The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 185

from A.C Company khiki kmMH hitet ii 1 1 i lit ill iktU '11LZ, 3 ttOI HOWARD STMCT, CHICAGO FO IMMEDMTt ULBASB MtfKH 9, 9 They Real? faminlriny' -y ,000 Question NATIONAL NIELSEN-RATINGS TOP TELEVISION PROGRAMS sceoNO report roi tbauapy wmw roTAt AUDtmci t) niilsw avhaoi audunci EATING 1ANK RATING NUMBER OP TV HOMES REACHED (000 17,60 I I LOVE LUCY 17,779 2 64,000 DOLLAR QUESTION I6.BB3 3 ED SULLIVAN SHOW 16,637 4 DISNEYLAND 14,953 9 DECEMBER BRIM 14,682 6 DRAGNET 14,391 7 JACK BENNY SHOW 14,149 6 YOU BET YOUR Lift 14,110 9 PRIVATE SECRETARY 13.799 10 0RGE fiOBEL SHOW 1 CD SUU IVAN SHM 2 64.000 DOLLAR QCtSTIOM 3 DISNEYLAND I IOVC LUCY 9 MAX LIE6MAN PRESENTS 0 PERRY COMO SHOW 7 DECEMBER OR IDC DRAGNET JACK BENNY SHOW 0 YOU 6ET YOUR Lift 19,971 19,933 14,321 13,829 13,443 13,303 12,682 12.862 12,074 11,969 PERCENT OF TV HOMES REACHED 1 CD SULLIVAN SHOW i 64,000 DOLLAR QUESTION 3 DISNEYLAND 4 tOVE IUCV 3 PERRY COMO SHOW 6 MAX LIEBMAN PRCSCNTS 7 DECEMBER BRIDE 8 JACK BENNY SHOW 9 DRAGNET 0 YOU BET YOUR LirE 63.0 1 64.000 DOLLAR QUESTION 2 I LOVE LUCY 49.7 3 CO SULLIVAN SHOW 49.1 4 OISNCYLAM) 44. 9 DLCEMBER BRIDE 44.9 6 JACK BENNY SHOW 42.8 7 DRAGNET 8 YOU BET YOUR Lift 41.2 9 PRIVATE SECRETARY 40.3 10 PERRY COMO SHOW 47.1 47.1 42.9 40.7 39.9 38.8 38.7 87.7 39.9 83.9 Hornet retched by ill or tnr put of the program, eicept for boron tiewinj only 1 to 5 minute Homes retched during the tverage minute of the program. Percrmed rtiingi tre bued oa TV hornet within retch of mtioa racilitiet uted bf od program For complete report to roui retden, we wggen thtt til four NTI rankings be imi. CowrUM MM br A. C.

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ItraM Nltlatt Cvft frvl NttiKt IptcUl RmwiI RATING SHEETS, such as the Nielsen survey for February shown here, regularly elevate some segments of the broadcasting industry to elation, plunge others to depths of gloom. Fred Allen once said of ratings that they tell you what 30,000,000 people are doing by talking to 700. On a national scale, 33.5 million homes have TV sets. So If 10 per cent of the nation's TV homes are in New York, then 10 per cent of the sample must be in New York. We have over 100." Nielsen homes are chosen by field representatives in a method known as "area probability sampling." That means: "You sprinkle your choices as it were so that your sample includes homes of different occupational groups, families of all sizes, families of all ages, homes of all types and areas (apartments, private dwellings, two-family houses, rural, urban).

Their Nielsen people say, may be small, "but It's random, but "representative." The device, they add, "is totally mechanical, no chance for human error." After the Initial installation, new "magazines" (containing the film) are mailed to the homes every two weeks, and the old ones mailed back. When the magazine is released from the Audi-meter and the new one inserted, a "reminder" reward of two 25-cent pieces comes popping out, a la slot-machine. Nielsen homes also receive free repair service on all sets. And periodic gift premiums. Otherwise, it is hoped, "they forget the meter is around listening and viewing activity is normal and natural." The selected homes, however, are cautioned to "keep mum" about the little black box.

"Anonymity is important. An unscrupulous sponsor could bring pressure to bear, bribes, you know." In Chicago, the Nielsen "fact factory" puts the mailed-in film cartridges through IBM THINK mill. Here, information is disseminated, tallied and compiled in reports. The figures of the sample survey are, of course, vastly projected. Thus, for its first December '55 report based on the findings of 800 homes Nielsen could calculate that 16,171,000 TV homes were tuned to the "$64,000 Question" for a total audience of 50.5 (per cent).

On an average (per minute) scale, they tallied 15,098,000 homes viewing the quiz show, for an average rating of 47.2. And they gave the CBS network an audience share of 73.9 for that half-hour period. Nielsen claims its scientific sample "embraces substantially" more than 98 per cent of the U. S. TV homes; and that the accuracy of Nielsen rat.

ing is substantially "100 per cent." At any rate, Nielsen is the most expensive service, the slowest service and the most widely used. 3. Trendex The fastest newcomer to rise to the rating scene is Trendex, of New York City. Launched only five years ago by Robert B. Rogers and Edward G.

Hynes Jr. (both former Hooper boys), Trendex offers the quickest ratings on the market often overnight reports. Trendex issues what is known as a "network rating," or a "popularity rating." It covers an area of 15 cities of "equal opportunity viewing." Its method is "telephone coincidental." Of the area: "We go only Into those cities where all three networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) operate simultaneously." This eliminates Pittsburgh as a Trendex city. Of the methods: "We use the coincidental interview, based on random telephone calls made during the broadcast" A total of 69,000 calls are made the first week of every month. From 8 a.

m. to 11 p. m. interviewers in 15 cities made 60 "dialings" an hour, with interview units ranging from one (Nashville) to 20 (New York). "The phone book is divided into four equal sections, and prior to interviewing numbers are set up on the work sheet.

The first 15 minutes, the girl dials 16 numbers: first four numbers from Section first four from Section first four from Section first four from Section This makes for the "cross-section." The "random" sample. Trendex claims there's no "question of its reliability" and "it's more than adequate to present stability." You've never been called? Well, maybe your number didn't come up yet; or maybe it came and went. Tabulations are made on a basis of "weightings," Trendex explains. "You take as your universe 15 cities, and find out what percentage of the nation's TV homes are in each. You get a factor which you raise to the correct proportion.

Then your sample is weighted correctly." Mathematical gibberish? "It's an art, a science." 4. American Research Bureau In the case of ARB, with national offices in Washington and New York, diaries are placed with "scientific random" in homes picked from the telephone directory. ARB diaries float In 70 cities, 400 to 500 diaries per city. ARB issues a national rating. ARB diary returns (mailed in) average "from 50 to 85 per cent" of those sent out.

And, "dollar for dollar, ours is the most reliable method." 5. Videovex Videovex, smallest of the services, mails diaries from New York to some 2300 homes, chosen from the "warranty" logs of TV manufacturers. The diaries are placed on a rotation basis of seven months with a flow of homes entering and exit ing in the interim. Videovex tosses away the first diary received from a new household. There is, after all, it says, a "tendency for the new home to record the programs they feel they should have viewed." Otherwise, it is, of course, "thoroughly reliable." How Cog Hun The cost of rating services vary widely.

A small local advertising agency interested only in a report on its own immediate area can buy the Nielsen service for less than $5 a month. A big agency interested in all of the 100 cities sampled by Nielsen pays more than $2000 a year. Special samplings can run into big money. KDKA Radio a few years ago decided it wanted a Pulse survey which would cover all the Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia counties to which the KDKA signal penetrates. Tills was wsy ovt and alxive the regular service of Iulse and it cost the station 125,000 a year.

The Pittsburgh Prei, Sunday. May 1956 TV Poj.