We eat success for breakfast – how to pitch for morning TV spots

coffee mug with coffee splash against orange background

4 minutes read

For primetime coverage, Australia’s breakfast TV shows represent the pinnacle of success for promotions.

These live morning shows offer a hearty helping of news, weather and current affairs coverage with a light sprinkling of palatable lifestyle content and provide the perfect platform to showcase local products, events and festivals to a national audience.

Breakfast TV attracts the highest number of eyeballs to Australia’s free-to-air networks and the longer lifestyle segment format means competition for these plum TV spots is fiercer than a morning host without coffee.

Here’s what we’ve learned to successfully pitch and land a coveted breakfast TV spot and how to prepare for and capitalise on your live TV appearance.

Do your research

It’s important to understand how the media works, the current national topics of conversation and where you can fit into the news cycle on that week. Research the TV network or show that best suits your audience. Tailoring your story pitch to the breakfast show’s key demographic will maximise your chances of securing coverage.

Hone your angles

If you want to achieve Australia-wide coverage for your local event, come up with an angle that would be of interest to national audiences, not just your hometown or a metro audience. Figure out what is relevant about your product or event on a national scale.

Vision is everything

TV is a visual medium. Visually sell the dream with an elevator pitch they can’t refuse. Consider the location, talent, visuals and b-roll (supplementary) footage options you can provide to ensure the outlet can visualise the story angle and package. With just 15 seconds in the spotlight, breakfast TV prioritises visual stories with fun, colour and movement.

Location, location

If your pitch is about a location, think about the different backgrounds that you can offer at the one venue to maximise coverage. We provided a variety of backgrounds and talent options on site at Brisbane Powerhouse to promote the venue’s 21st anniversary that allowed the TV crew to broadcast different visual content from a single location.

Put your best talent forward

Find your top spokespeople who can talk up your upcoming event or product like a pro and won’t freeze on camera. If on-air performances or demonstrations are part of the live cross, make sure the talent is presenting their best work to a national audience.

Make it easy

Give the media outlet everything they need upfront to make the segment run seamlessly. When pitching your story, provide the whole package – b-roll footage, images, talent, angles, times, dates and locations – at the same time. Work out all the logistics required so all the TV crew has to do is simply turn up and shoot.

Be prepared

Prep your talent with clear briefing notes and key messages ahead of time so they can practise and prepare for their live TV appearance. Supply the TV outlet with dot points of your key messages for the presenter to use as talking points as well.

Here’s one we prepared earlier

TV networks are short on time and crew availability, especially regional media outlets. When pitching Opera Queensland’s Are You Lonesome Tonight regional tour of Queensland, we developed a video news release that included all the key interviewees and visuals. This meant the TV shows didn’t have to send out a crew to cover the tour and the show had great cut-through with our target media outlets.

It’s showtime!

Finally, today is the live cross on national TV. Make sure you show up ready to go with a clipboard full of the nitty-gritty details and a large coffee in hand. Be prepped and prepared to jump in and be part of the background or crowd in a segment and smile and wave if required. It’s all part of the role.

Back it up

Now that you’ve achieved primetime TV coverage and created a buzz around your brand, what’s next? Capitalise on your morning show appearance by sharing the content on your social media profiles. Add a link to your LinkedIn, share the video on your Instagram profile and Facebook page and perhaps write a blog article about the featured event or product to build on your TV appearance and drive traffic to your website.

 

Blinded by the studio lights? Be camera ready for your breakfast TV debut and ensure you never stutter in front of the shutter with Aruga’s Media Training workshops and eLearning courses. From DIY guides to full-day workshops that will put you through your paces, level up your on-air skills with Media Training from the experts.