Sponsor (July-Dec 1954)

Color tV is starting growth on local as well as national level. Above, one of WKY-TV, Oklahoma City's live color shows. For color coverage this issue sse Spot tv starting page 73 and Network tv starting page 117. Results of SPONSOR survey of U.S. tv stations and their color equipment appear page 76. Shown above (I. to r.): Bob Doty, WKY-TV production supervisor; Prissy Thomas who does announcements for client, Club Cracker; Milt Stephan, Allen & Reynolds; Leonard Fox, Oklahoma sales mgr, for client SPOT TV TRENDS ■ '■■ r , r> j'urt starts pagt '■'■ 1. Stations are gearing up for color telecasting, special SPONSOR postcard survej of all I .S. outlet show-. More than seven out of ever) l<> outlet? hope to have equipment to televise color shows From network lines hefore the end of the year. About 20', expert to install color slide and film equipment for local-level telecasts. \im the problem rests with equipment makers. Advertisers are expected t<> move in on color spot t\ "experimentally early tin coming fall. 2. Official industry tv set count may soon be on the way. Politz research firm has been retained b\ \ \l!Tli to stud) methods "I counting t\ sets in I .S., circulation of t\ stations. Uso the station-formed T\ \H will become all-industr) promotion bureau to distribute facts and figures of television to advertiser-. .'i. Heavy pressure is still on from advertisers seeking nighttime spot slots. Reps report that nighttime turnover of advertisers in largest markets is often less than l'». Result: Man) advertisers are moving in on afternoon and morning slots rather than sweat out the long "priorit) lists. /. Tv film industry is booming. Willi network costs at all-time high, man) advertisers are using multimarket campaigns built around syndicated 61m programs. Somi 25 I -I today's syndicated \idpi\ business is in tin field. In film commercials, trend is toward more animation and Eewei non-extra actors, larger per-filra budgets and smallei numbers of film commercials, leading prodw '-I report. N ETWOR K TV TRENDS I <•'. [( n port starts pagt 1 IT /. The SRO signs at nigHl are up earlier for this fall than in previous seasons. Nighttime availabilities on CBS and NBC are non-existent. \BC and Du Mont have time available, though former i filling up it evening periods nicely. 2. Clearances uill he easier this fall than last though it is hard to generalize about this complicated subject. There are -till a number of problem area and there is no relief in sight in a few of them. The agent ies -till have men traveling around the countr) trying to clear time for specific show-. 3. Costs will he up for most advertisers. One reason: fierce network competition i bringing forth more expensive shows, such as the NBC spectaculars. There are also the "normal" increases [or talent, -rript. etc Time costs are increasing with more t\ homes and larger -ta lion lineups. 4. Economic pressures an' causing many uhf stations to go of] the (dr. There is no apparent sponsor prejudice againsl uhf stations \«-r se. Most sponsors realize that rate of uhf conversions i closel) linked with ee <>f \hf competition a uhf station Faces. • >. Despite paucity of color sets in homes, color programing and station conversion to transmit color is continuing at a healthy rate. The number of color sets i likel) to be much below earl) estimates. 6. Time franchises are more vulnerahle. The bumping of I .S. Tobacco's Martin Kane and / oice of Firestone From NBC program lineup, the "right-of-wa) programing of spectaculars and strong grip on programing b\ network are all evidence of this trend. 36 SPONSOR