Sponsor (July-Dec 1951)

r etc., plus higher prices for talent, union labor, literary rights, rehearsals, and so forth. How costs today compare with three years ago was pointed out recently in Time magazine, in writing about Ed Sullivan and the LincolnMercury variety program Toast of the Town on CBS-TV. According to Time, the talent on the first show, which included the fabulous team of Rodgers & Hammerstein, cost a mere $270 — practically a donation of services. Today, Ed Sullivan admitted candidly, he "couldn't get the same people . . . for less than $12,000." Pointed out Hubbell Robinson, Jr., CBS V.P. in Charge of Network Programs, to sponsor: "Certainly costs will continue upward, sometimes at a rapid rate, on network TV shows. However, the over-all average rise in show costs is lagging behind the increases in the nationwide cost-of-living." CBS's Robinson also added that it still costs "a minimum of $5,000 a week on top of almost any type of major program's costs" to put the show on film. \etwork tinie availabilities Q. What will the situation be this fall on clearing TV network time? A. Good network time availabilities will be impossible for you to clear this fall, and will continue to be a difficult problem until such time as the lifting of the television freeze brings in new stations. With 40 ((>3..V,I of the nation's 63 video markets still being served by only one station, any new network advertisers coming in this fall, will only complicate the clearance problem further. Q. Will it be easier to clear time on one TV network than on another? A. Not really but you'll find, according to some preliminary checks b\ agency timebuyers, that the networks which have the most 52-week TV business will in some few cases be ea-icr to clear time with. This is because these networks (NBC-TV and CBS-TV) have relinquished less time to the stations, to be sold locally or cleared for another network, due to hiatus of advertisers. No networks, incidentally, will now guarantee to recap ture TV time for you after a hiatus, although they will do it in radio. Q. What can an advertiser do if he can't clear network time in the amount that he wants for a liveorigination show? A. He can do one of three things: I 1 I he can take what live time he can get in interconnected cities, and use kinescopes of his show on other "network" stations; (2l he can put his program on film, at added cost, and place it through his agency as a spot operation; or (3) he can shift over to a large-scale timebuying operation of spot programs and announcement availabilities; he can go into the day or night participation programs now being set up by all networks to meet the crisis and accommodate more advertisers who would otherwise be frozen out of television. Q. Who are some of the leading advertisers who have made a change from straight TV network programing to spot programing? A. One of the outstanding examples is Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company, which could not clear premium "live" network time for its Bigelow Theatre. At last report, Bigelow-Sanford, through Y&R. is using its filmed show on some 34 stations on a spot basis, reaching the markets it wants with a span of a few days at most between airings of a single film. Others include: Snow Crop Marketers I through Maxon ) with the Snow Crop Matinee Theatre; Pepsi-Cola (through Biow) with the Faye Emerson Show; Rosefield Packing (through Guild. Bascom and Bonfigli I with Skippy Hollywood Theatre (as in radio); and Kellogg Company (through Leo Burnett) with Wild Bill Hickok. Q. What are some of the advantages in shifting from the use of network kinescopes to straight spot buying for filmed programs? A. As the, result of a recent study of the situation on network availabilities, the Katz Agency (station reps) points out that "for the same time, on the same stations, you pa) up to \.9% less when you buy the period on spot than when you buy it on a network." This. • if course, is because spot rates are lower than network rates. The Katz point of view is thai network kinescopes, widely used because of lack of station availabilities, make networks virtually a spot operation. Also. Katz adds, the spot method avoids waste circulation, assures the advertiser of promptness in airing his film, avoids the relatively poor quality of kinescope films, does not add to program costs appreciably if the program is already on film; and, since the revenue is more for a station by this method, stations will be more inclined to do a good promotion job. Q. Are there any disadvantages to this method? A. For some advertisers, there are. Spot buying takes the campaign out from under network rates, but also out from under the networks' services, like national publicity, co-ordinated audience promotion, network routing and handling of film shipments, and "sales service" ( which may run from giving technical advice to a program assistance ) . If an advertiser feels he needs these services on a national basis, part of his spot savings may be swallowed up in hiring free-lance firms or in paying agency overtime. Q. Would lifting the freeze remove the advantages of spot program buying? A. No. It would take a lot of the pressure off advertisers who have been forced into spot buying by the lack of live network time slots. But. the basic advantages (cost, flexibility I remain the same. Program trends in network TV Q. What will be the main programing trends this fall in network TV? A. After three big seasons of network TV shows, networks, package producers, clients, and agencies have a lot of experience to draw upon. Generally, the main programing trends shape up like this: PROGRAMS: Most of the big. super-duper comedy-variety shows that were around earlier this year, such as Colgate Comedy Hour, Texaco Star Theatre, Show of Shows, will be back — but there will be few new ones, since costs for this type of show have skyrocketed. I /'lease turn to page 154) 152 SPONSOR