion could help. Placement remains the outlet’s choice.

How is donated value reported?

Estimated advertising value compares documented or estimated placements with a commercial rate methodology. Estimated impressions describe potential audience exposure, not unique people confirmed to have watched or listened. Different data sources and assumptions should be labeled, and donated performance should be reported separately from guaranteed paid inventory.

⭐️ Related guides: How distribution works · Tracking · Donated versus paid

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