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NETWORK TV: WINTER AUDIENCE PROFILE
TV'S 'QUALITATIVE' PICTURE
^ It's growing in importance. Here's a look at some basic Nielsen facts about the nighttime network tv audience — by county size, income and age of household head
I he growing sophistication in air media buying has inevitably focused attention on what is called — for lack of a better word — "qualitative" information.
Though this implies a move away from numbers it is actually — like most qualitative information about air media — a move toward more detailed and significant numbers.
This data includes such breakdowns on viewers as age, sex, income, product usage, size of family, type of job, geographical location of home, education, etc. Thus, though tv is as mass a medium as you'll find, the growing availability of details enables buyers to buy in the manner, if not with the precision of, class media purchasers.
Because of the huge ad investments in network tv, the lion's share of this information covers that medium. A key source is the national Nielsen Audimeter sample, a permanent panel of U. S. homes. Detailed information about each home permits Nielsen to supply viewing data of considerable scope and variety.
Some of the basic qualitative data on this season's nighttime network audience, supplied to sponsor by Nielsen, suggest the following generalization:
With a few exceptions, there are no dramatic differences in popularity of program types among (1) household heads by age group, ( 2 ) homes by county size, 1 3 ) families by income
level and (4) families by size. However, the differences are often large enough to warrant examination and buyers would do well to check the individual shows under consideration.
These are some of the more general patterns (all the data here cover the November-December 1961 period except for data on regional viewing, which cover the previous year) :
Westerns — These tend to draw greater audiences among larger families (but, oddly, families with older household heads) and lower income families living in rural and smalltown areas. They also tend to be more popular in the east central and southern states.
Quiz-audience participation — These
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Popularity of network tv shows by age of household head
WESTERN (30-min.) WESTERN (60-min.) QUIZ-AUD. P. (30-min.) SIT. COMEDY (30-min.) GEN. DRAMA (30-min.) GEN. DRAMA (60-min.) MYSTERY (60-min.) VARIETY (60-min.) INFORMATION (60-min.) VARIETY (30-min.) INFORMATION (30-min.)
UNDER 40
205
96
134
94
16«
81
IV
110
V
93
I39
108
t9«
IK
164
96
W6
97
r
99
Jn«
106
40-54
21*
(00
20°
97
18'
91
204
104
13?
103
189
10'
1
W
w
I
»«•
96
l?1
87
B6
101
II1
101
66 +
21*
102
02'
108
23s
12!
IT4
88
7
136
ioa
t6J
90
IS5
87
I81
10
\V
117
133
99
10?
96
THIS CHART and the two on the following page are taken -from Nielsen data on nighttime network tv viewing during November-December 1961. Figures on left within each bar represent percent within each group which watched particular program type during the period studied. Figures on the right within each bar represent an index number comparing percentage figure (which is average audience data) for each show type with national AA rating. Example. "During average minute 20.5% of families with household heads under 40 watch 30-minute westerns"
II
SPONSOR
5 MARCH 1962
37