Sponsor (July-Dec 1952)

Radio *T a message liom out sp««i« and now a messas WKk ::;vX-:::*x-:*:-:*x*::::::::^^ |_^H 6y 5o6 Foreman Oome years ago a gentleman I know was explaining the rating system he was using to justify a radio show to an advertiser. He wound up the strengths of this particular technique by saying, "Furthermore, I'll agree it's a crooked wheel, hut it's the best one in the house."* Today this same individual is, I'm sure, taken aback by the added vagaries that television has brought to the Numbers Racket. Such items as two identical ratings meaning vastly different numbers of listeners. For example, This Is Show Business, which follows Gene Autry. Both shows have a rating of fractionally over 24 points, but the Autry audience numbers, according to the Green Book, some 2,260,000 people whereas the panel-variety show is said to he viewed by 3,630,000. The reason for this divergence is based upon the fact that Autry's program is on a limited hookup of fl stations whereas Lucky Strike sends its show out to 38 stations. In radio, to add further reason for confusion, the rating is expressed as the percentage of all sets, not merely the hookup. I use the above anecdote and case-in-point by way of introducing a topic that may give some of us pause in our thinking when we are faced with the prospect of buying spot television. I am cribbing \h\ idea from one of the smartesl gents in the field, a man who not onl) understands the mechanics of the various rating services but who is a sharpshooter when it comes to shooting each technique full of holes. In a session the other dav, this chap expounded the following seemingly radical theory. When buying spot television for products that require long copy of an explanatory nature (in contrast to reminder copy that is whimsical and gimmick-y), perhaps it is better, he said to select — and get this! — time adjacent to the lower ratings. Thus, he added, you may be better off in going to the independent stations. His reasoning is based on two principles. One, his intuition. He states that high-rating spots, wedged into such attractive spectacles as, say, the segments of Your Show of Shows or between Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and / Love Lucy tend to be used as breathers by the viewer. A trip to the refrigerator for a refill or to other more intimate rooms of the house is the general thing at these breaks. Since the pace of the surrounding high-rating entertainment is so fast and the medium requires such wholehearted attention, the intervening spots can become almost essential relief as far as the viewer is concerned. The result, therefore, is a far greater lack of attention as well as a great amount of actual absence from the room than was the case in radio. Over and above this intuitive reasoning, my associate leans on some facts that he has in order to prove his belief and to disprove that he's being merely ornery. These facts have been assembled over the past two television years by some modest-budget advertisers utilizing spot and with whom he has first-hand dealings. It was found by really careful keying and intelligent checking that some products responded far more favorably when the announcementwere placed alongside of low-rating shows on the independent New York City stations. In one case, a well-controlled test for a give-away booklet showed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that WORTV and WPIX not only got far more returns than the big babies but that on a cost-per-dollar basis were so far ahead that they could not he considered in the same league. The gentleman cited therefore states that responsiveness of audience, regardless of its size, is the crucial factor in the success of many a spot campaign. When it comes to selling products or ideas, people-in-the-mood are far more important to yon than peoplebeing-entertained. An interesting switch, I'd say, and worthy of some real consideration. commercial reviews TELEVISION sponsor: AGENCY: program: Citizens tor Eisenhower Ted Bates & Co., N. Y. C. Minute announcements and chainbreaks Now that the returns are in and the selling power of the copy used by and for both candidates has become academic, I'd like to devote a few phrases to the construction of the Ike spots prepared by the Citizens Committee. Let me emphasize that it's the mechanics I intend to refer to because I'm not competent to say whether spot-TV was either a wise usage of the medium for politics or whether the copy in those spots was well selected from the political issues at hand during the actual race. From a purely technical standpoint, however, I'd say the Citizens for Ike did prepare some rather clean, well-organized announcements — especially in the 20-second lengths. The reason for this was that the Bates men were fully aware of the facts of life — that chainbreak adjacencies are far higher in rating than those of the usual minute announcements. So they concentrated on producing 20s and merely strung them together, bead-like, for their minutes. This is the reverse of the usual order adopted by many advertisers who seem to insist on making up their minute spots 52 SPONSOR