Earned Media Update: Drought, weather dominate June news cycle
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 June. Major topics in June included the climate and weather, including drought and storm coverage. Other trending news topics were farm bill 2023, crop insurance, and agriculture conservation efforts.
From June 1 through June 30, 2023, IFB field 45 interview requests from print/online publications, radio and TV news outlets, generating 671 news placements and potentially reaching 835.14 million people, which had an advertisement value equivalency (AVE) of around $7.7 million.
For comparison, in June 2022, IFB facilitated 21 media interviews, which yielded 341 placements and potentially reached around 461 million people, an estimated AVE of $4.26 million.
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 recently in a variety of print, TV, radio, and podcast interviews on drought and climate coverage. 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.
June Top Reach, Syndication, and Social Echo
June 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
- “Fatal I-55 dust storm crash puts focus on Illinois farmers: ‘We haven’t advanced… but we can’” – This Chicago Tribune article on the aftermath of the May 1 dust storm on I-55 featured conversations with Illinois farmers on agriculture conservation, including Mark Reichert of Auburn, Travis Rovey of Girard, and Andy Goleman of Divernon. The article was syndicated and picked up by Yahoonews.com. The Yahoo article had a potential audience of 60.2 million.
Most Syndicated
- “Central U.S. is now getting worst of the drought. Corn crops are stressed, rivers are running low” – This article originated with the Associated Press and featured an interview with Peoria farmer Mike Shane. The article discussed the ongoing drought across the Midwest and Illinois. It was picked up by nearly 300 newspapers in Illinois.
Top Social Echo
- “U.S. drought threatens to prop up food inflation” – This Wall Street Journal article discussed the ongoing drought in the Midwest and Illinois, focusing on how the drought affected crop production and could lead to food inflation. The article had the highest social media engagement with 218 Facebook interactions (likes, comments, shares) and 36 twitter interactions (tweets, quote retweets, likes, comments).
Looking ahead to a busy August, news requests continue to focus on the impacts of drought on crop progress, the late June derecho impacts, State Fair and Farm Progress Show. Both events provide us the opportunity to continue promoting passage of the 2023 Farm Bill. We have the opportunity to stress the importance of the crop insurance for Illinois farmers.
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.