Sponsor (Jan-June 1952)

the last stop comes into plaj — the endall for which the technique was set up. Each characteristic, having been measured for actual length and percentage of total commercial time, is averaged out for the good commercials and the had commercials. A comparison of these percentages, characteristic by characteristic, will be significant when a trait is common in good commercials but also rare in bad ones — and vice \ersa. The Starch people say that in most cases there are consistent answers about each characteristic. The Starch technique doesn't pretend to do everything (there are some anti-research theorists who wonder whether it does anything). It can't break down into little pieces the hardto-define characteristics like the personality of Arthur Godfrey, for example. And the Starch people admit that with their present quota sampling base the analysis of cigarette commercials, for example, is a hard nut to crack. The reason for this is that multiple programing by tobacco firms results in such a small percentage of non\ iewers among the 400 people seen that the "would buy" spreads would be unreliable. There are also skeptics who will deny the assumption that any "would buy" spreads can be attributed, even in part, to TV commercials unless either (a) the influence of all outside factors is eliminated (which is practically an impossibility), or (b) adjustments are made for all these outside factors. Starch answers that enough adjustments and checks are made to find the particular answers the group is looking for. In the case of dentifrices, for example, it is known that children's preferences are an important factor in family purchases. Therefore, family makeup is important in the interviewing. Starch checked the quota sampling base and found a good cross-section of family makeup. Another problem has to do with this situation: A big national advertiser who has been saturating U. S. markets with his product propaganda for years will have a high level of acceptance. Therefore, his spread — in other words, the new customers he has convinced by his TV commercials — is bound to be limited. After all, if a national advertiser has 50% of the market, how much more can he get? A similar problem exists with small advertisers. To get a true picture of the sales 30 JUNE 1952 effectiveness of an advertiser's commercials, adjustments have to be made according to the particular level of acceptance of the advertiser's product. This adjustment is made by compli "II always strikes me as peculiar that people expect *o much from a new and relatively young medium • . . television only really began in 1947 . . . yet television is infinitely ahead of radio, at its comparable age, insofar as technique and gaining an audience is concerned." JOHN HAYES President WTOP-TV, Washington cated mathematical weightings and median comparisons. The Starch group is constantly refining its techniques. Now that it has learned something about what characteristics are common in good commercials and rare in bad ones, the group is beginning to speculate about whether some good characteristics aren't better than other good characteristics. That's getting into some pretty fine analysis, but the Starch people feel that it presents a challenge that can't be ignored. • • • NETWORK RATE CUT {Continued from page 25) 4. Each network, because of reduced revenue, has had to give up various services, but none can get awa\ from sustaining a large number of expensive programs — if the nets are to hold their audiences— even if these programs are not sold. The Screen Guild series cost close to $150,000. The Red Skelton experiment last season wound up with a deficit of around $100,000 to CBS. These costs must be put against the profit and loss of the business. The network has no choice but to balance the costs of necessary sustaining programs against commercial income, and the fact that a network has accumulated large talent obligations in cases where the investments didn't pan out as expected doesn't lessen the impact of this equation. 5. CBS had not discussed within its upper echelon any specific formula for submission to its affiliates until the affiliates suggested the 2 July meeting. The network won't be able to determine whether the nighttime rates should be cut or the daytime rates increased until it and the affiliated sta Gnarfeston's most far 1000 WATTS reaching station "I was reading the December 1951-March 1952 Hooperatings for Charleston the other day, and guess what — "Emmett Lampkin's 'In the Garden' is the highest rated personality show in the market. "It is heard Mondays through Fridays, 8-10 a.m., and 'In the Garden Vespers', 6-7 p.m. e other good personality shows, too: 'Blues 'n' Boogie', 'Jive Parade', 'Harlemoods', 'Cornfield Frolics', 'Hillbilly Hit Parade', and 'Country Song Roundup', to awful lotta