How does a media tour work?

A media tour puts one spokesperson in front of twenty or more TV and radio stations in a single morning. They stay in one place, each station gets its own interview, and every feed goes out over whichever route suits that station best.

In short:

• The story is agreed first, because stations only book what their audience cares about.

• Each station is booked into its own slot, with its own producer and its own angle.

• On the day, one spokesperson does interview after interview from one studio or set.

• Afterwards you get a record of every interview that ran, plus clips for your own channels.

Here's what each stage involves.

Before the day: the story comes first

Stations will only give you airtime for something their viewers and listeners care about, so most of the early work goes into the story, well before anything is booked. New research, a product launch, a health campaign or an awareness day all tend to work well. If the story doesn't stand up on its own, no amount of production will get it on air.

Once the angle is agreed, the spokesperson is briefed on the key messages and the questions they're likely to be asked, so they can give each station a fresh answer rather than the same one twenty times.

Booking the stations

Each station has its own producer, its own time slot and its own take on the story. Pitching, booking and scheduling every interview, then building a running order for the morning, is most of the work in a media tour. We handle all of it, so the client's team doesn't have to field a single call.

On the day

The spokesperson stays in one place, in a studio or on a set. Each station gets its own interview, one after the other, so every audience hears the story in a way that feels made for them.

Behind the scenes, each interview goes out whichever way works best for that station, whether that's satellite, IP, bonded cellular or fibre. Most mornings it's a mix. A producer keeps the running order on time, and someone watches every outgoing feed, so a delay with one station doesn't knock the rest of the morning off course.

After the day

You get a record of every interview that ran, and clips you can use on your own website and social channels. One morning can keep feeding your content for weeks.

Can't you just do it from a phone?

For a single interview, a phone can do a decent job. A media tour is twenty or more interviews in a row, each with different technical needs and a different producer on the other end. The challenge was never the camera. It's the coordination. We've written more about that in why media tours are still relevant.

If you had a spokesperson free for one morning, what would you want them talking about? Tell us the story and we'll tell you how a media tour could carry it.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a media tour take? Usually a single morning. Interviews run back to back, timed around the stations' own schedules, so the spokesperson only needs to be available for a few hours.

How many interviews can you do on a media tour? Often twenty or more, depending on how strong the story is and how many stations want it. Each one is a separate interview booked into its own slot.

What's the difference between a media tour and a satellite media tour? Satellite media tour is the traditional name for the format. Today the interviews go out over satellite, IP, bonded cellular or fibre, depending on what each station needs, so most people now just call it a media tour.