Sponsor (July-Dec 1954)

WFBC-TV 100KW POWER 2204 FT. ANTENNA "Giant of Southern Skies" . . . boasting limit' | it t iple and larger income within 100 miles radius than Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, or New Orleans, WFBC-TV is truly the "Giant of Southern Skies", and a powerful new advertising medium in the Southeast HERE'S THE WFBC-TV MARKET (Within 100 miles radius) Population 2,924,625 People Income $3,174,536,000 Sales $2,112,629,000 Television Homes 277,622* Market Data from Sale; Management •From A. C. Nielsen Co. Survey as of Nov. I. 1953, plus RETMA set shipments in the 100 mv. contour since Nov. 1, 1953. now f<>> Market Data Brochure and Rate Card. Ash m or our Reprt sentativi s foi information <m<l assistance. Channel 4 WFBC-TY Greenville, S. C. V NBC NETWORK Represented Nationally by WEED TELEVISION CORP. organization, particularlj from Bales Forces anxious to bave a big t\ propert) the) < an promote to dealers and retail' i 5. Kui the end result is the same. Sponsors maj find thai thej are spending large] budgets and reaching bigger audiences. Oi thej may find themselves spending more to stand -till. \\ bat are the chances for 1 1 1« success "1 the great program gambles being made? Industry opinion, as surveyed b) sponsor, seems divided between two basi< schools of thought: • The "everybody will benefit" philosophy: Sonic network researchers feel that the star-studded full show lineups dii iIk1 major aetworks, coupled with ili< continuing growth of the t\ home base (likel) to be up some 6,in in. in in ni more tliis year) will simply mean that more people than ever will be watching tv. Thus, is advertising will pay off. Instead of diluting the audience, these researchers feel, the big shows will simply push up t In l«-\ «-l of "homes-using-h ." • The "somebody's gollu lose" philosophy: Less optimistic are the feelings of a number of agency re-searchers with whom SPONSOR tulked. ''Sure, the home base is growing, but we're nearing saturation. And we've found that the 'homes-using-tv' figure sta\about the same on different nights of the week whether one network is dominating or whether there is stiff competition on as many as three." a McCannErickson official told SPONSOR. Said a Benton & Howies media executive: "In the battle between the networks this fall someone will have to take a licking. With costs going up generally, a sponsor who is concerned with cost-per1,000 will be lucky to break even.'" Is there am likelihood of an increase in "home-using-tv" figures? The answer, according to researchers who have studied A. C. Nielsen figures over the past few seasons, seems to he a mixture of "yes" and "no." It's "yes" in the case of daytime t\. where the "homes-using-tv" figures at the height of last season in daylight hours averaged out at around 25* < . It" a possible "yes" in the case of certain evening hour such as 7:00-8:00 p.m. and 10:00-1 1 :00 p.m. where the figures rose to around 50' It's a probable "no" in the case of the 8:00-10:00 p.m. peak period where the "homes-using-tv" figure rises to around <>ii' . oi more. "'Two out of three seta are already tuned to u at the peak periods, an agencyman pointed out "Where do you go from there:' How are you going to persuade 'TVs Third Man' to turn on his tv set?" \\ hat does it all add up to? This seemed to be the consensus of veteran researchers : 1. T\ advertisers will be paying ii lot the average nighttime show this season, not counting time. 2. According to sponsor's fig: h they will pay about 25' < more for production, and will try to spread the goats on longei lineups of stations. 3. Sponsors' over-all costs, however, will be up anywhere from 15 to 20' < (time and talent combined) at night. 1. Bj mid-fall, the tv home base will be an estimated 10% larger than it was this spring. The same rating, in othei word-, may bring you 10' '< more people. ). Bui costs are probably increasing faster than the home base is increasing, and are often running ahead ol the potential increases in "homesu-ing-t\ ." 6. Advertisers must therefore come up with ratings that are substantially higher than last season — anywhere from l.V, on up— in order to produce the same cost-per1,000 picture. 7. Everybody isn't likely to win. Some advertisers are likely to find that. despite their increased expenditure for production, their cost-per-1.000 is going up. S|i<'i'iiifiiliir.v as ad vehicles: The spectaculars are a clean break with network tradition that every spon-oi should have his own show and have it everj week in the same time slot. Here are several quotes which sum up -ome of the conflicting points oi view in the industry which have grown up around the spectaculars. For "infrequent" tv advertising: Mike Dann, NBC TV's program manager, recently told a group of advertisers: " \ new phenomenon has taken place with the la«t -i\ months. Instead oi buying several insertions, the pi philosoph) is now that you l>u\ certain programs of a certain size 10 or 12 times a year, reaching 00-70'. of the population. T"i example, in a single bout and a half -how. Old-mobile had more people in their -how rooms after the performance than thej had ever had hefore: more even than the\ had when 104 SPONSOR