Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan-Mar 1956)

NETWORKS i Vice President John B. Poor and other network officials, stressed that the circulation guarantee takes "the gamble out of network radio broadcasting." Under Mutual's plan, he said, the advertiser "will know what he's buying before he buys." He also emphasized that by guaranteeing the number of home tune-ins to be delivered, the plan goes farther than print media's circulation guarantees. "We think that network radio has reached a point where it must take its place alongside other stable media on a statistical basis," he asserted, adding that as such it is a "sound and efficient buy." In response to questions, Mr. Trenner said Mutual's affiliates "have no responsibility" in the guarantee plan — that they will continue to be compensated on the usual basis. In fact, if Mutual fails to deliver the minimum guarantee on a contract, the affiliates stand to gain — because Mutual itself will compensate them, he said, for carrying any make-good time that is necessary. Mr. Trenner and Robert A. Schmid, vice president in charge of advertising and public relations, both stressed that when it becomes apparent during the course of a guaranteed contract that Mutual is falling short of the promised figure, then efforts will be made to "beef up the programming." Audience and program promotion will be intensified, and similar efforts made to raise listenership and thus boost the ratings average up to the guaranteed figure. The use of make-good time rather than rebates for unmet guarantees was decided upon, Mr. Trenner said, because "the advertiser appropriates money to reach a given number of people, not to get it back." The use of makegood, he noted, assures him of reaching that number. No 'For Instances' He said no tentative cost-per-thousand price tags had been placed on any existing shows and that Mutual had no "list of for instances" to offer. Rather, he said, each guarantee will be tailored individually in accord with what the advertiser's budget is, whom he wants to reach, and what sort of spread he wants. Newsmen, however, posed a hypothetical case of an advertiser who signs for 39 weeks on a guarantee of a 10 rating. If the average for the 39 weeks came to an 8 rating, Mr. Trenner said, then Mutual obviously "owes him some time." But, he added, Mutual would have been watching the ratings all along and, seeing them down, might have given the sponsor some extra time before the end of the 39 weeks and meanwhile would have been trying to increase the rating. Although the specific guarantees given to advertisers will be kept secret and may vary according to time periods, programs and station lineups involved, he said there would be no variance between guarantees given different advertisers using the same programs; (participants in Mutual's "Multi-Message Plan," for instance). The idea of guaranteeing circulation, although never attempted on so broad a scale at the network level before, has been adopted by some individual stations and was offered on a limited basis by NBC a little more than four years ago. NBC officials, discussing the Mutual plan last week, recalled that their own was limited to participations in three programs and that the guarantee was established at a point which NBC felt it could meet and also assure advertisers of good coverage. Though offering a lower cost per thousand than print media, 20 top pulse rated programs CBS for CENTRAL OHIO ASK JOHN BLAIR radio COLUMBUS, OHIO Page 54 • February 20, 1956 Broadcasting • Telecasting