Radio annual (1950)

OEED OF M\Wt RESEHRCH [wmm By h. d. h. e. PRExy by FREDERIC R. GAMBLE President, A.A.A.A. IN 1950, the buyer's market will be with us in full normal stride. For the broadcasting industry, this comes at a time when the number of radio stations has more than tripled and when few television stations are yet on a profitable footing. What are the problems in selling tomorrow's time that can be expected to result? Selling radio and television time is really a two-fold job. It is not enough merely to sell the time. It must also be converted into successful advertising. And making advertising successful is the specialized job of advertising agencies. actly the same way. The tri-partite setup under which B.M.B. was organized is a sound one. Some such organization or organizations are needed to match the A. B.C. of printed media, and it should have broadcasting's full support. We sincerely hope that broadcasters everywhere will give their best and most searching thought to a sound continuation of station audience research with strong industry support behind it. Radio needs such industry-wide research, with tri-partite validation, if it hopes to realize its full potential as marketing and advertising practices continue to be tightened. In radio and television broadcasting there is as yet no national body to recommend agencies as worthy of recognition, no general recognition standards of any kind, and no recognition machinery whatsoever. Can radio afford to do less than other media are doing? In the contest of a buyer's market, can radio afford to have less insurance than other media enjoy, to evaluate the agencies who serve them? It is also in radio's interest to give agencies certain research assistance which only broadcasters can give. Printed media long ago found that confidence in their various media is based on their audited circulations. The audit is conducted by a joint tri-partite organization, the Audit Bureau of Circulations, or A. B.C., governed by all three interested partners — the printed media, the advertisers and the agencies. The media pay almost the entire bill for the auditing operations, so that the cost gets reflected in rates and so is shared pro rata among those who use the media. Does this set-up sound familiar? It should? The parallel organization in radio — Broadcast Measurement Bureau, or B.M.B. —was set up in almost ex Another bulwark which broadcasting needs — and which only broadcasters can supply — is a safeguard against credit losses by agencies and by stations. Over many years, other media have found it essential to supply a collection device and a credit safeguard, the 2 per cent cash discount. They do not give this out of their revenue: they make allowance for it in setting their rate, so as to receive the same net revenue. And the 2 per cent cash discount is not a soiLrce of agency revenue because agencies customarily pass it to the client, when he" earns it by paying promptly. This enables the agency to collect promptly or be warned. It keeps the agency in sound financial condition to pay stations by their due dates. The needs in radio and television are clear: (1) agency recognition standards; (2) industry research, widely supported; and (3) a credit safeguard. The challenge of a buyers' market demands our best thought and wisest decisions. Let us make these wise and constructive decisions, and lick the challenge good. 47