What Is A Satellite Media Tour?

A Satellite Media Tour (SMT) allows someone to do live interviews with television stations around the country (or world) from one location.  This is done via satellite uplink from either a studio or from a remote location (a store, company headquarters, etc.) They generally last 2 to 6 hours, and reach 15 to 40 stations.  There are pros and cons to SMTs.

Following are factors to consider when deciding whether an SMT is right for your company or client:

Advantages:

  1. "Guaranteed" coverage. If a station plans to use the interview as a "live shot", then you get immediate results.  If it plans to use the interview as a taped segment, you still have a fairly good shot since the station went through the trouble of booking the SMT.

  2. The stories are generally longer. If a station plans to use the interview "live", you can expect anywhere from 1:30 to 4:00 minutes on the air.  That affords your spokesperson many opportunities to tow the company line.

Disadvantages:

  1. Limited exposure. Unless one of your interviews is a network feed, your exposure is limited to the stations that book an interview.

  2. Low viewership timeslots. TV stations that book SMTs generally use them in their morning or midday newscasts. These are generally the newscasts with the lowest viewership.

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TIPS:

Simply shooting, editing and distributing your b-roll doesn't guarantee newsrooms will use it.  Following are tips to increase usage:

  1. Story Angle. A good story will always drive coverage.  Work your message into a newsworthy angle.

  2. Timing. If you want to appeal to a nation-wide audience, make sure your SMT is available to stations in all four time zones.

  3. Spokesperson. Like a good story, a good spokes-person can drive your coverage.  Alist celebrities can usually guarantee a

successful SMT. But make sure your celeb is well-versed in your message and is able to redirect questions about their careers back to the message.

  1. VNR or B-Roll. Feed b-roll or a VNR before, during and after your SMT.  Participating stations will want to use the video to "cover" the interview, and you won't limit yourself to participating stations.
 
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