Inside STAT: TV producers make bold pitches to health companies, but don't always deliver

Denise Kalos had high hopes for the deal she signed with a Florida production company to create content about her small health care company. It would produce a free, educational video about her company, introduced by James Earl Jones and distributed to public TV stations nationwide. It would also produce a corporate video and a commercial for the company, which came with an “underwriting fee” of $23,900. But Kalos said she wasn’t able to determine whether the public television segments ever aired and didn’t see any measurable impact. 

A STAT examination found that producers for that program and affiliated shows tout sky-high potential viewership in their pitches to health care and biotech businesses — but some companies told STAT their experiences didn't live up to their hopes. (Lawyers for another show produced by the same company told STAT they’re clear with potential clients about the return on investment.) Megan Thielking has the story here.