American television directory (1946)

seems properly to be the responsibility of the networks and of others who will most directly profit from the growth of television. Motion Picture Suppliers The close parallel between the prob¬ lems of television and the problems of the motion picture industry suggests that motion picture producers may be¬ come an important factor in supplying television programs. What better way to counteract competition than by be¬ coming its supplier? Also as in radio there will probably be independent program producers who may become important factors in the production of packaged television pro¬ grams. Constant knowledge of the develop¬ ments in television engineering and pro¬ gramming, together with a continued measurement of growth in television set ownership and broadcasting station in¬ stallations, will make it possible to project the medium’s development with reasonable accuracy and prognosticate that period when television’s develop¬ ment will be such that we should be ready with programs. This probably will not happen so rapidly that we will be unable to recognize it ahead of time. Summary 1 — Television can be a great advertis¬ ing medium. 2 — Its development hinges mainly on programming. 3 — Good programs must be telecast from film. 4 — Developing program techniques should not be the responsibility of the agency or the advertiser (but may have to be). 5 — Today’s job is to (a) keep informed, and (b) keep your powder dry until enough definite information is at hand to indicate what course you should take. CAREERS IN TELEVISI O N (Continued from page 1101 counts indicated television as their No. 1 choice in postwar products, even though the price mentioned was $400. Automobiles polled 13 per cent and washers 12 per cent. Today American industry spends only about $10,000,000 annually on sales or market research. Marketing experts be¬ lieve the “Age of Electronics” in which we are now living may see this expendi¬ ture eventually approximate the esti¬ mated $500,000,000 spent annually on product research by industry. Looking Ahead Ten Years The development of automatic rebroadcasting transmitters will, we be¬ lieve, make it possible within ten years to bring television to most of the areas outside of the 157 markets previously mentioned, to serve a total of 23,700,000 wired homes, or 80 per cent of the wired homes in the United States. This repre¬ sents a population of about 100,000,000 people, or 82 per cent of the nation’s buying power. Even the best showrooms and dis¬ plays have to contend with people in a hurry, crowded sidewalks and shopping areas, inclement weather, and even police regulations. The better the dis¬ play, the greater the crowd, and the more pressing the command to keep moving. With television, products will be tastefully shown in the “little thea¬ ter” of the home — the living room — during the leisure hours not only of the family’s purchasing agent, Mother, but of Father and the children as well. Television has no problems of traffic crowds, bad weather or police edicts. There will be many new opportunities for alert merchandisers in the selling of home television receivers. These will be far superior to prewar models in picture size, detail, brightness, and con¬ trast. They will have greater stability in circuits, will be easy to operate so that even children can tune in both video and sound. They will have minia¬ ture tubes and other components which make possible more compact designing and styling. A vastly improved product will be offered at prices substantially below prewar levels. For example, a unit with direct-viewing kinescope may sell for under $200. RCA’s new, large screen receiver, incorporating both radio and television, will be priced at about $395. On the engineering side, technicians are needed in all phases from research to field installations. Electronic “know how” gained through Army and Navy training will find practical application not only in television but in such fields as electronic power generation and electron optics. Educators everywhere, conscious of the intense interest in television and electronics are planning courses similar to those already being held at Yale, Temple, New York University, City College of New York, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other edu¬ cational institutions. Many men are receiving technical training at the RCA Institute in New York. We all know what an effective ad¬ vertising and sales medium radio has proved to be. Just as recordings are the “transcription” of radio, so film will in many cases serve as the “transcription” of television. At every turn new jobs are created. Your Stake in Television? Every businessman, every profession¬ al man, every worker would do well to explore every possible angle through which his future may be related to this new medium. There is much to be done, ranging from the design of telegenic packaging for television to the telesales demonstrations of 1001 products in the homes of this great market. There is a whole new industry and a whole new technique of its tele-selling to be devel¬ oped. It follows that those individuals who are equipped to serve best will reap the greatest benefits as television comes into its own. TELEVISION AUDIENCE RESEARCH 4si television. They speak of it as “window shopping at home,” and think of it as a time-saving device that may some day alter their buying habits. They also recognize that, as an advertising medium, television will do more than combine the advantages of space and radio advertising. It will add a further element of motion — or demonstration — to its appeal. Recognizing these facts, viewers quickly reject television commercials that fail to take advantage of the spe¬ cial opportunities offered by the new medium. Commercials that show a mo¬ tionless product, for example, while an off-camera announcer reads from a script, are not wanted. One of the functions of TARI, now and in the future, is to improve the efficiency of video advertising; to test commercials before they are broadcast, as well as to check on their effectiveness after broad¬ cast. Another future job will be to study the comparative values of color advertising and black-and-white adver¬ tising. Because more concentration is needed to follow television than radio, and be¬ cause the new medium will have to com¬ pete with household duties as well as other forms of entertainment, some por¬ tion of the program schedule should probably be allotted to material that will require little if any eye attention. This will be particularly true of daytime programs. A very noticeable “guilt feel¬ ing” has been evinced by our respon¬ dents when they consider the timeconsuming factor of television. Some “excuse” for looking, such as household or shopping help, may lessen this ob¬ jection appreciably. The new television audience will al¬ most surely compare what it sees with radio and movies. This is because it is natural to compare something new with something known; not because there is any desire to have television imitate either of the older media. In fact, the opposite is true. Programs that lean heavily on radio or Hollywood tech¬ niques have been least popular through¬ out the course of our studies. People want something new in television; something they can get from no other source. How well television satisfies this desire will, in a large sense, determine the speed and extent of its public acceptance. 118