Sponsor (Sept-Dec 1958)

1 SPONSOR-SCOPE continued Schlitz (JWT) this week became the first advertiser to place an order with CBS TV under the network's new plan whereby the minimum buy replaces the must-buy concept. The brewer's order is for about 120 stations Saturday 10:30-11 p.m., starting in May. This lineup differs from what had been the norm under the old rule in that it does not include many of the top 35-or-so markets. Salient provisions of the new way of buying CBS TV, as passed on to agencies this week: (1) The minimum night-buy is 80% of the hourly basic requirements, figuring $99,700; (2) the minimum day-buy is 75% of the basic requirements, which comes out to about $23,000 a quarter-hour; (3) the network reserves the right of time recapture on two counts: (a) if another advertiser offers to fill in "insignificant" regions omitted from the incumbent client's lineup, and (b) if there's a better offer later for a period that an advertiser picked at less than the minimum percentage. Educational level apparently affects the viewing of tv variety shows less than most major programing types. From egghead on down, the appeal of variety is uniform among adults. Not so with westerns and hour drama. The former gets a noticeably higher vote among the less-educated; for hour dramas the reverse is true. Here are the average ratings for these three types (figures in parentheses give the number of shows involved) : HOUR DRAMATIC (6) 17.6 19.5 21.2 19.4 Quiz shows meantime fare best among those who are low on the educational ladder. Situation comedies and mysteries, on the other hand, do pretty well all around. Incidentally, here's the breakdown for Omnibus: didn't complete high school, 7.6; high school graduates, 5.4; attended college, 10.4; national rating, 7.5. Source: NBC research based on Jan.-Feb. 1958 Nielsen data. A change in the competitive climate between the reps and the radio networks is already perceptible. On the whole, it's growing a little milder. You can attribute this to two recent developments: (1) CBS Radio's cutback in its commercial schedule, and (2) Todd Storz' affiliation in Oklahoma City with NBC Radio. In fact, a rep, who had been quite voluble in vaunting the inroads made by independent stations on the rating leadership front, this week told SPONSOR-SCOPE that he no longer wanted to be tarred with the anti-network brush. He says each station has to consider what's to its best individual interest. You can expect the major ad agencies in tv to quadruple their efforts in 1959 to track down scraps of evidence about the effects of commercials on viewers. The big continuing job in that direction is being done by the P&G agencies in three cities. They want to find out (1) what the viewer recalls about the commercial, and (2) which position on a program is more effective. Telephone calls are made the day after a new commercial hits the air. Out of 2,500 dialings, there's usually a random sample of 200. Meantime JWT's Chicago oflfice has a running examination of the degree of atten* tion commercials receive during the course of an evening. Other studies JWT has on tap: (1) Relative value of a name announcer over a run-of-the-mill pitchman; (2) how much does sponsor identification with program or star affect the impact of a commercial; (3) what's the relative value of a 60-8econd and 20-8econd commercial. EDUCATIONAL STATUS WESTERNS (10) HOUR VARIETY (11) 3 yrs. of high or less 30.2 23.1 High school graduate 32.2 24.1 Attended college 25.6 24.1 National rating avg. 29.6 23.8 SPONSOR • 20 DECEMBER 1958