Your PSA is finished. Now comes the harder part: getting it in front of people. Distribution decides whether a strong spot reaches its audience or sits on a hard drive.
RaffertyWeiss Media has produced PSAs for more than 25 years for federal agencies, nonprofits, associations, and corporate sponsors in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and nationwide. We deliver broadcast-ready files, advise on distribution, and introduce clients to placement partners when they need one. Here's what we've learned about the path from finished spot to airtime.
Donated Airtime vs. Paid Placement
There are two ways to get a PSA on the air.
Donated airtime. A station runs your PSA at no charge as a service to its community. The station decides whether and when it airs. Submitting a spot doesn't guarantee airings, and even when the airtime is free, distribution and monitoring services can cost money.
Paid placement. You buy a media schedule. You control where and when the spot runs, and you pay for that control.
Many campaigns use one path and some use both. If you mix them, check each outlet's rules. The NAB Spot Center, for example, asks that submissions not be running as part of a paid advertising campaign.
Start by deciding what success looks like. Reaching a specific local audience, building awareness over a set period, and supporting a larger campaign each point to different choices.
Production and placement are separate. We produce the spot and prepare the files. Paid media is handled separately, and we can connect you with partners who do that work.
What Stations Look for in a PSA
Each station has its own process and priorities, and the decision usually involves the public affairs or PSA director and the traffic department. In our experience, they look at four things.
A message that speaks to the station's viewers or listeners has a reason to air. For a D.C.-area organization, a spot tied to the community will get more attention from local outlets than a generic national message.
The spot has to be broadcast-ready: clean audio, clear visuals, accurate information, and the right file format. We confirm each outlet's delivery specs and prepare files to match.
A PSA informs people or asks them to act on a public issue. If it feels like a commercial, expect it to be passed over.
Corporate and association sponsors often have good reason to be identified with a campaign, but the sponsor shouldn't dominate. Some stations decline PSAs with for-profit logos altogether, so check the sponsor-credit rules of your target outlets before the final edit, not after. Our guide to choosing the right tone for your PSA can help keep the message in front.
PSA Campaign Examples From Our Work
A few campaigns from our own work show how different distribution paths play out.
For the Department of Defense, we produced a distracted-driving campaign for service members in every branch, with cast actors and multiple locations. The spots, Your Choice, Coming Home, and Nightmare, aired on the DoD's American Forces Radio and Television Service, now the American Forces Network. When a campaign has a network built for its audience, distribution comes down to delivering the right files on time.
Working with prime contractor Concept Communications, we've produced the PSAs, print, radio, and social pieces for the U.S. Department of Labor's Campaign for Disability Employment since the broadcast campaign began. What Can You Do? and its Spanish version are part of that work. A long-running campaign like this one depends on a full set of versions, in several formats and languages, ready with each new release.
Our most recent campaign, for Mental Health Care Works, includes two :60 ensemble spots and three :30s, and it's running now. Spanish-language versions were planned before we filmed, so we shot alternate coverage for every on-camera moment. That way the Spanish cuts work as well as the English ones.
Radio can be a practical broadcast option, especially for local campaigns. Our produced radio PSAs, including Blood, Aquatic Safety, and our HIV radio spots, show the format.
You'll find more of our spots on our TV spots page.
Prepare Your PSA for Distribution
Distribution starts during production, which is why our PSA guide covers planning distribution before production as its own step. Meeting a station's requirements won't guarantee airings, but missing them makes airings very unlikely.
Common TV lengths are :60, :30, and :15. Giving stations more than one length makes your spot easier to schedule. Our Prevent Cancer Foundation spot with Ernie Hudson, delivered as a :30 and a :60, is one example.
Radio needs its own plan. Some stations want a finished, produced spot. Others accept only scripts for their on-air talent to read live. Find out which before you budget.
If the campaign is also going on social, we plan vertical and square versions from the start instead of cropping the TV spot after the fact.
We prepare broadcast captions to each outlet's specs and open captions for social, so the message works with the sound off. Captions also serve viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing, so every cut gets them, including the short ones.
Whether a sponsor can be credited depends on the outlet. We'll plan sponsor identification that fits those policies and keeps the public-service message first. For associations balancing member and sponsor relationships, our association video production team can help strike that balance.
What to Include in Your PSA Submission Package
Most stations accept digital delivery, but the method varies: a download link, a submission portal, or something else. Confirm each outlet's process. A clean submission package usually includes:
- The PSA title or campaign name
- Spot length
- Intended audience
- Your organization's contact information
- A short campaign description
- The broadcast file or live-read radio script
- Requested start and end dates
- Any documentation the station asks for
Stations considering donated airtime may ask for proof of tax-exempt status, so keep it handy.
Campaign Dates and Distribution Timelines
Every PSA needs a clear end date, sometimes called a kill date or use-by date, plus a start date where it matters. A spot about an enrollment period or an event should never run after it's over. Put both dates in your delivery materials.
Stations plan ahead. A spot delivered the week before your key date probably won't make it on air in time. Lead times vary by outlet, so ask your station contacts or distribution partner, and build in extra time when you're counting on donated airtime.
We set the campaign dates first and work backward. A typical calendar includes:
- Confirm station requirements and submission deadlines
- Develop and approve the creative
- Produce the spot
- Prepare broadcast files
- Reach out to stations and media partners
- Deliver and follow up
- Air the spot through donated placements or a paid schedule
- Report and measure
Distribution Beyond TV and Radio
The same message can work in more places than TV and radio. Connected TV, meaning viewing on internet-connected TVs and streaming devices, extends a video campaign beyond broadcast. Social platforms reach people with shorter, platform-specific versions. Out-of-home placements such as transit displays and digital signage put the message in physical spaces.
Each channel has its own specs and costs, and donated broadcast time doesn't carry over to any of them. A social cut needs open captions and a vertical or square frame. A connected-TV spot has to meet the platform's file specs. An out-of-home version needs short, readable on-screen text, because there's no sound. We adapt the spot for each channel in your plan. For social specifics, see our guide to producing a PSA for social media.
Track Airings and Measure Results
Once the spot is out, you'll want to know where it ran and whether it worked. Depending on how it was distributed, reports can include the outlet, market, date, time, and number of airings.
Ask your distributor what monitoring is included, what it costs, and which outlets it covers. Some stations don't report airings at all, so expect the numbers to be incomplete.
You may also see a figure called donated media value, an estimate of what the airtime would have cost to buy. Ask how it was calculated. It isn't money your organization received, and it doesn't show that anyone acted.
Airings tell you the message ran. To see whether it worked, track the action you asked people to take:
- Calls or inquiries
- Website visits
- Sign-ups or registrations
- Requests for information
Set these up before launch so your analytics and records are ready. A rise in activity doesn't prove the PSA caused it, but read alongside airing reports, it gives you a reasonable picture. Our article on why PSAs work, and why they don't covers how a clear message and an achievable call to action make results easier to see.
Do You Need a PSA Distributor?
Not every campaign needs a distributor. A D.C.-area nonprofit with good local media relationships can often handle outreach in-house. Plan for the time it takes to confirm requirements, deliver files, follow up, and collect airing reports.
A campaign across several markets is different. Broader reach, coordinated follow-up, and centralized reporting are where a specialist distributor earns its fee. Before you hire one, ask exactly what the fee covers: outreach, delivery, monitoring, and reporting. Distribution fees don't necessarily include paid airtime, and donated placements are never guaranteed.
Our role is to produce the PSA, prepare broadcast-ready files, advise on distribution, and connect you with placement partners when it makes sense. Our nonprofit video production work starts by matching the message and deliverables to the channels you plan to use, so the handoff to distribution goes smoothly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start with a professionally produced, broadcast-ready spot. Identify the stations and markets that fit your campaign, prepare the right files and supporting information, and submit through each station's process. Then follow up and track reported airings. Submission doesn't guarantee donated airtime, and a paid schedule is arranged separately.
It can. Stations may donate airtime, but outreach, distribution, and monitoring services can carry fees, and paid placement means buying a schedule. Treat production, distribution services, and paid airtime as three separate budget lines.
The common TV lengths are :60, :30, and :15. Delivering more than one gives stations flexibility. Confirm accepted lengths and formats with your target outlets before production.
Sometimes. It depends on each outlet's eligibility and sponsor-credit rules, and some stations decline for-profit branding entirely. Where credit is allowed, keep it modest and keep the public-service message first.
Don't count on it. In a 2008 FCC order on the digital TV transition, the Commission noted that it had not previously required broadcasters to air public service announcements, even though it had required certain other on-air announcements. Stations decide which PSAs they accept and when they run them, so treat distribution as outreach, not a guarantee.
Plan Your PSA Campaign
We produce broadcast-ready PSAs for organizations in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and nationwide, help you plan for distribution, and connect you with placement partners when you need them. Paid media placement is handled separately from production.
Ready to talk about your audience, channels, and delivery needs? Talk to us about your PSA campaign.
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