Illinois Farm Bureau members spotlighted by Today Show and Associated Press
With the holiday season quickly approaching, inflation continues to dominate the news cycle. Additionally, low Mississippi River water levels amid harvest season, which posed significant storage challenges for many farmers, garnered some national media attention. Illinois Farm Bureau routinely coordinates media coverage on a variety of topics, including inflation and Mississippi River inquiries, in addition to monitoring mainstream channels.
From Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, IFB fielded 19 interview requests from print/online, radio broadcast and TV reporters, generating 879 news placements and potentially reaching 685.2 million people, which had an advertisement value equivalency (AVE) of around $6.33 million.
For comparison, IFB facilitated 35 media interviews in October 2021, which yielded 392 media placements and potentially reached 562.5 million, an estimated AVE of $5.2 million.
Interview requests were slightly down for the month of October compared to the previous year, however, the publications IFB continues to work with have higher audience reach. In early October, IFB coordinated with NBC’s Today Show on a feature news segment on inflation in relation to pumpkin and Halloween candy prices. The single news segment was shared by 327 TV and radio stations across the U.S. and had a total potential reach of 21.1 million people.
October Top Reach, Syndication, and Social Echo
October was a busy month for earned media coverage, with articles covering a range of topics including inflation, avian flu, truck driver shortages, harvest progress, Mississippi River water levels and more. Multiple articles had audience reach in the millions, the highest being 107 million people. Many articles had high syndication levels, which refers to how many news channels share the same article across platforms. Several articles also had high social echo, which refers to articles or broadcasts that had the highest engagement on social media.
Highest Reach
- “Drought-stricken Mississippi River creates woes across U.S. region” – This article originated from the Associated Press and was picked up by 335 news outlets across the U.S. Of the publications that shared the article, MSN.com had the highest reach with 107 million people.
Most Syndicated
- “Drought snarls Mississippi River transit in blow to farmers” – The Associated Press article was also the most syndicated for the month of October. In total, the article was picked up by 335 news outlets for a total reach of 598 million people. The article featured interviews with farmer Adam Thomas and IFB economist Mike Doherty.
Top Social Echo
- “As drought chokes Mississippi River, barges carrying grain shipments have nowhere to go” – This article from Grist on the Mississippi River water levels includes quotes from a FarmWeekNow.com article, which was shared through the IFB partnership with the Illinois Press Association. The Grist article had the top social echo in October with 271 Facebook interactions (combined posts, likes and comments), 197 tweets/retweets on Twitter and four shares on Reddit.