Sponsor (Jan-June 1953)

DAYTIME TV [Continual from pa^ce 29) weekday sponsored programs go, but this may change in the fall. The networks rcali/c that stead) daytime TV network growth depends on a varietv ol shows. There isn't much choice l"i the housewife right now. If she dees not like a particular network show, .-lie must either turn to a local program or -w itch off the set. The weekdax sponsored lineup i which is the heart of daytime I \ I can be described in a few words: NBC has the early morning and late afternoon tied up, while CHS has the rest. However, NBC will make a bid for late n ting supremac) next fall with a solid 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. program block. The result of this late-morning hattie will be watched carefull) 1>\ daytime ami potential daytime advertisers. There is no question hut that some of ;ood dayti show ratings and homes-reached figures will not stand up against competition. Many advertisers feel the present daytime audience pie is too small to be CUl up b) network program battles. There will have to be a substantial boost in daytime \ iewing, the) sa) . before program competition becomes sponsor competition. No one can predict for sure how the daytime audience will -row. hut ii pasl growth can he projected, it looks like the networks will have nothing to worn about. Here are some Nielsen averages on daytime viewing -even days a week during Februar) of 1951, 1952, 1953. These figures include all viewing, local and network: • Homes reached 8:00-9:00 a.m.'. 167,000 in 195] : 710,000 in 19.32: 1,098,000 in L953. • Homes reached rcoon-l:00 p.m.: 1,638,000; 3,355,000; and 5,006, • Homes reached 3:00-4:00 p.m.: 2,574,000; 3,790,000; and 5,203,000. • Homes reached 5:00-6:00 i>.m.\ 1,390, : 6.290.000: and 7.772.000. The percentage ol sets in use i another importanl indicator ol w hat s what with davtime T\ audience-. \mentioned earlv in lie -lorv . tin \ iew in pattei ii appears to I" fn ming. I hia ma) he onl) temporal s . I uture programing < an change the proportion of I \ -i I tuned iii during the dav . \ev . ertheless, pasl averages point up facioi u In. h musl I" taken into a< count in future dav lime I \ planum".. I he first thing vou notice about TV sets-in-use figures is the \va\ they differ from radio. Radio listening rises much more sharpl) in the early morning and hv 10:00-11:00 a.m. is practicall) at its davtime peak, though not quite. Radio reaches its actual davtime peak during the hour hetvveen 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. according to Nielsen figure of December 1952. Februar) 1953 Nielsen averages show T\ viewing goes up in a shallow climb to a 22.!!' ,' figure from noon to 1:00 p.m., levels off for a few hours, then starts climbing to a davtime peak of 35.49! between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Radio listening declines steadilv after its afternoon peak of nearlv 19', and doesn't get hack to that figure until alter 7:00 p.m. To sum up: radio gels better audienceduring the morning than during the afternoon while the opposite is true of TV. Thus davtime TV's greatest potential growth is in the morning. And that is where the upcoming NBCCBS battle will take place. While there has been little change in th«' percentage of TV sets in use from Februar) 1932 to the same month ol 1953, the year before showed a substantial increase between 7:00 a.m. and I :00 p.m. For example, here a eomdoesn't rise until after 7:00 p.m. • 8:00-9:00 a.m.: Sets in use rose from 1.3 in 1931 to 1,1', in 19.32. • 10:00-11:00 a.m.: Sets in use rose from 5.2 to 13.4' , . • \oon-\ :00 p.m : Sets in use rose from I 1.7 to 20.J!', . On the other hand, there has been a small drop in sets-in-use percentages during the late afternoon. Here's a comparison of Februar) 1031 and Februar) 19.33: • 4:00-5:00 p.m.: Sets-in-use dropped from 30.3 in 10.31 to 27.1% in 0)53. • 3:00-0:00 p.m.: Sets-in-use dropped from 39.1 to 35.4%. Yv hili ii i possible thai the child audience i gelling over the novellv of I \ . no one i particularly, worried about the long term. The 1:00-6:00 p.m. segments have consistent!) drawn the besl audiences for davtime TV. Furthermore, the birth rate has been high and as each child outgrows How>.o I >oi>,/\ . there w ill he anothei to take his place in front of the T\ screen. Don't gel the idea from all this that daytime T\ has developed into two distinct audience-: kid during the late afternoon and housewives during the rest of the day. Look at these Pulse figure on v iewers-per-100 homes during the hours of 10:00-11:00 a.m. and 4:00-5:00 p.m. Pulse has no national figures, -o three markets were chosen for comparison: New York, a sevenstation market: Cincinnati, a three-station market; and New Orleans, a onestation market. The figures (see also (hart page 29.1 are from March 1953: • In New V>rk. the viewers-per100 figures for women are 82 1 10:0011:00 a.m. I and 74 I 4:00-5:00 p.m. I . lor children {not including teenagers i . 37 and 02. • In Cincinnati, the figures for women are 70 and 80, for children, 65 and 75. • In New Orleans, the figures for women are 101 and 0.3. for children, 33 and 71. What does this daytime audience like best in the way of programs? Daytime entertainment for the housewife is wrapped up in three types of offerings — varietv . soap operas, audience participation programs. \\ Idle some soapers haven't been able to make the grade, all indications point to their being steady fare on davtime TV just as they have been on davtime radio. P&G's Search for Tomorion is the top-rated non-kid show, according to the latest Nielsen figures. The average dailv audience for the program is four million homes, which represents a rating of 19.1. That is equivalent to 9.1', of all radio homes and would put it in seventh place among all radio shows in terms of homes reached. It is topped oiilv by Howdy Doody, whose top quarter hour recentl\ got a Nielsen of 23.3 or 4.067.000 homes viewing the show. The two other soapers in CBS' 12:15-1:00 p.m. block have also been doing well. P&G's Guiding Light, which follows Search for Tomorrow, has been reaching nearly three million homes, and American Home Products' Love of Life, which precedes the top-rated soaper, has been hitting over that. This prime example of block programing id soapers points to similar developments as soon as the audience warrants it. NBC tried to sell a fourprogram block last year called Hometon n. I . S. A. The idea of developing four storv lines around the same town and using sets interchangeably carried block programing to the nth degree, but NBC found no sponsors willing to 80 SPONSOR