Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1953)

NAEB FINDS TV ADS UP 7% IN N.Y. Results of its third survey of the Gotham City area tv are released by the National Assn. of Educational Broadcasting. Study week of Jan. 4-1 0, 1 953, is used, comparing percentages and totals with past years. Study goes into 'primary and secondary' advertising and summarizes trends in programming carried. TOTAL AMOUNT of advertising in New York television ■ is up 7%, the National Assn. of Educational Broadcasting reports today (Monday) in releasing results of its third annual survey of New York tv. Like the preceding studies in New York and other markets, the survey Was made by monitoring all television programs broadcast during one week — Jan. 4-10 — by all stations in the area, and was directed by Dallas W. Smythe, research professor at the U. of Illinois, using graduate students of New York universities. The report, being released by NAEB President Graydon Ausmus, shows 651 hours 44 minutes of programming were carried by the seven New York area stations during the week studied. This is 16% above the total found in the 1951 study and 4% more than that found in 1952. Since 1951, the report shows, all of the additional program time has come from network-owned outlets; the totals of all three independents were down. 18% to Ads In addition to the 7% rise in amount of advertising, the study found that 18% of all program time in the area during the study week was devoted to advertising matter — the same proportion as in 1952, as compared with 14% in 1951. The summary continues: "Three stations (WNBT, WCBS-TV, and WABC-TV) carried 61% of all advertising matter in 1953. The heaviest saturation in 1953 was found on WABC-TV, where 26% of the time was advertising, while WPIX and WATV had the lightest, with 13%. "The time segment with the highest saturation of advertising was the domestic -hours in all three years, with the rate being 24% in 1953. In that year, 17% of the children-hours and late-hours was advertising, while 15% of the adult-hours was used this way." "Primary advertisements" — those which "interrupt the flow of the program" — were 22% more numerous and took 27% more time in 1953 than in 1952," the report continues, pointing out that this type of advertisement occupied 10% of total broadcast time (same as in 1951 and one-fourth higher than in 1952). "Secondary advertising" — that which "either accompanies or is the program material — dropped 10% in 1953 but still was about IVz times its 1951 level," the report asserts. This type amounted to 8% of program time, as against 10% in 1952 and 4% in 1951. Discussing trends indicated in the three annual studies, the summary observes: "The most striking feature of the changes occurring in the three-year period was the sharp increase in the quantity of drama programs of all kinds. By 1953, this class of program had increased to 47% of all tv time, as compared with 33% in 1951 and 42% in 1952. In actual time, drama amounted to 306 hours in 1953 or about two-thirds more than in 1951 and 15% more than 1952." Crime drama rated as the No. 1 sub-class of drama in 1953, occupying 99 hours or 15.3% of total time. But domestic drama had shown the fastest rate of increase over the 1951-53 span, rising from 1% in 1951 to 6% (and fourth place as a sub-class) in 1953. Western drama slipped a little in 1953 but remained in second place as a sub-class (with 7% of total time). Variety programs ranked second to drama again in 1953, occupying 12% of total time (about the same as in 1952 but one-third less than in 1951). Quiz-stunts-contests and sports events formed the third and fourth largest classes of entertainment programs, each type occupying about 5% of total time. News Shows First Among information type programs, news shows moved into first place in 1953 for the first time (8%), and, also for the first time, religious telecasts became the largest class of orientation-type programming (1.7%). During 1953, the report shows, 12 programs identified with recognized educational institutions were telecast, as against 13 in 1952 and one in 1951. The 1953 total amounted to 361 minutes, "or less than 1% of total program time." Live programming dropped off, with recorded programming rising from 46% in 1952 to 53% in 1953. The study found that "the number of acts and threats of violence observed in 85% of the total program time increased substantially between 1952 and 1953," though it is noted that "no inferences as to their effects are warranted from the present study." The total for the 1953 study week was 3,421 such acts or threats, a rise of 15% above the number counted in the 1952 study week. The gun replaced the fist or foot as the most common means of committing tv violence. Roslow Expects Pulse to Be In 72 Markets by Yearend BY END of year, Pulse will be measuring tv audience in 72 markets, radio audience in 100 markets throughout the country, according to Dr. Sydney Roslow, director of Pulse, who also reported addition of 18 markets for which Pulse reports are being issued for first time. Seven of these new markets — Albany-TroySchenectady; Greensboro, N. C; Lubbock, Tex.; New London, Conn.; Spokane, and Youngstown, Ohio — have been surveyed by Pulse since June, he said. Surveys Underway Surveys are now being made or will soon be in Boise, Idaho; Butte, Mont.; Columbia, S. C; El Paso, Tex.; Fresno, Calif.; Macon, Ga.; Little Rock, Ark.; Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Pa.;' Tucson, Ariz.; Wichita, Kan., and Worcester, Mass. Dr. Roslow also announced that when a market changes from one to two tv stations Pulse concurrently doubles the number of homes sampled there, stating that this has already been done in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Kansas City. Tv Set Shipments Up 30% This Year SHIPMENTS of tv sets to dealers in the first nine months of 1953 were 30% above the same period last year, according to Radio-ElectronicsTv Mfrs. Assn. September shipments ran 77% above August and were the highest for the month in the last three years, totaling 816,529 units. In September 1952 shipments totaled 815,981 sets. The total of 4,614,361 sets for nine months compares with 3,537,980 in the same 1952 period and 3,371,624 in the first three quarters of 1951. Following are tv set shipments to dealers by states for the first nine months of 1953: state Total State Total Ala 70,423 Ariz 29,440 Ark 30,628 Calif 371,909 Colo 55,222 Conn 68,835 Del 11,359 D. C 36,791 Fla 86,838 Ga 77,936 Idaho 12,951 111 276,490 Ind 150,169 Iowa 101,256 Kan 59,962 Ky 64,942 La 68,369 Me 37,695 Md 56,599 Mass 142,203 Mich • . 188,046 Minn 82,009 Miss 33,308 Mo 110,374 Mont 5,364 Neb. . Nev. . N. H. . N. J. . N. M. N. Y. N. C. . N. D. 41 5 15 126 13 434 85 11 Ohio 272 Okla 83 Ore 57 Pa 406 R. 1 21 S. C 41 S. D 12 Tenn 68 Tex 283 Utah 28 Vt ; . . ::k^<M. Va 98 Wash 104 W. Va 60 Wis 101 Wyo 2 253 ,698 ,142 769 917 776 362 176 581 ,628 ,553 ,178 ,135 ,729 ,604 738 343 260 098 ,147 555 492 ,705 404 Grand Total. . .4,614,361 Nielsen Ratings Places 'Lux Theatre' at Top RANKING first in number of homes reached for a once-a-week evening program is Lux Radio Theatre, according to a Nielsen-rating based on Oct. 4 through 10 survey. The World Series entered the largest number of radio homes, more than 6 million, and ranks first for a weekday program during that period. The complete ratings are listed below: NATIONAL NIELSEN-RATING TOP RADIO PROGRAMS OCTOBER 4-10, 1953 RANK PROGRAM EVENING, ONCE-A-WEEK (Average For All Programs) 1 Lux Radio Theatre (CBS) 2 Mr. and Mrs. North (CBS) 3 People Are Funny (CBS) 4 Amos 'N' Andy (CBS) 5 Jack Benny Show (CBS) 6 My Little Margie (CBS) 7 You Bet Your Life (NBC) 8 Dragnet (NBC) 9 Great Gildersleeve (NBC) 10 Bing Crosby Show (CBS) EVENING, MULTI-WEEKLY (Average For All Programs) 1 One Man's Family (NBC) 2 News of the World (NBC) 3 Lone Ranger (ABC) WEEKDAY (Average For All Programs) HOMES REACHED (000) (1,835) 3,625 3,536 3,491 3,401 3,133 3,133 3,043 2,954 2,909 2,909 (1,119) 2,596 2,148 1,701 (1,701) 1 World Series (MBS) 6,087 2 Arthur Godfrey (Nabisco) (Fri.) (CBS) 3,088 3 Arthur Godfrey (Liggett & Myers) (CBS) 2,909 4 Arthur Godfrey (Lever) (CBS) 2,685 5 Romance of Helen Trent (CBS) 2,641 6 Arthur Godfrey (Nabisco) (T & Th) (CBS) 2,641 7 Arthur Godfrey (Pillsbury) (CBS) 2,596 8 Wendy Warren and the News (CBS) 2,551 9 Arthur Godfrey (Star-Kist) (CBS) 2,462 10 House Party (Green Giant) (CBS) 2,417 Copyright 1953 by A. C. Nielsen Co. Page 42 • November 23, 1953 Broadcasting • Telecasting