Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

LATEST RATINGS TOP 10 NETWORK PROGRAMS Tv Report for March 1-7 Rank 1. Gunsmoke 2. Perry Como Show 3. Danny Thomas 4. Tales of Welts Fargo 5. Wyatt Earp 6. Boh Hope 7. Lineup 8. Maverick 9. Have Gun, Will Travel 10. Restless Gun Rank 1. Gunsmoke 2. Perry Como Show 3. Danny Thomas Show 4. Tales of Wells Fargo 5. Bob Hope 6. Lineup 7. Wyatt Earp 8. Tenn. Ernie Ford 9. Have Gun, Will Travel 10. Zone Grey Theatre % Tv Homes 41.6 40.1 36.1 35.0 33.3 32.8 32.7 32.0 31.4 31.1 No. Tv Homes (000) 14,820 13,960 12,809 12,072 11,503 11,494 11,121 10,854 10,800 10,566 Copyright 1958 Videodex Inc. NIELSEN TOP 10 NETWORK PROGRAMS Tv Report for Feb. 23-March 8 TOTAL AUDIENCEf No Homes Rank (000) 1. Gunsmoke 18,700 2 Perry Como Show 17,170 3. Bob Hope Show 16,873 4. Tales of Wells Fargo 16,618 5. Danny Thomas Show 15,725 6. Cheyenne 15,428 7. Sugarfoot 15,300 8. Steve Allen Show 15,300 9. Wyatt Earp 14,960 10. Shirley Temple's Storybook 14,918 Rank % Homes* 1. Gunsmoke 45.0 2. Perry Como Show 41.4 3! Bob Hope Show 40.6 4. Tales of Wells Fargo 40.2 5. Cheyenne 38.6 6. Sugarfoot 38.1 7. Danny Thomas Show 37.6 8. Shirley Temple's Storybook 37.1 9. Steve Allen Show 37.0 10. Wyatt Earp 36.3 AVERAGE AUD1ENCEJ No. Homes Rank (000) 1. Gunsmoke 17,935 2. Tales of Wells Fargo 15,598 3. Danny Thomas Show 14.790 4. Wyatt Earp 14,068 5. Have Gun, Will Travel 14,068 6. I've Got a Secret 13,728 7. Bob Hope Show 13,685 8. Restless Gun 13,600 9. You Bet Your Life 13,133 10. December Bride 12,920 Rank % Homes* 1. Gunsmoke 43.1 2. Tales of Wells Fargo 37.7 3. Danny Thomas Show 35.4 4. Wyatt Earp 34.2 5. Have Gun, Will Travel 34.2 6. Restless Gun 33.6 7. Bob Hope Show 32.9 8. I've Got a Secret 32.7 9. Cheyenne 32.2 10. Sugarfoot 31.9 (f) Homes reached by all or any part of the program, except for homes viewing only 1 to 5 minutes. (J) Homes reached during the average minute of the program. * Percented ratings are based on tv homes within reach of station facilities used by each program. Copyright 1958 A. C. Nielsen Co. ARB TOP 10 NETWORK PROGRAMS Tv Report for March 1-7 No. Homes Rank (000) 1. Gunsmoke 52,100 2. Perry Como 47,360 3. Bob Hope 41,240 4. Have Gun, Will Travel 38,710 5. Restless Gun 37,920 6. Tales Of Wells Fargo 37,580 7. Maverick 37,410 8. Danny Thomas 36,220 9. I've Got a Secret 35,840 10. Steve Allen 35,840 Rank Rating 1. Gunsmoke 49.8 2. Perry Como 42.1 3. Boh Hope 41.2 4. Maverick 40.0 5. I've Got a Secret 39.8 6. Restless Gun 39.5 7. Price Is Right 38.4 8. Have Gun, Will Travel 37.8 Tales Of Wells Fargo 37.8 10. Danny Thomas 37.2 Copyright 1958 ARB Inc. BACKGROUND: The following programs, in alphabetical order, appear in this week's Broadcasting tv ratings roundup. Information is in following order: program name, network, number of stations, sponsor, agency, day and time. Steve Allen Show (NBC-150): S. C. Johnson (NL&B), Greyhound (Grey), U. S. Time (Peck). Alternating, Sun. 8:00-9:00 p.m. Cheyenne (ABC-99) : General Electric (Y&R) Alternating Tues., 7:30-8:30 p.m. Perry Como Show (NBC-163) : participating sponsors, Sat. 8-9 p.m. December Bride (CBS-178): General Foods (B&B), Mon. 9:30-10 p.m. Ford Show (NBC-182) Ford (JWT), Thurs. 9:30-10 p.m. Gunsmoke (CBS-161): Liggett & Myers (D-F-S), Remington Rand alternating. Sat. 10-10:30 p.m. Have Gun, Will Travel (CBS-125) : Lever (JWT), American Home Products (Bates), Sat. 9:30-10 p.m. Bob Hope Show (NBC-139): U. S. Time Corp. (Peck), Sunday, Mar. 2, 1958, 9-10 p.m. I've Got A Secret (CBS-198): R. J. Reynolds (Esty). Wed. 9:30-10 p.m. Lineup (CBS-162): Brown & Williamson (Bates), Procter & Gamble (Y&R), Fri. 10-10:30 p.m. Maverick (ABC-72) : Kaiser Industries (Y&R), Sun. 7:30-8:30 p.m. Price Is Right (NBC-118): participating sponsors, Mon. -Fri. 11-11:30 a.m. Restless Gun (NBC-107): Warner-Lambert (SSC&B), Mon. 8-8:30 p.m. Sugarfoot (ABC-119): American Chicle, Colgate-Palmolive (Bates), Ludens (Mathes). Tues. 7:30-8:30 Tales of Wells Fargo (NBC-147): Buick (M-E), American Tobacco (SSC&B), Mon. 8:30-9 p.m. Shirley Temple's Storybook (NBC-1"" ■ National Dairy, Hill Brothers, Breck (Ayer), Wed. 7:30-8:30 Danny Thomas Show (CBS-158): General Foods (B&B). Mon. 9-9:30 p.m. Wyatt Earp (ABC-103) : General Mills (D-F-S), Procter & Gamble (Compton), Tues. 8:30-9 p.m. You Bet Your Life (NBC-177): DeSoto (BBDO) Toni (North), Thurs. 8-8:30 p.m. Loretta Young Show (NBC-163) : Procter & Gamble (B&B), Sun. 10-10:30 p.m. Zone Grey Theatre (CBS-145) : General Foods (B&B), Ford (JWT) Fri. 8:30-9 p.m. FILM TV CITED AS FACTOR IN MOVIE DOLDRUMS • AFL Film Council study out • Points up 'economic villains' Between 1946 and 1956, average weekly attendance at movie theatres dropped by almost 50%, from 90 million to 46.5 million. Why? "There are two fundamental reasons: television and the change in the living patterns of the American people," according to "Hollywood at the Crossroads — An Economic Study of the Motion Picture Industry" made by Dr. Irving Bernstein of UCLA for the Hollywood AFL Film Council. Pointing out that while the movie theatre audience was declining the number of tv sets was growing from virtually none to over 42 million, the 78-page study states: "Millions of people who formerly went to the movies now remain at home watching television. Which segments of the movie audience have been lost is difficult to say because of our ignorance of the composition of that audience. ... It is sensible to assume that a person who simply wants diversion and cares little about its nature or quality will prefer to take it free rather than pay for it." The change in living patterns — home ownership, suburbanization, traffic difficulties, large families and the do-it-yourself movement, like tv, encourages people to stay home rather than go out, to the detriment of all out-of-home entertainment, the study reports. Television, however, is not the villain of the economic study. The Paramount decree, which broke up the horizontal structure of the motion picture industry . . . ; the rise of the independent producer; the breakdown of term contracts . . . ; the shortage of stars; diversification, with heavy investments in tv film companies, record firms, foreign theatres and other non-Hollywood operations; technical changes, and super-spectacular "block-buster" pictures in an attempt to lure the public back into the theatres — all of these have been major factors in the changed economics of motion pictures since World War II. Import restrictions and other regulations of foreign governments have led to a three-fold increase in the number of pictures made abroad. Add them all together and the result has been lost revenue from motion picture producers (the 10 leading companies suffered a 26% drop in gross revenues — from $968 million in 1946 to $717 million in 1956— and a 74% drop in net profits — from $121 million in 1946 to $32 million in 1956) and lost jobs for workers in the industry. "For workers employed in the production of films for theatres, only one job remains for two that existed in 1946," the study declares. As to the future, Dr. Bernstein balances the negative factors — that the huge theatre audience of the past is gone forever, that the industry has lost the resiliency that pulled it through the depression, that the growth of tv abroad will cut into revenue Page 46 • April 14, 1958 Broadcasting