Pledge Programming

Programs create audiences by their content.  If you telecast a symphony, those people who like that kind of music will view and others will not. Generally, PTV programming is serious, intellectually complex and dense.  Often pledge programming is very different - it is designed to be interrupted by breaks and to elicit emotion.  As a result, many viewers who love the regular schedule programming do not have the same feelings for pledge programs - with the exception of the broader appeal performance programming.

Much of the research listed below is password protected, if you are unable to access the content, please contact Kristen Kuebler or Craig Reed at TRAC Media Services or call 520.299.1866.

Pledge and the Brain
There are number of trends that converge in this area of brains, behavior and social consequences.  While we will not focus much on it, the revolutions in research methodology are almost as profound as the discoveries in cognitive psychology (e.g., why focus groups are useless). We will have little to say about research methodology here.

Why the Regular Schedule Doesn't Pledge?
This Power Point examines some of the reasons why the regular NPS schedule fails to attract pledgers and how those programs differ from pledge programs (2003).

Show Me You Know Me
Discusses the types of viewers of public television, why they join, why they lapse and how to schedule pledge. A very short introduction (2003).

Ethnic Giving & Pledge
The Hispanic, African American and Asian American PTV Audience (2002).

On-Air Fundraising Seminar Four Quantitative Study Results
A one-page summary of the results of the On-Air Fundraising Study Results (2002).

Multicasting Again: Or How Deep is My Niche?
Understanding multicasting in the digital age (2002).

Generations: Lessons from the TRAC Pledge Files
The "Lessons from the PledgeTRAC Files" session at the 2002 NETA meeting, conducted by Patty Thaxton, TRAC Media Sr. Vice President, and Pat Callahan, KVIE Vice President of Development, consisted of three sets of slides. The first, "TRAC Generations," defines the major generational cohorts represented in the public television audience. “TRAC Pledger Demos” uses demographic information from 238,000 pledges collected by 15 TRAC Pledge Automator™ stations to determine which pledge program genres appeal to the various generations and ethnic audiences. The final set of slides, “TRAC Tools,” provides an overview of how the generational and ethnic pledge analysis informs the TRAC Tools for Pledge Scheduling, and how those tools are used by programmers and membership professionals (2002)

TRAC Pledge Demos
A demographic profile of pledgers (2002)

Programs Produce Viewers - Viewers Produce Pledges
TRAC Media Services has been providing audience analysis and program schedule consulting to public television stations and producers for more than 20 years. With the advent of PledgeTRAC, our research makes it abundantly clear that success in on-air fund drives and in membership retention is linked to programming success during the year-round schedule (1999).

Viewing Pledge Drives
Discussion about methods of viewing pledge drives and how people view the programs and breaks (1999).

Pledge Tips - Who's Watching Who's Pledging?
Six pledge tips from a 1997 study of pledge programs (1998).