Heading into 2025, PBS prioritized a new brand campaign centered around the iconic phrase “viewers like you” which has defined a core element of public television for 50+ years.
The campaign philosophy was that “Every PBS viewer has a unique PBS story to tell.” In that spirit, we launched Viewers Like Me, a fan- and supporter-driven campaign that celebrates the array of people who have helped make PBS an unparalleled resource for all Americans for more than 55 years.
At a high level, the Viewers Like Me campaign was built to be:
The campaign was designed to be featured on the new Viewers Like Me social media channels, the PBS and PBS KIDS social channels and across the network of hundreds of local PBS station accounts.
Viewer First: Breaking the traditional approach of broadcasting value messages, we created social accounts featuring content from our viewers who are speaking about what PBS means to them.
Built for Social: While there was a landing page with proof points and messaging, Viewers Like Me was built primarily to live on dedicated social accounts, with efforts to drive engagement and sharing.
A Movement, Not a Moment: Our Viewers Like Me brand campaign for public television will have longevity, with core, ongoing activities and tentpole moments.
The Foundation for More: Driving fan support and engagement is important. Viewers Like Me will power itself by sourcing new stories from a growing community that we will strategically amplify.
Facing an uncertain year, PBS launched a social-first brand campaign in Spring 2025. The Viewers Like Me campaign was designed to speak as the embodiment of a PBS “super fan” – welcoming viewers from all walks of life and inspiring meaningful interactions, while hitting them right in the feels for beloved PBS shows both past and present.
The Viewers Like Me campaign launched as a celebration of the value and importance PBS has provided through its more than 50 years. We highlighted many of those moments across our channels. A viral moment of lore from Julia Child kickstarted the campaign with tens of millions of organic views. Heartwarming performances, rare moments of candor and even a laugh or two kept our audience engaged.
Viewers Like Me quickly evolved as news about potential cuts to PBS funding unfolded. The campaign kept much of its engagement focus, but shifted to become a critical messaging outlet to PBS supporters and a significant driver to public media advocacy groups.
To expand our reach beyond the loyal PBS fans, we undertook a broad organic campaign with celebrities and influencers. And boy were they ready to help PBS. From Jack Black to Kerry Washington to Rick Steves, celebrity power boosted the campaigns to millions of people. Social influencers took time to support PBS with authentic messages and encouragement to contact Congress. PBS also created exclusive merchandise for both a sweepstakes and a surprise and delight effort.
When the funding debates reached their peak, we leveraged new ways of communication to express a sense of urgency and convey timely information to our audience. From leveraging IP and PBS talent to our CEO Paula Kerger to videos directly from the social team, we kept our supporters informed and energized, delivering a loud advocacy message to Congress. PBS isn’t just a television network and our impact goes beyond the popular programs and educational content.
PBS makes a real difference in communities across America. We shared content from local stations, told the stories of how PBS impacts lives and shared the real people that work tirelessly in public media. When the federal funding was eventually cut, we immediately pivoted to a new message to show our supporters we would be continuing our mission. “Defunded, not Defeated” become a rallying cry across public media as PBS and our stations rallied support and found new ways to push our mission forward.
The campaign generated significant social media stats during the 6 month effort:
· 110 million+ impressions
· 9 million+ engagements
· 150,000 comments
· 75 million+ video views
· 8.1% engagement rate
The social campaign also sent hundreds of thousands of visitors to protectmypublicmedia.org, which enabled supporters to reach out directly to their elected Senators and Representative. Hundreds of local PBS stations participated in the campaign on their local channels. The incredible success and outpouring of love for PBS means this campaign will continue as a brand campaign moving forward.