Sponsor (Oct-Dec 1964)

PROBING THE CURRENTS AND UNDERCURRENTS OF BROADCAST ADVERTISING What account men might say re tv You're an account man and your client asks you to till him in on some of the latest surface and undercurrents of tv. As a starter, you might tick off these: (1) in general, the average scts-inuse is at record level; (2) the networks have never been as closely bunched from the viewpoint of over-all nighttime dominance; (3) there arc flops galore among the new scries, but the casualty percentage may not be as big as the levels for the two previous seasons; (4) NBC-TV and CBSTV may take a cue from ABC-TV's $25 million take from regional sales and see whether they're overlooking something they shouldn't; (5) more and more tv stations, faced with too many unsold prime 20s, are looking for "convenient" ways to induce 30-second commercials into station breaks; (6) the economic equation makes it imprudent for the networks to do too much program changing in mid-season, and hence prices for the second and third quarters will be attractively tailored down to encourage advertiser continuance; (7) on the other hand, network daytime has all the aspects of an extended seller's market. Day of reckoning for whom? If the NTI which becomes available today (7) symbolizes a day of reckoning, it is far less so for agencies than the tv networks themselves. The agencies have done their home work long before this. The earlier ratings and such elements as reach, frequency and demographics had already been analyzed and put in their proper form to reinforce the agency's initial decision on program selections. Whatever analytical material that may become available thereafter is mostly used for further support of that initial decision. But for the networks, today's NTI report has a manifold import. It serves not only as a tool but a momentum, which attends success or the opposite. As a tool the report can strengthen the network's selling position for the critical second quarter (AprilJune) facing it and beyond that, the fall selling season. Where the momentum factor comes in: success breeds a bandwagon psychology in show business, and, if your box office, or, in this instance, your ratings are riding high, you've got a big edge over the competition in attracting the cream of the new Hollywood tv product to your fold. That, in essence, is why the networks have a greater stake in today's NTI revelations than the agencies. Sara Lee, S.S.S. buy spot radio Two accounts showing up last week in national spot radio's slim pickings were Sara Lee Kitchens and S.S.S. Tonic. For Sara Lee it'll be a two-week campaign for its frozen cakes just before Christmas, while S.S.S.. which is still good for $5-600, 000 a year in the medium, took on 26-week schedules. Readers' Digest must be going after some of that Christmas gift money. It's buying a week's campaign the first week in January. National spot tv perks again The month-old quiet in new national spot tv activity seems to have come to an end. The pendulum took a sharp swing the other way in rep precincts last week as agencies submitted availabilities needed for schedules due to start in January. Among the accounts were (1) Lipton Tea, minutes and syndication participations, starting January 17; (2) American Tobacco for Pall Mall filter tips, prime 20's and minutes, starting January 4, 14 weeks; (3) Chesebrough-Pond's, fringe minutes from January 4 to mid-March; (4) Standard Brands for Blue Bonnet margarine, etc., 20's, starting January 4; (5) National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia, starting January 13; (6) Squibb's Anticil, fringe minutes; (7) Continental Baking, fringe minutes, starting January 4. P.S. Colgate will shortly be calling for avails for Dental Cream-Fab piggybacks. Abbott plugs up GFoods nick General Foods is followng an old pattern as regards behavior toward the networks: cutting back on expenditures for the first quarter to bolster profits. March 1 is GF's fiscal year end. The brand hit hardest by the cancellations is the new beverage. Awake. Several products in the Jell-O division will also be affected. As far as NBC-TV is concerned, the loss from General Foods in daytime will be substantially overbalanced by an order I 24 SPONSOR