Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

PROBING THE CURRENTS AND UNDERCURRENTS OF BROADCAST ADVERTISING The prime 20 needs promoting There's a rather soft market for prime 20s between now and the start of the pre -Christmas spot tv season. What threw this situation into sharp relief: mass exit of the politicals. Handicapping the disposal of the open 20s is the fact that there are only four to five weeks between now and gift selling time. A national advertiser who's inclined to start a schedule in November might not cotton to the idea of having to confine his schedule to four to five weeks, because the spots after that have been sewed up by the holiday crowd. As far as national spot is concerned, the sale of the prime 20 is a continuing problem. The TvB has been talking about focusing some of its sales promotion effort on this problem, such as a special study on the effectiveness of the 20, as against minute announcements. The TvB realizes that the obstacle to be overcome with regard to the 20 is not so much the attitude of the media man as that of the creative tribe. The writer, naturally, wants as much time as possible in which to transmit his message, and hence a minute is far more to his liking than 20 seconds. The media man may have his own idea of the 20's superior efficiency and prestige (adjacency to a network program), but repeated over-rulings at group sessions have made him rather gun shy. Looking into all-night radio Feelers are being put out by some major accounts that would prove something of a boon for clear channels, or stations with protected skyways. The target of these feelers is all-night radio. The twin attraction: (1) tremendous coverage with low cost, (2) reaching people who stay up late but don't cotton to the late, late movies. The advertiser interest could have been inspired by the success that American Airlines has had with its Midnight to Dawn music program in nine markets. The campaign was renewed for another five years a couple months ago. Alberto-Culver exits Hawaii spot Alberto-Culver can't be said to be inconsistent about its policy on piggybacks in spot tv. The consistency has been carried to the point where Alberto-Culver won't have a single spot, outside of network, running in all of Hawaii. Reason for the spot tv blackout: the Hawaii stations are not only charging what is tantamount to a 100 percent premium for piggybacks but have relegated multi-product commercials to non-prime time. Alberto-Culver spot schedules are still out of the Indianapolis and Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo markets. Mars now also in network tv Mars candy bar is back on network tv after absence of two years. It's spending about $280,000 for 54 minutes on CBS TV's Saturday morning line-up. The allocation: 18 minutes. Tuxedo Junction; 18 minutes. The Jetsons; nine minutes each, Flicka and The Alvin Show. Mars will continue with the Stan Freberg commercial in spot radio. Last year the confectioner spent about $140,000 in spot tv. Incidentally, the candy bar business seems to have had a healthy comeback from the slight depression it suffered during the '50s. In 1960 the bar industry had a retail sales total of slightly over $700 million. Two years later the tally edged over $740 million and for 1963 the figure was $750 million. The candy field, in general, also has been doing well. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that bulk sales for the six months of this year were 5.5 percent over the like period of 1963 and 12 percent over 1962. P.S.: Mars followed up its CBS buy with a wrap-up 51 minutes in NBCTV's Saturday morning sector at a commitment of $250,000. Shows: Hector Heathcote, Underdog, Fury, Fireball XL-5, Dennis the Menace. Tight tv market for candymakers Talk about the resurgence of a product category in a medium, there hasn't been anything in years like what's happening with candy makers in Saturday morning network tv. Of the 23 shows in that area which, of course, takes in the three networks, 17 of them have candy advertisers. Three of the shows are owned or controlled outright by advertisers, which leaves but three programs in which additional candy people can participate. The situation suggests that spot will profit from the overflow. Another busy field among I 22 SPONSOR