Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1957)

ADVERTISERS & AGENCIES continued Researchers found that elderly viewers of tv families are ardent fans . . . study is on viewing. These, briefly, are the highlights: • A slight gain this year over last in total viewing hours per week, both in total number of people in tv homes and the per cent of people watching each weekday. • A slight decrease from 1956 in the daily hours of individual viewing (for the people who watch at all). (See table page 31.) The study notes: "The history of viewing in Videotown indicates that television has been on a plateau for the past three or four years. Between 75% and 85% of the people will tune in on an average weekday, each spending between 13 and 15 hours per week (Monday through Friday) in front of his set." When did people start to be "more selective in their viewing and . . . spreading their tv time over the day?" In 1954, says the report. "In that year, the number of weekday evening hours spent viewing tv by the average person showed its first decline. Increased daytime viewing helped maintain the upward trend in total weekly viewing hours in 1954. "Each year thereafter showed a decrease in the number of evening hours per day that an individual spent in front of his tv set (when he watched at all). Average evening hours per week has been moving up and down with no established trend." Videotown's report shows in 1953, 13.92 hours of viewing all day (Mon.-Fri.), with 12 hours in the evening, 1.13 in the afternoon and .79 in the morning; a year later, comparative figures were 14.85, 11.70, 1.65 and 1.50; for 1955, they were 15.55, 13.20, 1.40 and .95; last year, 13.43, 11.05, 1.36 and 1.02, and this year, 13.55, 11.45, 1.25 and .85. In a further breakdown, these trends in viewing were marked: Evening viewing (average) per week is slightly above that of last year — from 11 hours 3 minutes to 1 1 hours 27 minutes. Morning viewing is at a "temporary" plateau. Total for the week (Mon.-Fri.) for the average person was less than an hour in 1953, and 1955 and again in 1957, but \Vz hours in 1954 and just over an hour last year. Weekday afternoon viewing (Videotown researchers take the noon hour to 5 p.m.) reached its peak in 1954 when the average was 1 hour 39 minutes. Since then, the trend has been downward, dipping each year thereafter with the 1957 figure down to 1 Page 32 • December 9, 1957 hour 15 minutes. "These are all indications of a leveling off in afternoon viewing which will probably continue until some major change occurs in programming," the report observes. The study found that early tv fans maintain their status as the "most ardent tv viewers," with homes having a tv set longer, tuning in for more hours with individuals spending more time watching. This year, individual members of older tv families watched about WVz hours per week during weekday evenings, while people in newer tv homes watched about 1 1 hours per week. Homes which had tv before 1954 tuned in just under 4 hours on the average weekday evening compared to 3 hours 23 minutes for the newer owners. (These differences are narrowing as newly married people, whose viewing habits were established in older tv homes, become new tv set owners.) Probing deeper into tv viewing habits of the average family, the Videotown study finds: Most consistent viewing during the evening is by husbands, wives and teen-age children. The report notes that over eight . . . tv often serves as a babysitter, and children still eat before the set . . . out of 10 wives, not quite eight out of 10 husbands and teen-agers watch tv at some time during the average weekday evening (a slight drop from last year for husbands and teen-age children but an increase for wives). Not quite three-fourths of children under 10 watch on any one evening, and when they do watch, they spend less time (a little over two hours) than other family members, partly because of an early bedtime. Teen-agers average 2 hours 23 minutes compared to the adults' over 3 hours (when they watch). In total hours spent watching tv during the evening, Mon.-Fri., it is the wife who does the most. The totals: 14 hours for wives compared to 13 hours for husbands; while teen-agers watch about 9XA hours, and children under 10, a little over IVi. The study finds that daytime tv viewing by housewives is about at the 1953 level, stabilizing at about 1 1 % in the morning and 20% in the afternoon for the past two years. The year 1955 is seen as the peak year for the number viewing in the afternoon or all day for wives and for all people. Ignoring that year, the trend has been upward from early years through 1957. As it has in the past, the Videotown survey also takes a good look at radio listening in tv homes. Conclusion: Radio listening seems to have leveled off, with somewhat under half of the wives, about one-third of all people, listening on the average weekday. Morning radio listening is still much more popular than tv viewing, especially with housewives. Specifically in tv homes, 43% of wives listen to the radio all day weekdays (30% in the morning, 16% in the afternoon and 17% in the evening), while 32% of all people on the average listen to the radio all day (19% in the morning, 9% in the afternoon and 16% in the evening). Compared to last year, wives were off nine percentage points in listening to the radio in the morning; up two points in the afternoon and three points in the evening, but off four points for all day. There was little change from last year in the per cent of all people (except a drop of four points in the morning). In tv viewing on an average weekday morning, the same percentage of wives are registered this year as compared to last year (11%), similarly in the afternoon (20%), but the percentage is five points higher in the evening (from 81% to 86%) and up for all day (from 85% to 89%). For all people, the average weekday percentage is about level with a few points gain in the evening and all day viewing. In a detailed breakdown on radio listening in tv homes, Videotown found a slight drop in the hours per day when all people on the average listen to radio in the evening, but an appreciable rise in the average hours per week spent listening in the evening. Again, in morning radio, listening is up in hours per day but reduced in the hours per week. Other highpoints: Saturation • In Videotown it was 92.7% in June, a slight increase over the 90.5% of a year ago. Thus, growth of tv set ownership over the years increased the potential audience each year, but the present high saturation figure has made tv ownership "universal for all practical purposes, putting a ceiling on the number of people available for tv viewing." Peak in Total Viewing • One of these elements — the average daily hours of viewing— showed its first decline two years ago. A year later (1956) there was a decrease in both the per cent of people watching each weekday and in the number of individ . . . and ironing while watching a favorite daytime show is a well-entrenched habit. Broadcasting