Producer Handbook: Broadcast, Marketing, Promotion/Publicity & Outreach

The challenge of promotion is to generate “buzz” about your program and to encourage viewers, especially those from underserved audiences, to tune in for broadcast. The ITVS Broadcast and Communications staff is dedicated to creating interest in your program among public television programmers (the program is scheduled for broadcast), the press (the broadcast is talked about and viewers tune-in), and targeted and general audiences (the program is watched, discussed, and used).

The Broadcast and Communications staff handle the public television (PTV) distribution and promotion of your program. PTV promotion refers to all phases of program support from station relations and press coverage to outreach and follow-up. ITVS will work with public television stations to ensure your program’s most effective carriage. The staff will develop a publicity campaign; produce and distribute press materials such as press releases and photo sheets; launch a web site; create promotion opportunities; and develop targeted outreach plans.

Your participation is expected and welcomed in developing an effective promotion effort for your program. The final decision regarding promotional activities and materials in support of your program’s public television broadcast is with ITVS. In general, ITVS is not able to support promotion for markets other than public television. The following pages list the materials that will be needed to effectively promote your program and information on how we launch a promotional campaign. Remember, good promotion requires good source materials. Good promotion benefits everyone—producers, programs, festivals, distributors, stations, audiences, and ITVS. It is worth your effort to think about strong promotional materials from pre-to post-production and beyond, to ensure the success of your program.