Earned Media Update: Farm bill urgency top of mind during IL State Fair and Farm Progress
Each month, Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) facilitates media interviews with mainstream news channels on a variety of agricultural topics. Subsequent interviews are monitored and measured based on the number of media placements, potential audience reach, and advertisement value equivalency (AVE) to provide insight into the volume and reach of IFB’s messaging as a top news source for Illinois agriculture. Continuing past month trends, IFB maintained a steady pace of media requests in August. Major topics in August included farm bill urgency, crop insurance, immigration, labor challenges and Illinois State Fair and Farm Progress coverage.
From Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, 2023, IFB fielded 36 interview requests from print/online publications, radio and TV news outlets, generating 328 news placements and potentially reaching 311.5 million people, which had an advertisement value equivalency (AVE) of around $2.88 million.
For comparison, in August 2023, IFB facilitated 52 media interviews, which yielded 404 placements and potentially reached around 132.5 million people, an estimated AVE of $1,226,122.
IFB remains a top source for agriculture news. We continue to work with national, state and local news outlets on a variety of topics. To keep up with the latest news media coverage featuring IFB farm members, visit IFB’s “In the News” webpage. The webpage can be accessed under the “Resources” tab at www.ilfb.org. To check out the latest media coverage, visit: www.ilfb.org/in-the-news/.
Several Illinois farmers were featured in a variety of print, TV and radio interviews on farm bill urgency and crop insurance during Illinois State Fair and Farm Progress Show. IFB launched the ‘In the News’ webpage to highlight recent media coverage and thank farmers who take time out of their busy schedules to speak with members of the news media.
Recently, farmers Steve Turner and Chris Hausman joined Jeff Flock of FOX Business to discuss inflation, farm bill, and technology advancements during Farm Progress Show.
August Top Reach, Syndication, and Social Echo
August was a busy month for earned media coverage. Several articles had exceptional potential audience reach, the highest being 60.2 million. Many articles had high syndication levels, which refers to how many news channels share the same article across platforms. A few articles achieved high social echo, which refers to articles or broadcasts that had high engagement on social media.
Highest Reach, Most Syndicated and Top Social Echo:
- “U.S. farmers expect corn harvest could be second-biggest ever” – this article originated with Reuters and featured two Illinois farmers in discussions on projections for U.S. corn yields. The article was picked up by Yahoo! News for a potential audience reach of 62.3 million people. It was also the highest syndicated and generated decent engagement on social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter.
Looking ahead to a busy September, we anticipate increasing media requests coinciding with harvest with a focus on topics such as yield results and lingering impact of drought.
For additional information or questions, please contact IFB Media Relations Specialist Sierra Henry at shenry@ilfb.org or Director of Issue Management DeAnne Bloomberg at dbloomberg@ilfb.org.