Rethinking Public Media Strategies: Tips from Kathryn Schotthoefer, former executive in Hollywood And Philanthropy
Interview with Kat Schotthoefer by Mariano Avila
If you’re wondering why local shows get few views and your events don’t fill seats, or if you’re reflecting on the role your Public Media station has in this rapidly-changing media landscape, you’re not alone—the whole industry is in disarray.
To get some navigational insights from an expert with that industry-wide perspective, I thought I’d ask my most knowledgeable source—Kathryn Schotthoefer.
Introduction
I first met Kat when she recruited a team of women executives in entertainment to build pipelines for women and communities of color to Hollywood. By then Kat had already been a marketing executive for Warner Bros., President of Heavenspot, the agency that helped launch the streaming version of Netflix, she’d helped in the transition of Star Wars from Lucasfilm to Disney and even led an agency that built customer experience for Coachella. That was 2018. Since then, Kat has focused on supporting philanthropists and nonprofit leaders develop strategies and implement campaigns with a national impact—from saving the planet by flying solar planes to saving Black lives by walking with friends.
Beyond Demographics: Why Psychographics Are Key to Understanding Today’s Audience
For decades, public media has relied on demographic information to segment audiences—age, gender, geographic location, income, education. And being completely honest, I still hear folks talk about reaching audiences they segment this way. But Kat has been stressing psychographics for years. She argues that we should focus on the motivations driving people to engage with our content. Specifically, she says Public Media can capture those shared values, attitudes, and interests that bind audiences to our content, by focusing less on demographics and more on psychographics.
“A 40-year-old woman in the U.S. might be a new mother, a grandmother, or have no children at all,” Kat says. “She could be politically active or politically averse, tech-savvy or overwhelmed by technology. Demographics alone don’t tell us this. But psychographics that help us understand her interest in environmental issues or passion for local history—they can help us produce content that feels relevant at a personal level.”
Kat’s advice to Public Media leaders is to define and target personas based on audience motivations and then create content that resonates with “lifelong learners,” “social changers,” or “cultural enthusiasts,” to give some examples. Finding out is half the fun. What’s more, because Public Media serves such diverse communities with strong, local ties, this approach could deepen engagement, build loyalty to specific programs, and allow stations to forge more personal connections with their audience.
“By integrating data from marketing early on, Public Media stations can not only ensure that they’re creating resonant content, they can tailor promotional strategies to better target specific psychographic segments”
From Passive Viewership to Community Membership: Integrating Marketing Early in Content Development
How do you know there’s an audience in your community for that show you want to make? Does whoever is promoting it have data to prove it? Marketing might? And that’s key.
“I mean, in my studio days, the marketing teams were involved from the green light,” says Kat. “Marketing can bring audience insights and trends and preferences to the table while you are shaping the content. So, it's not that you have a separate team that says, here's what we're going to make, and then we're going to hand it off to marketing to figure out who wants it. Marketing is tasked with being experts on audiences and the competitive landscape, and bringing that information back so that we can make sure that the content that's being shaped is actually what people are looking for.”
The caution there is that often times a producer or station leader might independently decide a show is valuable for a specific community or audience, regardless of whether that community actually wants it.
Thinking back on new programs I’ve seen launched in Public Media or old ones kept around despite poor community performance, often marketing and fundraising efforts were detached from content creation in the name of editorial integrity or because they were meant to serve a marginalized community—even if said community didn’t watch or listen. I would argue, this approach takes resources away from efforts that could serve viewers and listeners better if we knew who they were first—based on real data. This approach can lead to campaigns that fall flat because they fail to reflect the values, challenges, and interests of the intended audience (remember psychographic segmenting).
By integrating data from marketing early on, public media stations can not only ensure that they’re creating resonant content, they can tailor promotional strategies to better target specific psychographic segments.
“Too often, content is created with a specific community in mind without their involvement,” Kat noted. “Then, when that community doesn’t engage, the response is, ‘Well, they must not be our audience,’ rather than questioning whether it was the right content for that audience.”
How many shows do you know that were created based on demographic assumptions rather than psychographic data? How many of them failed or are currently struggling with both audience and underwriting?
“Girl Trek’s growth wasn’t due to a complex content strategy; it was a simple, community-driven effort encouraging Black women to walk for health.”
Building Habit-Forming Relationships: Lessons from Netflix and Nonprofits
Once we know who we’re going after, the Public Media Model is to drive folks to be sustaining members or to become major donors if they’re able. This means our content needs to keep them coming back regularly so they realize the value they’re getting. As Kat puts it, platforms like Netflix call their sustaining members subscribers, it’s not that different. Only, they’ve mastered the art of “must-see” content—where timing, consistency, and relevance keep audiences coming back for more content. And that doesn’t necessarily mean universally compelling or groundbreaking content; it simply needs to be positioned as something everyone “should know about” to create habitual viewership.
So, what does that mean? Let’s stay on Netflix: they use consistent release schedules, viewer recommendations, and a reliable flow of new episodes to maintain engagement. Without needing massive budgets or individualized streaming platforms, Kat suggests that local Public Media can adopt similar strategies—some probably do it already, others do parts. But a curated digital experience, whether through newsletters or social media, can function as a “personalized content journey.”
Going a step further, Kat says Public Media leaders might keep encouraging their teams to focus on engagement beyond digital platforms, citing nonprofits like GirlTrek, with its 1.3 million members. GirlTrek is working to raise life expectancy for Black women (who on average live 10 years less than non-Black women in America) by forming walking groups that keep each other accountable.
“Girl Trek’s growth wasn’t due to a complex content strategy; it was a simple, community-driven effort encouraging Black women to walk for health” says Kat. “The model worked because it tapped into the community’s values, motivations, and identity.”
For public media, creating local events and digital experiences that allow communities to connect around their shared values (not just content) might prove more valuable. By doing so, stations could become more than just content providers—they could be better conveners of community.
Content Curation, Comfort Content, and the Role of Nostalgia
What do we look for when we watch PBS? As Kat puts it, it’s the comfort of knowing we are watching vetted content that is appropriate for the whole family, is responsible with facts, and won’t scream at us. Streaming platforms have redefined comfort content—media that provides familiarity and emotional ease, especially in times of uncertainty. Shows like The Office or The Great British Bake Off thrive because audiences know what to expect, which creates a sense of relaxation and reliability.
Public media is in a unique position to offer comfort content through local stories, cultural archives, and programs rooted in community history.
“Public media has aspects of place and timelessness that streaming giants like Netflix can’t yet replicate,” Kat said. “Local history, cultural programs, and archival content are deeply relevant to audiences seeking a sense of familiarity.”
That said, Kat emphasizes that just providing access to archive content isn’t enough; stations should curate it around specific themes or moments that resonate with audiences today.
Another approach Kat suggests is the format’s predictability, which can also be comforting.
“It’s like knowing the pattern of an episode of Law & Order—you know early on that the big celebrity guest star has direct involvement in the crime, and that’s comforting,” she explained. “Public Media has the opportunity to explore comforting formats, with the added advantage of hyper-local relevance.”
This is not to say, for example, that because everyone knows what extended one-on-one interview shows are, we should make another one (those tend to rely on star power and humor). Rather, could our local food shows replicate successful network formats, or could we strive to craft character-based documentaries or create digital content that feels like what social creators have trained people to expect from that subject category? The key in this instance is making new content feel familiar.
“By building loyalty around community values, rather than demographics, by embracing comfort content and familiar formats, and by focusing on audience-first metrics, Public Media can reclaim its space in the digital-first era.”
Embracing In-person, Broadcast and Digital: A Strategic Approach to Programming and Engagement
Does “making the digital transition” sound familiar? Most stations are still talking about it, while entertainment companies did it ten years ago and are now losing their streaming revenue to YouTube—as are Meta and TikTok, so again, everyone’s stuggling with something right now. Of course, this doesn’t mean Public Media needs to chase every trend, but the balancing act between traditional and digital engagement has never been more important. Public Media’s older demographic remains loyal to radio and television, but younger audiences expect content on-demand, accessible via mobile, and aligned with the digital platforms they already use—increasingly YouTube.
Kat’s encouragement to Public Media executives is to adopt a hybrid model, emphasizing both digital accessibility and local, in-person events in addition to content. She argues that in-person events, when thoughtfully designed, offer an opportunity to engage younger audiences who seek experiences over information. While stations may struggle to fill events with national news figures, Kat suggests investing in opportunities to highlight local community leaders or to create interactive experiences that resonate with younger, experience-seeking audiences.
Nonetheless, as Kat explains, the key to executing this hybrid model is understanding the unique role of each platform. Broadcast is essential for long-time supporters, digital channels can reach new, younger audiences (under 50) and mobile-first users, while live events organized around local affinity (psychographics) perform better across the board. Blending traditional formats with digital outreach,
Public Media can maintain its loyal base and start attracting new, more deeply engaged audiences.
The Future of KPIs: Moving Beyond Likes to Measure Long-Term Engagement
Linear viewership, digital likes, and audience demographics tend to be our key performance indicators in Public Media. And yet, we all know that our metrics have to evolve. Kat’s suggestion: focus first on long-term engagement and retention, specifically measuring audience loyalty, such as monthly active users, video completion rates, session frequency, and churn rate.
“Likes and views alone don’t capture meaningful engagement,” she says. “Returning visits, depth of engagement, and conversion rates to membership or subscriptions are far better indicators of audience loyalty.”
Also, Public Media’s educational mission makes it meaningful to track content-driven behavior change. Impact like community involvement following targeted content can validate public media’s unique role in shaping informed and connected communities.
Oh and a pro tip from Kat: avoid over-focusing on positive data.
“Marketing teams are often tasked with reporting success,” she says. “But it’s the negative data that reveals where you’re losing people—and that’s where the opportunity lies.”
Conclusion: Seizing the Moment for Public Media’s Digital Evolution
The media landscape is moving fast whether you’re a Hollywood producer or a Midwestern Station Manager. Kat’s insights chart a course for Public Media executives navigating trends in the industry. As traditional broadcast models decline, the urgency to adopt psychographic targeting, hybrid engagement models, and habit-forming strategies becomes increasingly important. By building loyalty around community values, rather than demographics, by embracing comfort content and familiar formats, and by focusing on audience-first metrics, Public Media can reclaim its space in the digital-first era.
Kat’s broad view of our industry offers a warning that the window to act is shrinking. The good news is that Public Media is in a unique position, with its legacy of credibility and commitment to the public good, it can cultivate community connection in ways global media giants cannot.
