Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

! : 1 BROADCASTING THE BUSINESS WEEKLY OF TELEVISION AND RADIO October 5, 1959 Vol. 57 No. 14 PROFILE OF THE TV AUDIENCE TvB uses Nielsen, Pulse data in detailed study of tv viewing One of the most comprehensive audience studies ever made of a single medium has been produced for television. The study, now being distributed by Television Bureau of Advertising, is based on special tabulations provided by two audience measurement firms, A.C. Nielsen Co. and The Pulse Inc., over a year's time. Highlighted is the composition of the tv audience, and as its title ("How to Reach People") implies, the report presents a profile on how many people are reached, who they are and when they are best sought out. The report breaks the material down into how tv builds audience during the day, how many people view only daytime or only nighttime, how much time they spend viewing each period, what time of day and program type. The information is shown on both the national and local level. In releasing the report, the bureau notes that this audience study projected to all the people in the U.S. provides advertisers with an invitation to compare tv's audience "with that of any other medium." Among the points made in the study are that on the average day: • Tv reaches more than 8 out of every 10 persons in the U.S. • It reaches 69.9% of all men, 78.4% of all women, 88.6% of all teenagers and 99.9% of all children. • Of all people in the U.S., 24.1% view by noon, 49.7% by 6 p.m. and 82.7% by midnight. The report also finds that 75% of all the people view nighttime television and at peak viewing times, "some 80 million people, more than 50% of all people, are watching." Homes and Sets • TvB provides the wide base for tv: of 51.5 million homes in the U.S., the report says more than 44.5 million own tv sets and that of 176 million people in the country, 154 million live in tv homes. The penetration or coverage of the medium is presented with this impressive summary: more than 98% of U.S. homes are "within tv's reach," one new tv home is created every 14 seconds and the average tv home views 5 hours, 7 days of the week. As the average day progresses so does the buildup of the tv audience. By noon, 10% of all men in the country have viewed tv; for women, teens and children the respective shares are 28.2%, 14.8% and 49.1% in that order. By 6 p.m., viewing is up to this level: 28% of men, 49.9% of women, 51.8% of teeners and 90.2% of children. Nighttime share of viewing for all people in the U.S. comes to 63.5%, the report states, while the daytime share is 36.5%. As to those who view only in certain times of the day: 32.2% look only at nighttime tv; 42.7% both at night and during the day; only 7.8% watch only in the daytime. In the average evening the breakout of audience viewing looks like this, according to the TvB study: Of all men, 65.6% watch during 11.8 quarter hours; 72.2% of all women during 12.4 quarter hours; 79.1% of teens during 10.5 quarter hours; 96.2% of children during 9 quarter hours (of all viewers, 75% watch 11.2 quarter hours). In 108 pages, the report goes into such material as network programs by type (adventure, drama, western, variety etc.), showing weekend viewing (percentages of all people, of viewers and viewers per home) both daytime and nighttime as well as local programs by type. Tabulations list audience by halfhour periods and cumulative audience by all viewers, men, women, teens, children and on the basis of Monday, Friday, Saturday only, weekends, etc., during network time and similar material for local time. What audiences do various type programs hold? See Page 36. When they watch • Here's the pattern of tv viewing throughout the day for both network and local programs. Though the chart shows highest listening at times (white bursts in graph) commonly considered network program time, TvB cautions against direct comparisons of network and local. It points out that many stations offer time periods for spots and some for programs even during these "network time" periods. Also noted in variation in network program times by different networks, research differences, areas covered and other variable factors. BROADCASTING, October 5, 1959 35