Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES continued RADIO-TV: THEY'RE NOW GROWN UP 1 I 1 Both radio and tv have reached maturity in terms of stations, audience and programming, offering the advertiser many advantages not heretofore available from these media, Lansing B. Lindquist, vice president and associate director of McCann-Erickson's tv-radio department, told the Asm. of National Advertisers last Monday. But there are wrinkles to iron out, new challenges and new obligations the advertiser must meet successfully to get the greatest benefits from the two media, he said. A condensed text follows: When we stand back and take a long look at the two broadcast media, something newer than westerns, musical shows, subliminal perception and even sputnik becomes apparent. It is maturity! When we turn the corner into 1958 we are dealing for the first time with a full-blown, grown-up set of media tools. Five years ago network radio had reached its lowest ebb. The big 50-kw network stations were losing their audiences. They and the networks were clinging to an outmoded concept of broadcast advertising. The independent stations were growing more successful, more prosperous, more respected. Today the radio networks, having put their backs to the wall with nowhere to go except forward, have gone a long way forward. There is no doubt network radio today is programmed, scheduled and priced more intelligently than ever before in the history of the medium. The year 1953 was not an early one in the history of television. There were commercial programs as early as 1947. In 1951 we fed the first programs from West to East. In 1952 the political telecasts created an important "first." In 1953 only 56% of American homes had tv receivers. There were 74 tv markets and vast areas could not receive any television service at all. There were only 123 stations. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Detroit were almost the only major markets with more than two television stations. The single-station markets were frightening. They included Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Miami, New Orleans, St. Louis, Kansas City and San Diego, among others. Advertisers were faced with the most extreme example of the law of supply and demand. Advertisers, agencies, networks — clamoring for circulation in the medium — were going to great lengths to obtain clearance in these difficult markets. We were addressing our messages to audiences which were partly captive, rather easily impressed and available only through certain networks and stations. So we were living in an area of scarcity of outlets, an area in which almost any program which had fair circulation could get a phenomenal rating. Milton Berle owned Tuesday night with ratings as high as 57.7. / Love Lucy earned a phenomenal 73.0 in February 1953. Today there are three networks, and station-wise, ratingwise and program-wise, they are as nearly comparable as can be expected. The problem markets such as Pittsburgh and Boston will be cleared [for ABC] by the first of next year. They are the last. So the first element in television's maturity is stations — enough to service the existing networks — with some important independents to supply their own special contributions to the advertising picture. The second element is ratings. It is interesting to examine a Nielsen pocket piece for January 1953. The top rated program was / Love Lucy, with Arthur Godfrey in second place, and Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, Studio One and Robert Montgomery, all in the top ten. The highest rated ABC program in that period was number 27 in rank. It was the Lone Ranger. This delivered a Nielsen rating of 33.1 and an audience of only slightly more than 7 million homes. Disneyland, which was the first important evidence of the growth of a truly three-network medium, did not come on the air until late 1954. In January of 1955 it was achieving a Nielsen rating of 50 and reaching 15 million homes. By September 1 957 the latest rating available showed that Disneyland was earning a 31.4 and delivering 12.5 million homes. The time period in which Disneyland falls will probably be the best example of a three-way split in ratings in this season. / Love Lucy and the Big Record on CBS, and Wagon Train on NBC look as though they and Disneyland will each earn about 33% of the available audience. The interesting fact is that although the audiences are even, they will be larger than anyone could have imagined ten or even five years ago. While we are edging toward total saturation more slowly than five years ago, competition has increased interest to such a degree that audiences are holding their own or increasing in the face of competition. The third element in television maturity is programming. In 1953 program popularity depended on station clearance. In 1958 it depends almost entirely upon excellence of programming material. The Wednesday period is a case in point. No one has ever argued with the great showmanship talent of Walt Disney. Opposed to him this season are Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Wagon Train has enlisted some of the finest talent in Hollywood. There are other examples: the new Frank Sinatra Show, ABC's Maverick, Sugarfoot, Cheyenne, and the Eddie Fisher and George Gobel combination. Advertisers in some cases have resented the stringent regulations the networks and package producers have placed on their use of the medium. A film producer, faced with a tremendous investment to provide a season's entertainment, would naturally try for a 39 and 13 pattern of new shows and repeats, and in the past area of scarcity he has been able to sell his product on this basis. The networks with prime evening time at a premium have been able to insist on firm 52-week contracts. An advertiser whose selling season does not coincide with these arbitrary rules, has been faced with a difficult set of problems. It is probably too much to hope that these rules will be relaxed immediately; for a long time to come it is doubtful that the networks will be willing to sell their prime evening time on less than a firm 52-week basis, but there are encouraging signs that television may be used more flexibly in the immediate future than in the past. Subject to the normal short-rate penalties there are some time periods now developing in which less than 52-week contracts may be obtained. The weight of competition has been changed before by adroit programming against it, and some of these periods in which flexibility is possible afford a real challenge to an advertiser and his agency. The package producers, whether they be independents, networks or agencies, are also more flexible. There is nothing magic about the 39-13 formula and it is slowly losing power as a standard measuring stick. It is seldom possible to sign talent contracts on very short cancellation notices. It is important that headline performers have some assurance that their programs will be on long enough to establish themselves. Again, common sense will prevail. Perhaps the most important thing the new maturity of these media means is that it brings a new obligation to the users of them. You and your competitors have virtually equal access to your potential customer — the artificial areas of inequality have passed. This means there is one way to reach him in numbers large enough to offset the high cost of television and the tendency of radio to be diffuse. This is the program way. Imagination is not a substitute for money but it can be a dollar-stretcher. It can give you better commercials, better audiences, better ratings, better sales. MR. LINDQUIST Page 36 • November 4, 1957 Broadcasting