Sponsor (Sept-Dec 1958)

NIELSEN [Cont'd from page 39) oversees the NTI and XRI activities. Churchill was a well-known figure in the hroadcast research business before he came to \ielsen. He worked for CBS for 12 years, eventually becoming research director. He had the same title on the ill-fated Broadcast Measurement Bureau, which turned out two station circulations studies during the late 40's. and was present at its burial. Churchill began work for Nielsen in 1952. the date of NCS No. 1. Shaw is a long-time Nielsen employee, having originally worked on the Food and Drug Index. The quintet above effectively run the broadcast division. Nielsen, Sr., has been spending much of his recent time with overseas subsidiaries, including the British setup, which, up to now, is the only foreign operation served by Nielsen meter-based methods. Arthur C. Nielsen, Jr.. who took over the presidency from his father a few years ago, has been concentrating his attention on the Nielsen Coupon Clearing House, and general administrative and policy problems. Top-drawer advertisers are buying WGN You're in good company when you join smart time-buyers who select WGX to sell millions of dollars worth of goods for topdrawer clients. Exciting new programming in 1958 makes WGX's policy of high quality at low cost even more attrac WGN-RADIO The iiietliod: The heart of the Nielsen measurement system is the meter. Advantages of the Audimeter were outlined by Nielsen, Sr., in his testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee hearings on tv ratings last June. The advantages given are (1) accuracv is checkable since there is a film record of tuning, (2) the record can be inspected and rejected if defective, ( 3 1 there is a record of every minute, 24 hours a day, (4) it can cover all tv receivers in the home, (5) there is no reliance on human memory, (6) it facilitates representative sampling— rural as well as urban and nonphone as well as phone homes. (7) it permits a fixed sample, which provides cumulative audience and trend data. The Audimeter measures a national probability sample of 1,200 radio homes, of which 1,050 are also tv homes. The use of the same sample for radio and tv permits all kinds of useful information to be broken out, such as what percent of those who listen to an advertiser's network tv show are reached by his network radio show. A continuous minute-by-minute record of set tuning, including the station tuned, is provided by the Audimeter. For NSI, Nielsen uses a simplified meter ( Recordimeter) combined with a diary (Audilog) in each home. The Recordimeter measures the amount of tune-in but not the station. The latter information is recorded in the Audilog by those in the sample home. The Audilog is also used by a national sample matched to the Audimeter sample for tv network audience composition. Finally, to measure auto listening both locally and nationally, car Audilogs are employed for the full sample plus car Recordimeters in a portion of the sample as a verification of the diary entries. Reports : A bewildering variety of reports are provided by Nielsen in its syndicated audience services. NTI: The national tv reports (Nielsen Tv Index) come in four basic forms. The bi-weekly reports (commonly called the "pocket piece") come out 24 times a year. They provide percent and number of homes reached for network shows, average minute and total audience, percent of tv homes covered, audience shares. The Complete Report, a summary of the bi-weekly reports with additional material added, is published every two months. It shows the client minuteby-minute audiences, program viewing by regions of the U.S., by county size, by age of housewife, by size of family, cost per-1,000, cume audiences. The Multi-Network Audience report (MNA) covers network programing in 23 cities where all webs have affiliates. This comes out monthly. The National Audience Composition reports ( NAC) come out every fe'V months, break down viewing four ways: men over 18, women over 18, teenagers 12 to 17 inclusive, children between 4 and 11 inclusive. NRI: The national radio reports (Nielsen Radio Index) measure network audiences for each show and also provide for each network sponsor cumulative audiences for each segment bought over one and four weeks. In addition to bi-weekly reports 24 times a year, Nielsen provides Auto-Plus network figures, which measures auto listening as a percent of in-home listening. Nielsen Station Index: For tv, there are monthly reports and a complete report every eight weeks. The monthlies show metro area ratings plus total homes reached by each station. The complete report provides per-broadcast and four-week cumulative audiences for metro areas and for stations' complete audience, and audience composition. For radio, there are bi-monthly reports and a per-broadcast ratings supplement every eight weeks. The supplement offers metro ratings and total audiences. The bi-monthly reports give weekly and four-week cumulative audiences in the metro area and for the stations' full audience. Also provided are audience composition and auto radio audience figures. Like the network figures, the auto audience data does not include any program breakdown but just total autos using radio in the time period measured. Cumulative audience figures are also shown for each station by three-hour blocks in the metro area and for the stations' full audience. Nielsen Coverage Service: The third circulation study this past spring covered tv but not radio, unlike NCS Nos. 1 and 2. The reports shows daily, weekly and monthly audiences for stations by county. In addition to special reports for the networks, there are special reports for buyers and sellers. ^ SPONSOR • 1 NOVEMBER 1958