Sponsor (May-Aug 1957)

THE BARTER PROBLEM tinned from page 31 i What i far more distressing to the media executive is the fact that there's no rate card in barter. Suddenly the timebuyei has t" be able to figure out nol onl) tlie likely cost-per-1,000, audience composition and ratings, but how I" compare the barter buy with a conventional spot t\ purchase where .ill facts arc known to him through the reps. He's got to figure out wheth« i the bulk announcements promised to him, if delivered and not preempted, are individually worth whatever percentage they represent of the total budget allotted, \bove all. he can't possibly tell whether someone else's barter deal wasn t cheaper than bis. I. The problem of "who's on what and next to whom" adds some interesting policing and paperwork for client and agency media men alike. Since the station involved in barter is in effect selling through two separate sales agents I the national rep and the barterer), the chances of product conflicts are increased. The rep. who may not know all the time periods the station has bartered away, can find himself in the embarrassing position of making available to national clients time that now represents a product conflict, or at least an annoyance. Some of the advertising being attracted into tv as a result <d barter has moved former Class "D" clients into a few Class "A" period-. This is causing considerable unrest among some Class "A" accounts, ubo're now wondering whetber the announcement next to theirs cost tlie same as what they paid. 5. Agencymen and reps both feel the station that barters mayr depreciate its time and reliability, in the same way that any other form of under-the-counter rate cutting tends to do. Some buyers are even going so far as to tell reps whose stations are known to have barter deals that they want an equal shake for their ratecard clients. "If another guy is buying at V , off, why shouldn't our client?" the chief buyer of one of the top five air media agencies told SPONSOR. "Our client is a 52-week advertiser with a steady and heavy schedule of announcements. Yet another advertiser comes Off the top of your head ? The surest way for you to prove that every brain cell is putting in overtime is to buy WBNS Radio. It figures to give your pitch where there's $2, 739. 749,000.00 of spendable income; where Pulse gives the top rating for any Monday-thru-Friday quarter-hour, day and/or night. Ask John Blair. WBNS RADIO COLUMBUS, OHIO in for a quick flyer and pays a good chunk less than we do. We wouldn't be fair to our client if we didn't fight that." On the whole, however, barter contracts aren't for brief periods at all, but rather for a minimum 52-week period since payments bv a station in time to a svndicator for film property is usuallv a long-term deal. If there are such disadvantages in barter, why has interest in it spread as considerably as it has? The answer lies principally in the economics of tv. While there's a hunger for programing on the part of stations, many find themselves short of cash for large quantities of film. At the same time, many syndicators are finding themselves overloaded w$th product, particularly reruns, which are getting harder and harder to sell as new feature films and new tv programing is produced. These factors alone would be enough to pressure for some form of discounting on both sides. Coupled with this situation, however, is the continuously rising cost of tv time which is putting the squeeze on smaller advertisers. As costs have gone up, spot tv sales have softened and some periods, such as daytime and late night, have been harder to sell. "There's obviously nothing so uneconomic for a station as any unsold time," as a rep told sponsor. "Therefore, some stations have panicked and have sold out for part of the dollar rather than gamble on losing the whole value of the time." Barter makes it possible for these stations to acquire the needed film programing (or in the case of Television Clearing House, the needed furniture, appliances or other merchandise for giveaways I without an outlav of cash. According to the bartered, this has actually had the effect of boosting the value of the station's unbartered time, since it now has the programing necessary to maintain its rate. \\ bile reps generally feel that this fact does not make up for the shadow of doubt cast on the rate card bv this bulk discounting, some reps have actually arranged film barter for some of their stations which found themselves short on cash and long on hours to program. Here s what the barter agents sav in their defense. I hese are the points 7<> SPONSOR 10 vi gist 1957