Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1963)

Abroad in brief... Latin connections ■ Ridgway, Hirsch and French Advertising, St. Louis, is now offering complete marketing services in 22 key cities in Central and South America through affiliation with the Associated Agencies of Latin America. The Latin experts can provide thorough data on their market situations to U.S. advertisers unfamiliar with the area. British set fees ■ The number of combined radio and TV licenses throughout Britain and Northern Ireland increased by 67,491 during October bringing the total to 12,731,101. There are now 3,151,927 radio only licenses including 561,965 for car radios. BBC-TV sales double ■ International sales of BBC-TV programs have almost doubled in one year. For the six months ended Sept. 30 sales were at 90% of the volume for the complete year before this period, says BBC Television Enterprises; the corporation's export unit. Artists' application ■ A group of 126 leading British producers, writers, actors, actresses and other people concerned with the arts is applying for an ITA commercial television contract. The group has $12.6 million backing to start operations if granted a contract. The group is London Independent Producers Ltd. whose chairman is film producer Sydney Box. Aussies buy U. S. shows ■ William Morris Agency has announced television sales of more than $1.5 million to Australia. New deals were made on such shows as The Real McCoys, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Wyatt Earp, The Danny Thomas Show, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Mitch Miller Show and Don't Call Me Charlie. Nine countries see NBC's 'Coming of Christ' NBC International last week announced that nine countries had purchased for Christmas season viewing its Project 20 award-winning program, "The Coming of Christ." New customers are in the Philippines, Holland, Mexico (Monterrey) and Federal Nigeria. Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Cyprus and West Germany have bought the program for a repeat showing. NBC-TV showed the half-hour color program for the third time in the U.S. Dec. 22. Produced by Donald B. Hyatt in 1960, the program tells of the birth and life of Christ as depicted by great paintings. DATELINE: Germany by DON R. CUNNINGHAM, Foote, Cone & Belding Prime-time spots don't exist in Russian roulette system Let's you and I join the German TV viewing public for a moment. It is 7:00 p.m. We have just seen the news program on, say, the Frankfurter Rundschau. Now get ready for a half-hour program — probably a foreign (i.e. American) show dubbed in the German language. But first, a word from 10 sponsors. Get a tight grip on your chair. For you are about to receive some 10 different commercial messages, back-to-back. After the program, you will see another block of 8 to 10 commercials. And that will be all the commercials you will see today. Sound fantastic? Yet this is the pattern that occurs every day in Germany. Correction: every day except Sunday, when no commercials are broadcast. To understand the reason for so limited a use of TV time for advertising. you must be familiar with the German concept of "protecting the consumer from the advertiser." An elaborate complex of restrictions exists on the form, content and extent of advertising in Germany. It is the extent of advertising allowed that creates the major problem for TV advertisers, for there just isn't enough TV time to go around. Demand far exceeds the supply. In fact, last year orders for TV time exceeded total available time by 500%. Such a seller's market leads to a unique TV buying situation. For example, during August all orders for the full 12 months of the coming year must be placed by the advertisers interested in using TV. These orders must be placed by brands. Dates must be specified. Such orders are on a firm, noncancellable basis. I i i Don R. Cunningham spent four years in Germany, where he opened and managed the German office of Foote, Cone & Belding. Clients of FC&B in Germany include some of that country's major users of TV: General Foods, Haus Neuerberg (affiliated with the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.), Unilever and Zellwatte (Kleenex products). Mr. Cunningham has recently moved to the Los Angeles office of FC&B, where he is a vice president and management representative. 50 (INTERNATIONAL) Pity The Adman ■ However, the advertiser never gets the number of spots he orders. If he should order, say, 100 he will be lucky to get 50. (And he won't get 100 by ordering 200 — the stations are too canny for that.) Nor can the advertiser expect to get commercials on the dates he wants. He must simply wait and hope for the best. I will leave to your imagination the budgeting problems this Russian roulette system creates for the advertiser and his agency. Generally by November the stations have completed the enormously difficult job of rationing the available time for the coming year among the TV advertisers. At that time the advertiser may negotiate for changes in dates. But he can seldom improve his frequency. And from the time he accepts the station's offer, he is locked in for the coming year. Thus TV in Germany lacks flexibility. Sponsor identification with any program is impossible, since commercials are simply inserted in magazine fashion. The limited time availability makes 60second commercials a rarity (most are 30's) . Each advertising message appears adjacent to many others. Yet for all the limitations, restrictions, complications and frustrations, TV in Germany has one great, unbeatable feature: it works! Sets in use during the commercial programing times in Germany are near the highest levels of the day. As nearly as can be determined, the audience remains before the set during the com BROADCASTING, December 30, 1963