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Selected Social Psychological Factors Related To Viewers Of Television Programs

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Selected Social Psychological Factors Related To Viewers Of Television Programs

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Content SELECTED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS RELATED TO VIEWERS OF TELEVISION PROGRAMS by Alexander P. Runciman A DIasertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Sociology) June 1959 UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N CALIFORNIA G R A D U A T E S C H O O L U N I V E R S I T Y PARK LO S A N G E L E S 7. C A L I F O R N I A This dissertation, written by Alexander P* Ri^imaui tinder the direction of h.lS...Dissertation C o m mittee, and a pproved by all its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of D O C T O R O F P H I L O S O P H Y - V*' - • Dean Date D IS S E R T A T IO N CtD M M IT ITK (Hi tit r man ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It ia with a deep sense of gratitude that I acknowl edge the assistance which I have received from numerous associates in the television and research industries. It is only through the direct friendship with members of these industries that I have been able to plan, complete and finance this study. Their collaboration has meant the completion of the work. Special thanks are due Mr. Phillip von Ladau of the A. C. Nielsen Company; Mr. Ed Cahn, Pacific Coast Manager, Pulse, Inc.; Mr. William Schafer, Western Manager, American Research Bureau; Mr. Austin Hey- wood, Promotion Department, KNXT Los Angeles; Dr. Leon Arons, Director of Research, Television Bureau of Advertis ing; and Ifr. Norris Leap, Editorial Department, Los Angeles Time3. I also wish to thank the chairman and members of my committee. No doctoral candidate could ask for finer guid ance and assistance. My committee consisted of; Chairman, Dr. Melvin J. Vincent, Dr. Martin H. Neumeyer, Dr. Edward C. McDonagh, and Dr. Herman Harvey. Alex Runciman Staff Director of Television Columbia Broadcasting System TABLE OP CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE PROBLEM AND BACKGROUND 1 The Present Stage of Mass Communication Research Past Studies of Effects of Mass Communication Concept of the "Mass Audience" Social Class in the United States The new middle class Social class and spending patterns Social status in the United States Decisions on Programs as to Time and Content Sponsors Women and Television Daytime television audience up over four and one-half million homes Daytime television’s audience reach: per day Daytime television’s audience reach: per week The Research Procedure for this Study of A. C. Nielsen Company Audience composition Maintenance of NTI sample Scientific design of the NTI sample Sampling procedure Findings and Interpretations American Research Bureau Study Two-factor index of social position Occupation of head of household grouped by highest level of education of head of household Program types associated primarily with social class Overlap in program preferences Norris Leap Study II. PATTERNS OF VIEWING 21 Interpretation of Studies Saturation viewers III. THE STUDIES OF THIS DISSERTATION 31 iv Chapter Page IV. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN TELEVISION VIEWING....................................... 81 Fantasy Reality Identification Self-gratification Esthetic satisfaction Adventure Sociability Emotional Detachment V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Recommendations BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................ 129 APPENDIX 135 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. How Long They Watch........................... 23 2. Who Watches What, When...................... 2L ( . 3« Audience Composition ......................... 26 L | . . Social Class Compared with Program Choice. . 75 LIST OP FIGURES Figure Page 1. Audience Comparisons by Age of Housewife Selected Daytime Program Types............. 60 2. Audience Comparisons by Age of Housewife Selected Evening Program Types............. 6l 3. Audience Comparisons by Education Selected Daytime Program Types............. 62 I*. Audience Comparisons by Education Selected Evening Program.Types............. 63 5* Audience Comparisons by Family Size Selected Daytime Program.Types............. 6I 4 . 6. Audience Comparisons by Family Size Selected Evening Program.Types............. 65 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND BACKGROUND This dissertation is a study of the different selections made by the viewers of television programs, and these differences are then related to the social back grounds, social classes, interests, and attitudes of the viewers. The study has been based on program types rather than on specific programs, and an effort has been ita de to relate these program types to the total viewing behavior of the audiences which have been observed. An hypothesis was made that different social classes would have different viewing patterns according to the programs they selected. This hypothesis was verified by the following study, which will show that social classes reflect actual and significant differences in patterns of viewing. The conclusion drawn from the study was that television audiences may be classed in different social strata. The hypothesis of this study can be stated as fol lows: social backgrounds of the television viewers, grouped according to sex, age, education, and occupation, are re lated to the various program types which the viewers select. The study asked the following specific questions: What are the age groups of women who select certain types 2 of programs? What is the educational background of viewers who select various types of programs? Does family size show differences in types of programs selected? What social classes can be related to the various types of pro grams? What are the occupational groups that show definite program preferences? In any given community the groupings into various social classes provide patterns of association, behavior, taste, consumption, and other social characteristics* Thus the type of Influence which a person receives from any given program is determined by his idiosyncracies and various social experiences. This dissertation does not discuss the technical aspects of television production; it does not discuss television as a social art; it contains almost nothing about television "personalities'* and stars. Rather, it discusses the sociological interpretation of television as it is related to the viewers' preferences, and this in terpretation cannot be separated from the Influence of television on the viewers. This latter subject is dis cussed in Chapter IV. Television in the United States today reaches more people at the same instant than any other form of mass communication ever devised. An unpublished report from the National Association of Broadcasters stated that the num ber of television sets increased from 1 +1|.5 million in 1957 3 to 1+8*3 million In 1958* A total of 1 *8,300,000 television sets provides the average American household with thirty- five hours of time devoted to weekly viewing.^ Television then is the primary leisure time activity of this country, and thus has more undivided attention of more people for a greater amount of time than any other present form of leisure activity. Why do people watch television? What is the effect on the minds of the viewers? What groups watch what pro grams? To answer these questions one must examine this enormous attraction as a psychological phenomenon. What is this audience seeking and apparently finding in this electronic age? The Present Stage of Mass Communication Research Major advances in many areas of corranunications re search have been made during the last few years, including the development of new techniques of measurement and the massing of empirical data. Excellent methods for studying radio listeners were developed and are utilized now for the measurement of television audiences. A considerable accunu- lation of information has been stored but the emerging generalizations lack a systematic point of view. This point of view will be necessary In the future in order to make communication research more accurate and more a part ^See later statistical tables on viewers’ habits. of the body of organized knowledge. Television audience research generally has fallen behind research in other mass madia. The sum total of television research has been confined to a few isolated attempts. This is unfortunate since qualitative research promises to produce the most important data for the pro gram planner. The reasons for this lack of television research are varied. The commercial researcher has been interested primarily in considering the viewers as cost per thousand for consumers of the sponsor's goods. Despite ample funds, the researcher confined himself to this type of study. This amounted to quantitative rather than qualitative findings. Most television executives have changed programs according to their own opinion, rather than any objective research of audience preferences. To the executive, any audience member not a consumer was on the outer fringes and warranted little programing attention unless he could be wooed into the fold as a buyer. Some members of the industry, moreover, who maintain the impression that audience research could become an independent authority, believe such research could threaten their own decisions. If the intent and objectives of the educational researcher could be combined with the funds and the scope of coverage of the commercial researcher a more thorough audience analysis than has yet been attempted could be made, resulting in better programing more closely tailored to the viewer’s wants. Television as a medium of communication warrants studies of the content of its programs. Communication forms the basis of sociological analysis and formation of stereotypes that are reinforced in the given medium, and television can be studied as the base of an "effects" study. Systematic procedures in this field have been made 2 by Lasswell, Leites and others in studies of this kind. Prom the beginning of television research, most of the funds which were allocated for that purpose were used in the study of television’s constant growth. There was an almost infinite number of purely quantitative jobs for research scientists to perform* The sociological problems inherent in the medium were not considered, since they were not commercially interesting to the advertiser. Commercially sponsored research goes on con tinually, but this has the limited objectives of determin ing brand recognition and the total number of viewers for particular programs. As previously stated, the field of mass communica tion has grown to such an extent that there is now an 2 H. D. Lasswell, "A Provisional Classification of School Data," Psychiatry, Hay, 1938» PP« 19^-207. 6 avalanche of data to be gifted and studied. The combined results are awaited by researchers and all those concerned with the effects of mass communication. They are inter ested to know what has been done, as well as what can be done--with a due regard to the limitations of the subject. Equally important, they wish to know what cannot be done. Twenty years ago the terra "mass comraunications" required considerable definition. Today, researchers, scientists, and the lay public are oriented to the study of the effects of mass communication. But the challenge to pursue these effects has to be tempered and clarified. The lay public has demanded answers to questions that have long been held to be unanswerable. And before definite answers can be provided, results must be tested. The researcher should submit his work, rather than demand acknowledgment of the findings; and all such research should suggest areas of further study without being considered inclusive. The researcher should recognize that studies should be valued as exploratory and not exhaustive. Past Studies of Effects of Mass Communication Research on television effects has been so beset with technical difficulties that few scholarly studies have been conducted in this area of importance in mass communications. A few such studies have been made of mass 7 response to selected broadcasts.^ Commercially sponsored research on effects has gone forward continually, but with limited objectives, Klapper has written an excellent article summing up the studies of effects of mass communication. Klapper states that from the many communication studies have come generalizations solidly based on audience responses. Writers making these past studies have sought the addi tional variables which would enable the researcher to describe the effect of communication with enough precision to diagnose and predict. Klapper states that the measure ment of effects, once thought to be anomalous and contra dictory, has begun to look like a measurement of orderly variations. He goes on to say that generalizations are too new to be applied in all areas, and warns that other Influences cannot be disregarded in a total situation or be considered as absolute. Concept of the "Mass Audience" The term "mass" has a connotation of homogeneity, but the television audiences are far from uniform, rather 3Robert K. Merton, Mass Persuasion (New York: Harper and Brothers, 191+6). ^■Joseph T. Klapper, What We Know About the Effects of Mass Coianunlcation— The Brink of Hope (frew York: Columbia University, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 21, Winter 1957-58), pp. 1+57-58. they are composed of groups of human beings differentiated not only by sex, age, income, and the like but also by tastes, and varieties of response to the same program* The uniformity of the conxnunication process should refer to the medium itself and not to the audiences* The same program is seen at the same instant throughout a great number of homes, but here ends uniformity in this com munication process since the viewers respond to identical stimuli in a variety of ways. In any case, In television, the so-called mass audience for any program--no matter how popular it may be--Is never a major portion of the total population. Therefore, the analysis of any audience is usually made of a small portion of the total population who provide an audience for a selected program, and then this segment Is compared with the total population. As Friedson" has pointed out, the usual concept of the mass audience is not so much incorrect as inadequat Friedson^ points out that the method of study appropriate to the mass gives equal weight to individuals by classify ing them according to such essentially demographic attri butes as age, sex, socioeconomic status and education, ^Eliot Friedson, quoted in Wilbur Schramm (ed.), The Process and Effects of Mass Communication (Urbana, 111 University of Illinois Press, 1955)» p. 3&1* 6Ibld*. p. 383. and that since the characteristic behavior of these indivi duals takes the form of selection (including the selection of television programs) these selections become the important thing to explain. This concept, of course, does not fully explain why viewers select certain programs in preference to others• Riley and Flowerman have gone a step further, in dicating that television viewing is not merely an individual experience, but a social experience. Any given person in the audience reacts not merely as an isolated personality but also as a member of the various groups to which he belongs and with which he communicates.' Television viewing is usually a family experience, which seems to bear out this argument. The fact that Q 1 1 word-of-mouth' 1 advertising is the most effective seems to indicate that there is a lively interchange of informa tion about programs among members of the audience. The television audience is not a universal group, but a collection of local audiences which are made up of anonymous, heterogeneous, spatially separate members who are unorganized in relation to those of another local n M. W. Riley and S. H. Flowerman, "Group Relations as a Variable in Communications Research," American Sociological Review, XVI (195>1), 81. 8 Leo A. Handel, Hollywood Looks at Its Audience (Urbana, 111.: University or Illinois Press, 1950), p. 69. 10 audience. These members react to television according to their socially organized concepts as well as their individual personal interests. These various local audiences make up the mass, or national, audience. However, while one can describe such an aggregate without reference to the organized groups that compose it, one cannot explain the behavior of its members except by reference to the local audiences to which they belong. It is their experience as members of local audiences that determines how they act, not the fact that they happen to be members of other local audiences whom they do not know, who are not neces sarily similar to them, do not interact with them and do not have well-organized relationships with them.9 Social Class in the United States Social class is not a statistical manipulation of a particular field of sociology, rather it is a com posite index, that reveals certain confirmation to types of any given community. When individuals are evaluated on an hierarchical scale according to various indices, their position on one scale will usually automatically show a high correlation with their position on the other scales. The term "social class" can cause definite negative emotional reactions in those who misunderstand the use of the term. The layman does not understand this tabulating of human characteristics into groups. The various groupings into social class reflect definite patterns of ^Schramm, op. cit., p. 387* 11 association, behavior, tastes, and psychological orienta tion. Ambitions and customary social outlooks of one class also certainly show differences from the behavior of other classes. The new middle class In the United States today one finds that the con tent of programing is aimed at the middle class. The reason seems clear: analyses show that the country as a whole reflects the values and tastes of this class. During the last few decades a gradual leveling of social differ ences has increased the middle class to enormous propor tions and this has, in turn, resulted in a standardization of tastes in reflecting this group as a whole for the rest of the country. The distinctions between white collar and manual workers have decreased to the point that the equality of purchasing power has all but removed the original differences• Thus the total amount of television viewing in the United States today is dominated by the middle class segment of the population and since this forms the major section of the population, the programs are directed to the cultural and psychological interests of this class. Individuals of above-average income and education show a greater interest In reading than the other social classes. Members of this class have many other Interests 12 ana concern themselves more with outside sources of inform ation* Verification of this fact may be found in Appendix C in a study included in this dissertation. Social class and spending patterns Martineau, in an article for the Journal of Market ing. states that social class membership is a far more important index to spending behavior than income level.^ He states that "the individual's consumption patterns actually symbolize his class position.""^ Most social stratification specialists would probably agree with this since the majority of studies show that all individuals display symbolic patterns of their own clas^ and consump tion patterns are truly represented in any superordinate and subordinate hierarchy of class structure. This basic fact should be most important to the advertiser in tele vision 3ince the types of things a person buys or does not buy are definitely correlated to his social class, and cer tain programs are selected by certain classes. Therefore, it is axiomatic that it is most necessary to utilize programs of a certain type to reach selected social classes that are potential customers for the product to be sold. Warner has described a society of the classes as ^Pierre Martineau, "Social Classes and Spending Behavior," Journal of Marketing, XXXV (October, 1958), 121-30. 11Ibld., p. 121 13 follows: The upper-upper--old line families; lower-upper-- new rich; upper-mlddle--mostly the professionals, execu tives, and successful owners of larger businesses; lower middle— white-collar and tradesmen; upper-lower--the skilled ip worker group; lower-lower, the unskilled labor group. What the individual buys and why depends not only on his purchasing power but also on the symbolic value that the item has for him. For example, the upper-lower class individual is a heavy buyer of appliances since his home is "his castle," and represents his material status in his society. But, the lower-lower class individual cares little for his home, and he may spend his money for a fancy automobile or expensive clothes. For marketing purposes, the social classes are often divided into the following: the "quality market" which consists of the first three classes and about 15 per cent of the total population; the middle majority consist ing of the fourth and fifth classes and about 65 per cent of the total population--this section is the big market for the commercial interests; the lower-lower class 13 represents about 20 per cent of the total population. This last class should be understood in its characteristic 1 ? W. Lloyd Warner and Paul Lunt, The Social Life of a Modern Community (New Haven: Yale University £ress, 195>0J, as quoted in Martineau, op. clt., p. 122. ■^Martineau, op, clt., p. I2I4. 1U of not subscribing to the value system of the dominant middle class system. In his psychological structuring, the lower status individual thinks in different patterns from the middle class Individual, Social status in the United States A general characteristic of stratification in American society is the constant attempt of most indivi duals to achieve higher st&tus, This applies to all social classes except the lower-lower group who apparently care little for the general middle class morality, but generally each class constantly strives to gain entree Into the next class above it except upper-upper who obviously feel no need to achieve other status. Careful study of the habits and preferences of the more sophisticated group is made by the class aspiring toward it,"^ Status symbols become all Important to merchan disers in order that they may understand this principle and direct their messages with appropriate symbols to selected groups. The more scphistlcated merchandisers are actively engaged already in the use of this principle. The woman in the fourth and fifth classes provides the big market for the commercial interests. ^ Ibld.. p. 139. this dissertation's major study on women viewers, y . ,!|0. She ia often called "Mrs. Middle Majority." Her kitchen is heavily stocked with appliances of all types, and she la always interested in new gadgets for her kitchen. Her interests outside the home are limited and major issues of international or of a local nature are not often considered by her. Her interest in artistic pursuits also remains most limited. Her pattern is one of extreme conformity. Outside areas not familiar to her stand as threats to her. Her program selections are those that seem to brighten her daily living or those that allow her to project her emotions Into identification with the 16 problems of women in soap dramas. Decisions on Programs as to Time and Content The hour of the program and the location of the broadcasting station may limit the universality of the audience. Program directors of stations in non-urban areas realize that their audiences contain a larger percentage of rural viewers than the audiences of urban stations, and they schedule their programs accordingly. There are even a few stations that frankly cater to certain types of viewers, and there are program series that are directed toward specialized groups. But by and large the concept of the "universal" audience dominates the thinking of advertisers and program ^Martineau, op. clt., p. 127. 16 directors, with the few very broad, generalized exceptions mentioned. This type of programing actually amounts to a "scatter shot" technique. Whether a particular program appeals to the particular group the sponsor wants to reach is in large part speculative. The advertiser cannot gain continued success with out a general knowledge of the tastes of his audience. However, what shall be presented and when it shall be put on are usually matters of administration by the men who find themselves in charge of programing. Their backgrounds may or may not qualify them for accurate decisions. This top management group comes mainly from advertising, sales, and areas of the entertainment field. The tastes and preferences of the television audience influence these decisions as to programing only indirectly. As numbers on a rating sheet for a particular program, the viewers hardly represent a controlling factor. Small pressure groups are usually the only groups heard from. Par more deciding factors are the sponsor's ideas, Interests of the advertising agency, the comparative cost of talent and time, and the following of prevailing pat terns of current programs. Sponsors Most advertisers spend more time worrying about 17 what programs people watch than why they watch. The industry seems on the whole disinterested in probing public opinion at this deeper, more informative level. Broad casters usually only utilize rating services to estimate the number of viewers for a specific program. Unfortunately, there is obviously not much value in just knowing 1 1 what" the viewer is watching without knowing ’ ’why" he is watching. Since today's television audience is generally con sidered to be universal, programs are usually designed to have what is thought to be of universal appeal. It is certainly true that the viewers of television are of both sexes, of all ages, educations, ethnic groups, occupations, Interests and degrees of intelligence. There is no such thing as a television audience composed entirely of one group. This fact puts a premium on the ability to give a program universal appeal, for without this quality, the broadcaster cannot hope to interest a normal cross-section of the heterogeneous audience. Sponsors attempt to find pretested, accepted formats for programs, thus Insuring the largest possible audience without experimenting with new ideas. The principal economic support of television is the sponsor, and the predominant type of sponsor Is the commercial enterprise. The sponsor provides the very substantial economic substructure required to support the television industry, and he often finds himself In a 18 position to decide its programing. He who pays the piper calls the tune, and at times, the television sponsor does not hesitate to exercise his prerogative. The commercial sponsor has one objective and usually only one: to sell his products. In his advertis ing he tries to reach and influence the largest possible number of people with whatever money he can afford to spend. This one dimensional approach has many limitations. Unfortunately, there are few practicable ways for the television sponsor to find out how many people he is influencing in buying his product, much less the impact on them. He may watch his sales charts, but determination of the effect of his program upon sales requires a kind of divination not generally considered acceptable in the business world. His only alternative is to study his audience ratings, and from these figures, try to determine hew much money is delivering how many people as potential customers* Quantitative response, thus, becomes the measure of quality to the sponsor. In this process, the consumer becomes more and more remote and abstract, until he becomes submerged in an enormous, amorphous entity called the mass buyer. The mass buyer is measured in terms of cost-per-thousand- viewers, a concept whose lack of reliability is more than balanced by its availability, Its concreteness, and--above all— the fact that it is understandable. In these 19 circumstances its relationship to fact is decidedly secondary. Popularity standing alone as a judgment of a program has many times proved to be not effective for the advertiser in television. The mass buyer is assumed to possess the lowest common denominator of popular taste. By definition, he cannot have any other tastes. Therefore, the sponsor pitches his program at this level to insure himself the largest possible audience. And, in further consequence, the unsponsored programs of, presumably, greater intel lectual content, are sequestered in time periods when it is assumed (on the basis of audience ratings, of course) that almost nobody is watching television. The "Sunday afternoon intellectual ghetto" is the best example. The net effect is a status quo of the cultural level of the American public, or at least a failure to raise that level by any measurable extent. People become accustomed to whatever kind of program is available, and there is much informed contention that by a kind of Gresham* s Law of entertainment, the bad programs drive out the good. Few who advance this argument, unfortunately, have don* any more than to accept the thesis that programs of high intellectual content are, per se, "good"; thus the whole argument remains in an embryo state. There can be no question, however, that the criteria which sponsors commonly use in judging programs 20 are not aesthetic, but commercial* The sponsor cannot have any interest In the artistic qualities of a program unless they can be proven to be commercially advantageous to him. But art, by its very nature, is not susceptible to such proof* If it were, it would be science, not art, for therein lies the heart of the distinction between art and science* Art is arrived at by intuition; a sponsor wants rising figures on a sales chart. Even for his own commercial approach, the sponsor should be interested not only in the size of the audience but also the kinds of people who view his program* They may be potential customers and they may not. This may seem elementary but it is surprising how few sponsors con sider this aspect; if the advertiser knows who his best prospects are, he can program accordingly. CHAPTER II PATTERNS OP VIEWING The tiniBs of day and occupations of viewers often determine the number of people who can view at a given period. Television, which under the law and the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission is required to operate in the public service, devotes only a little more than one-fifth of its time to disseminating information. A comparison of the amounts of money spent on information programs with the amounts spent on entertainment programs, if such a comparison were available, would undoubtedly show an even greater discrepancy. And this disparity would be further enlarged by a comparison of the kind of time devoted to the two types of shows. So-called prime time, when the audience Is largest, Is given over almost entirely to entertainment. With the exception of the rtbigM news shows which are clustered around the dinner and bedtime hours--on the periphery of the best show-time of the evening--almost no purely informative show is aired at a time when It can expect to attract a sizable audience. The following study was submitted by the American Research Bureau. When the American Research Bureau^- ^■Study was conducted In March, 1955* See Appendix D for American Research Bureau research methods. 22 started to break the entire television day into time seg ments, they ran into some specially significant material* Overall sets in use built gradually from 13*5 per cent from 7 A.M. to noon, Monday through Friday, to 35*3 per cent from 5 to 7 P*M* When it came to the 7 to 10:00 P.M. evening hours usage rocketed to 67. per cent, tapering to 32.6 from 10:00 P*M. to midnight, and fading to 3.7 per cent from midnight to 2:00 A.M. Man-hours may be the standard of measurement for most time studies. For the television audience, however, they found that woman-hours take over. Women dominate the viewing scene throughout the day. From 7s00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. for every 1.90 man hours put in before the tele vision set, women put in 6.66 in the busiest tine segment, 7:00 P.M. through 10:00 P.M. for every twelve man-hours of viewing, the distaff side puts in a busy sixteen. The women even stay up later. In the midnight to 2:00 A.M. segment for every third of an hour put in by the male, the women put in a half. Only in one period does any mem ber of the family outdo the women in screen time. That is from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. when the set belongs to children* During that period children put in some four and two- thirds hours of viewing a week to women's two-plus and male'3 one and two-thirds. 23 TABLE 1 HOW LONG THEY WATCH (VIEWERS CLASSIFIED BY AGE AND SEX) Time Period Set-hours Men-hours Women-hours 7 A.N.- noon (Mon-Fri) 3.38 .88 2.86 2.39 Noon to 3 P.M. (Mon-Fri) 2.33 .61 2.31 1.39 3 to 5 P.M. (Mon-Fri) 1.76 .1*1 1.1j9 1.68 5 to 7 P.M. (Mon-Fri) 3.53 1.66 2.19 U .66 7 to 10 P.M. (Sun-Sat) 111. 15 11.81 16.98 10.81 10 P.M. to midn. (Sun-Sat) !|.56 3.88 1 |.76 0 CO • Midn. to 2 A.M. (Sun-Sat) .51 .37 • 1+9 .06 iren- hours 21* TABLE 2 WHO WATCHES WHAT, WHEN? (Patterns of Audience Composition, Based on Study of Twenty-five Shows in Fourteen Markets) A, Typical audience composition of Syndicated Mysteries by time periods:a Prior to 6 P.M. (Weekends or weekdays) (Instances are too few for analysis) Per cent 6:00-7:30 P.M. (all nights) Men 29.7 Women 35.3 2.8 viewers per set Children 35.0 7:30-10:30 P.M. (all nights) Men 34.7 Women 43.1 2.4 viewers per set Children 22.2 After 10:30 P.M. (all nights) Men 42.8 Women 51.0 Children 6.2 aARB--based on a mid-season month and covering eleven mysteries In a cross-section of fourteen television markets, B. Typical audience composition of Syndicated Comedies by time periods:'3 6:00-7:30 P.M. (all nights) 2.9 viewers per set 7:30-10:30 P.M. (all nights) 2.5 viewers per set After 10:30 P.M. (all nights) Men Women Children Men Women Children Men Women Children Per cent 20.7 32.0 47.3 34-2 43.3 22.5 39.2 56.8 4-0 ARB--based on a mid-season month and covering six comedies in a cross-section of fourteen television markets, March, 1957. TABLE 2--Continued 25 C. Typical Audience Composition of Syndicated Drama by Time Periods:0 Per cent Prior to 6 P.M. (weekends) Men 35*0 Women 35*5 2*9 viewers per set Children 30*5 Prior to 6 P.M. (weekdays) (Instances are too few for analysis) 6-7:30 P.M. (all nights) Men 30.14 Women 41.2 2.6 viewers per set Children 28.li 7:30-10:30 (all nights) Men 32.9 Women 57.2 2*i| viewers per set Children 19.9 After 10:30 P.M. (all nights) Men 36.8 Women 56.1 2.0 viewers per set Children 7 . 1 °AHB--based on a mid-aeason month and covering eight dramas in a cros3-sectlon of fourteen television markets. D. Typical Audience Composition of Syndicated Westerns by Time P e r i o d s „ Per cent Prior to 6 P.M. (weekends) Men 2J 4 .. 1 Women 21.3 2.8 viewers per set Children $b. 6 Prior to 6 P.M. (weekdays) Men 20.9 Women 20.9 2.6 viewers per set Children 59.2 6-7:30 P.M. (all nights) Men 25.7 Women 2I 4..1 2,7 viewers per set Children 51.2 7:30-10:30 P.M. (all nights) (Instances are too few for analysis) After 10:30 P.M. (all nights) (Instances are too few for analysis) ^ARB--based on a mid-season month and covering nine westerns In a cross-section of fourteen markets. 26 TABLE 3 AUDIENCE COMPOSITION (NUMBER OP TELEVISION VIEWERS PER 100 HOMES)a Time Men Women Teens Children Total 6 A.M. 63 lf6 2 15 106 7 38 51 7 52 l)f8 8 21 72 0 i f 36 135 9 11 91 32 138 10 10 t > b 5 58 137 11 11 72 I f 56 1-43 12 Noon 15 78 7 49 llf9 1 P.M. 12 92 I f 139 2 llf 85 7 36 ikz 3 1 h lh 11 53 Uf2 4 17 15 67 153 5 25 48 13 & 170 6 52 57 13 68 190 7 78 86 16 239 8 86 89 15 42 232 9 81 91 12 30 2l!f 10 79 8i | 11 16 190 11 79 83 7 3 172 aPulse submitted this breakdown. The Inclusion of teen agers is a valuable addition. The study was made in January and February of 1958* It was available to Pulse's clients in mimeograph form. 27 Interpretation of Studies The following Interpretations can be made from the previous studies: The tables show that women viewers make up the largest audience during the morning hours when hus bands are at work and children at school* (See Table 2) This also applies to early afternoon* Men watch television more during the evenings and on weekends and holidays, (See Table 2) They outnumber women on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (sports events). All studies show that the heaviest viewing is done during the evening hours, when peak viewing takes place by the whole family. From 7:00 A.M. to 8:30 A.M., women and children predominate with a few men watching. (See Table 2) Viewing by women rises in the morning until midday when some men and children again watch during lunch time. (See Table 3) Viewing remains fairly level with mostly women watching until later in the afternoon when the children return home and from Ip00 to 6:00 P.M. children use the set. (See Table 2) The number of children viewing pro grams lessens proportionately as bedtime approaches. The evening hours from 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. are the high viewing hours for the total family. From 10:00 to midnight and later only adults view, and this number rapidly decreases as adults go to bed. (See Table 3) 28 On weekends* children monopolize the set especially on Saturday mornings. Saturday afternoons adult males may monopolize the set if sports are on; otherwise, children keep the set. (See Table 2) Sunday morning has very light viewing and patterns are difficult to Judge. On Sunday afternoons networks schedule their "intellectual ghetto" for the better edu cated groups. Since these are minority groups and not com mercially interesting, this time is used for many public service programs that are required within the total pro graming allotment of a station. These programs receive little financial help and remain cheap to produce so their pattern remains regular. Saturation viewers There are some households in which the television set is turned on in the early morning and left on all day. The set is only turned off when the last member of the household retires at night and apparently goes on when the first member arises. The taste of these households is generally quite non-selective and all television programing is received without discrimination. Fromm states the case well in his Sane Society with the following quote; Suppose that in our Western culture movies, radios, television, sports events and newspapers ceased to function for only four weeks. With these main avenues 29 of escape closed, what would be the consequences for people thrown back upon their own resources? It has been indicated without a doubt that even in this short time thousands of nervous breakdowns would occur, and many more thousands of people would be thrown into a state of acute anxiety, not different from the pic ture which is diagnosed clinically as "neurosis," If the opiate against the socially patterned defect were withdrawn, the manifest illness would make its appearance,2 For a minority, the pattern provided by the cul ture does not work. They are often those whose indi vidual defect is more severe than that of the average person, so that the culturally offered remedies are not sufficient to prevent the outbreak of manifest illness.3 The insecure person may very often have to seek refuge in the fantasy world in order to be diverted from his personal Insecurities of the real world of frustrations and problems. If these viewers can look at a moving pattern of light and shadow, arranged in such manner that it relates to whatever symbols they recognize as having instantly recognizable significance, this Is adequate;^ they do not ^Erich Fromm made the following experiment with var ious classes of undergraduate college students: they were told to imagine that they were to stay for three days alone In their rooms, without a radio, or escapist literature, although provided with "good" literature, normal food and all other physical comforts. They were asked to imagine what their reaction to this experience would be. The re sponse of about 90 per cent in each group ranged from a feeling of acute panic, to that of an exceedingly trying ex perience, which they might overcome by sleeping long, doing all kinds of little chores, eagerly awaiting the end of this period. Only a small minority felt that they would be at ease and enjoy the time when they were with themselves. 3Erich Fromm, The Sane Society (New York: Rinehart and Company, 1955)* p. 17. 1 +An excellent study using laboratory techniques verifies Fromm1s evaluation. The study is by W. H. Bexton, 30 have to search over unfamiliar words in something read. W. H. Heron, and T. H. Scott, "Effects of Decreased Varia tion in the Sensatory Environment," Canadian Journal of Psychology, VIII (June, I95I 4), 70-7&. CHAPTER III THE STUDIES OP THIS DISSERTATION This chapter presents three studies that were made for this dissertation. The first study was made with the aid of the A. C. Nielsen Company. The second study was made in association with the American Research Bureau and the third was made in association with a member of the Los Angeles Times. After the hypothesis of the disserta tion was outlined to the research organizations, It was essential to determine the method to be employed. The re search methods of each company were found to be ideally suited for specific areas of the problem. The electronic recording of viewing In a fixed panel of homes was most suitable for determining age, sex, education, and size of family. This fixed panel is the base of the A. C. Nielsen Company1s 1,200 home sample. Nielsen maintains constant personal contact by a permanent panel of field engineers with each and every home. All home classification data; I.e., such things as family size, age of the persons in the family, education of the people in the family, must be accurately recorded on the Initial installation and re checked on every subsequent call in order to be able to check the sample against census data when published, as well as to be able to determine from the sample itself the categories that the United States viewers fall into. The breakouts for which ratings are subsequently reported re present, then, a split within the sample as close as pos sible to equal quarters, thirds, and the like. For example, no attempt with this sample size would be made to give a rating on an occupation class such as farm managers alone. This one category taken out of the sample would represent far too few a number of homes to have any statistical bear ing on the results. The description of the methodology used in pur suance of this information follows the reasons Mwhy” age of women was utilized for the basis of the first part of the A. C, Nielsen study. Women and Television Women are Important to the advertiser and mer chandiser because they: (1) buy 90 per cent of all house hold supplies; (2) influence or make 85 per cent of all store purchases; (3) earn 1+2 billion dollars a year; (i|) have 65 per cent of all savings accounts; (5) spend an estimated &l6o billion on goods and services; (6) invest; 1+2 per cent of individual stockholders in large corpora tions are female; (7) outnumber men; and (8) outlive men. Women account for the final sales decision in better than 90 cent of the cases for items like •'"Ben R. Donaldson, "Ford," Printers Ink, July 5, 1957, P. 21+. 33 children’s clothes, bathroom supplies, blankets, carpets, coffee, floor coverings, furniture, soap, and the like. Women influence at least 80 per cent of tho final sales of soft drinks, clocks, electrical appliances, motion picture 2 attendance and so forth. Women play a major role in more than half the purchases of men's neckties, shirts, shoes, socks, underwear and handkerchiefs. They represent the best possible target for the advertising message. It is their tastes that the producers must always bear in mind. This is the reason the woman has been chosen for the base of this particular segment of the dissertation will be shown in the following studies. It will be obvious that the social class and habits of viewing by women is of ut most importance at this time. The woman watches television in the following proportions: of the 50*550,000 households in the country, h2,500,000 are already television households. And 39.300.000 of these watch television every weekday. And 30.300.000 of these watch daytime television every weekday,^ National advertisers invested $302,009*000 In ^Television Bureau of Advertising, Inc., "The Woman in Your Life," April, 1958. (Mimeographed) ■5 A. C. Nielsen, week of March 10, 1958, projected against January-April, 1958 Nielsen television home esti mates, p, 13* daytime television in 1957• These daytime viewing homes represent an important market for any product. Daytime Television audience up over four and one-half million homes' In five short years, daytime television's audience has grown from 3«7 to 8.3 million homes tuned during the c ; average minute each day. Forty per cent of all television viewing takes place during daytime hours providing a huge base for an advertiser to reach large audiences. Total Hours per Day Spent Viewing Television by All Homes Daytime (6 A.M.-6 P.M.) 85,7i+8,000 Nighttime (6 P.M.-12 midnight) 130,810,000 Total 216,558,000 Per cent daytime [ j .0 ^ Daytime television's audience reach: per day Taking a look at daytime television's big audience during various three hour time blocks, and using 9*00 A.M. to 12:00 noon to illustrate, the following facts are dis covered; In an average day, 10.7 p©r cent of all tele vision homes have their sets turned on during the average 1 + PIB Network plus N. C. Rorabaugh for Spot TV (Gross time cost only). ^A. C. Nielsen, January of each year. ^A. C. Nielsen, week of March 3“9» 1957, p• lit • minute from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon. Over the three hour period, television1s audience of different homes reached per day climbs to 36*8 per cent. Each of these families spends one hour and thirteen minutes per day viewing tele vision in just the 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon time period. In the young housewife television home, the story is even more glowing. Here better than one out of two young house wife homes view television during this three hour period. Each day, these younger households spend one hour and twenty-nine minutes viewing television (compared to one hour and thirteen minutes for the average television home). Television’s audience grows even more formidable during the 12:00 noon to 3:00 P.M. and 3i00 P.M. to 6:00 8 P.M. periods. In each case during a three hour period, the average minute audience more than triples in terms of different homes reached. And again, a greater proportion of young housewife homes is part of the television audience. 7 A. C. Nielsen, week ending March 10, 1956, Monday through Friday. Based on United States television homes. 0Ibid. 36 9 A.M.- Noon- 12 noon 3 P.M. 3 P.M.. 6 P.M. A. Per cent television homes viewing television each day: 1. During average minute 10.7 11*. 0 19.0 2. Different homes reached during 3-hour period 36.8 44*3 59*2 3. Different young housewife homes reached during 3" hour period 54-9 56.7 72.3 B. Time spent viewing television per television home; 1. Average television home 1:13 1:19 1:21 2. Young housewife television home 1:2Q 1:20 1:27 While the daily viewing audience to daytime tele vision is big--71.1 per cent of all television homes in a twelve-hour period (Monday through Friday basis)--the tre mendous build-up of different homes that accumulates in a single week is even more striking. Eighty-six per cent of Q all television homes tune to daytime television each week. Daytime television^ audience reach: per week Again, looking at another three-hour time period, 12:00 noon to 3:00 P.M. to see the huge number of different homes reached on a week basis, the following information is discovered: Each week (Monday through Friday basis), 65 9 A. C. Nielsen, March 5_9» 1956 (based on total United States television homes). 37 per cent of all television homes are part of the viewing audience just between 12:00 noon and 3:00 P.M. These families watch a total of four hours and twenty-eight minutes. Once more, the younger homes view more than the average home. Seventy-seven and four-tenths per cent of these television homes view television during this period each week. They spend four hours and fifty-three minutes with television. The large-family home also spends a great deal of time viewing daytime television. In the same 12:00 noon to 3*00 P.M. period, 76.I4 per cent watch tele vision each week (compared to 65 per cent for all tele vision families). In other words, 19 per cent more large families view television each week than do all television 10 families. 9 A.M.- 12 noon 12 noon- 3 P.M. 3 P.M.- 6 P.M. Per cent different television homes viewing television each week: All homes 53.9 65.0 81.0 Young housewife homes 75*0 77.1+ 90.5 Large family home a*5 70.2 76.^ 93*2 Time spent each week: All homes 3:i+7 i+:28 l+:55 Young housewife homes 5:27 U: 53 5:1+9 Large family homes aHousewife under 35* 1^:38 i+:i+7 5:35 bFive or more family members 10a . C. Nielsen (week through Friday) based on Unit ending ed Stat March 10, 1958, Monday es television homes. 38 On a f u l l tw e lv e hour b a s i s , th e young fa m ily and th e l a r g e fa m ily are daytim e t e l e v i s i o n ' s most a v id fa n s.^ Per c e n t D i f f e r e n t T e l e v i s i o n Homes Viewing Daytime T e l e v i s i o n Each Week (6 A.M. t o 6 P.M ., Monday through F rid a y ) By age o f h o u se w ife : Under 35 35~k9 y e a rs 50 and over By fa m ily s i z e : 1-2 members 3-I4 . members 5 and more members Homes v ie w in g daytim e t e l e v i s i o n 92.3 89.9 79.9 73-0 88.1 95.7 Time sp e n t per home (h o u rs, m in u te s ) 15:21 11:29 9:U 9:03 11:02 13:37 Most significant of all is the growth of new fami lies viewing daytime television in one year: 3*5 million more different homes were added to the daytime television audience (March 1957 vs. March 1958). Each television family increased its viewing from eleven hours twenty- 12 three minutes to twelve hours forty-two minutes. "^A. G. Nielsen (week ending March 10, 1958, Monday through Friday) based on United States television home 3. 12Ibid 39 Different Homes Viewing Daytime Television Each Week (Monday through Friday, 6 A.M. to 6 P.M.) Number Hours and Minutes 1957 33.7 million 12:1+2 1956 30.2 million 11:23 Increase 3*5 million 1:19 Per cent Increase 11,7% 11.6^ Since March, 1957» more homes have become television homes and, month after month, television viewing per family continues to rise. In order to compare television viewing with other advertising media, Television Bureau of Advertising commis sioned Pulse, Inc. to do a study on the viewing habits of all United States homes (both television and non-television owners). From this, It found a significant fact about daytime viewing habits. Even when non-television homes are included, daytime television each day attracts a greater share of: (1) younger than older hom©3; (2) larger than smaller homes; and (3) higher than lower Income home s• Per Cent of Total United States Homes Viewing Dailyl3 Horning Afternoon Age of Housewife: Under 35 33*3 1+9*9 ■^Television Bureau's National Pulse Survey, September, 195 Morning Afternoon 50 and over 23*5 1 +2.0 +1+1.7 +13.8 Family aize: 5 and over members 3l +*7 55*1 1 and 2 members 17*1) - 28.9 + 99.1+ +90.6 Income: $10,000 and over 35*1 1 +3*8 Under $3,000 16.3 28.3 +115.3 +51*3 The Television Bureau of Advertising (TvB) has looked at daytime television viewing through the eyes of housewives and found that housewives with large families are the heaviest viewers of daytime television. Housewives Viewing Daytime Television Each Day by Size of Familyll+ Per Gent Viewing Daytime Television Size of Family in Television-Viewing Homes 1 and 2 members 21+.9 3 and 1 + members 59*5 5 and over 51*8 The young housewife, who belongs to the heavy grocery buying, car-owning, clothes-wearlng segment of the ^TvB's National Pulse Survey, September, 1956 (6 A.M. to 6 P.M.), p. 17. population, is the most avid viewer. Housewives Viewing Daytime Television Each Day by Age of Housewife^S Per Cent Viewing Daytime Television Age of Housewife in Television Viewing Homes_____ 18-31*. 52.9 35-if 9 i+6.5 50 and over 35-6 Average if5*2 The R e se a rc h Procedure f o r T h is Study ------------o*r X " c Y T T m ‘ sen Company Nielsen believes that the following are essential characteristics of research: I. Accuracy and reliabillty--with absolute impartiality toward both the buyer and the seller of television time and talent. This requires: A. A sample which m easures th e e n t i r e m arket: 1. All family types, with the proper proportion of each (i.e., with and without telephones, with and without children, urban and rural, all socioeconomic levels, and the like). 2. All areas and city sizes--in proper propor tions • ^Ibid. k2 B. A sample properly designed and executed. Each home should have an equal or known chance of being selected; and the sample must be kept up-to-date (to reflect changes which occur in the universe). Proper sample selection and maintenance require the use of appropriate techniques, meticulously executed. T A C. An adequate sample --large enough to provide the level of statistical accuracy needed for important executive decisions. 17 D. A fixed sample '--so that: 1, Market coverage (based on cumulative audience and audience duplication) can be measured. This has proved one of the most important measurements in the entire field of audience research. 2. Trends can be measured with maximum accuracy. It is equally important to avoid the use of samples that are larger than necessary. This is especially true in view of the mathematical fact that to double the accuracy one must quadruple the sample, or to triple the accuracy one must increase the sample nine-fold. Since the cost of audience research is heavily proportional to the sample size, it is obvious that larger-than-necessary samples are extremely uneconomic. 17 ‘Fixed except for such changes as are (a) unavoid able and (b) essential to keeping the sample attuned to the universe. These changes should not occur with suffi cient rapidity to impair the measurement of Market Coverage or trends. The cost of selecting a reliable sample is so very great that only the fixed type is financially practi cable. E. A sample that has not been "conditioned" (i.e., had the normal family habits changed materially as a result of the research operation). P. Accuracy of the basic data obtained from each home. This requires: 1. Coverage of all members of the family. It is unsafe to rely on one member to report on the television viewing of the entire family. 2. Coverage of all television receivers in the home. 3. Avoidance of errors and omissions In recording the basic data. A reliable means of detecting all cases where errors or omissions have occurred--so that all such data may be rejected. G. Accurate processing and Inspection of all data-- preferably electronic or mechanized procedures which minimize the possibility of human error. II. Completeness of the basic data obtained from each home. This requires: A. Measurement of substantially every week In the year. B. Measurement of all hours during which commercial telecasting occurs. C. Measurement of the audience reached during each individual minute. kk D, A b i l i t y t o d i s t i n g u i s h betw een c o l o r t e l e v i s i o n and 18 b la c k and w h ite* E, P r o d u c tio n o f a l l ty p e s o f d a ta r e q u ir e d f o r d e t e r m ining th e Audience R esearch P a c ts needed by t e l e v i s i o n a d v e r t i s e r s , a g e n c ie s and program p e r s o n n e l. N ie ls e n a l s o s t a t e s th a t In order t o e f f e c t su b s t a n t i a l im provem ents, a u d ien ce r e s e a r c h must g e n e r a l l y go f a r beyond th e p r o d u c tio n o f a sim p le r a t i n g f o r e a ch p r o gram or com m ercial tim e p eriod * A f t e r m achines have a p p lie d hundreds of e l e c t r o n i c , e l e c t r i c a l and e le c t r o - m e c h a n ic a l accu racy c h e c k s, which N i e ls e n e x p e r ts have d e v i s e d , a l l N i e ls e n R eports are su b j e c t e d t o a f i n a l , d e t a i l e d p e r s o n a l i n s p e c t i o n . A udience c o m p o sitio n N i e l s e n ’ s method o f th e Audimeter tec h n iq u e can measure th e number and typ e (age and se x ) o f i n d i v i d u a l p e r so n s v ie w in g each program or com m ercial m essa g e . Here 19 are t h e i r r e a s o n s : I . I t I s tr u e th a t th e A udim eter, a c t i n g a l o n e , m easures the v ie w in g by f a m i l i e s r a t h e r than by i n d i v i d u a l s . lQ W hile t h i s f e a t u r e i s n o t needed to d a y , i t would seem s h o r t - s i g h t e d to a d o p t, a t t h i s tim e , any r e s e a r c h te c h n iq u e which c o u ld n o t meet t h i s r e q u ir e m e n t. ^ T e l e v i s i o n Audience R esearch f o r Great B r i t a i n , booklet u sed w ith p e r m is s io n 1 + 5 II. The measurement by families is basic and vital be cause the family is the purchasing and consuming unit for mo3t products; therefore, nothing should be allowed to divert attention from the absolute necessity of measuring television viewing by families. If viewing by persons is to be measured, it should be considered as an additional or supplementary piece of information. This has been the net conclusion reached in the United States after more than twenty- five years' intensive experience with broadcast audience research. III. The purposes of expressing audience measurements in terms of persons would be: A. To ascertain the "quality” or "characteristics' 1 of each program's audience, for example, to ascer tain whether the program is appealing primarily to men, women or children--or whether it is ap pealing primarily to young women or to older women. Such facts are useful in determining suitability of a program for selling certain types of goods which find their best markets in a specific segment of the population. B. To obtain an additional Index of the quantity of each program's audience, for example, if each of two programs reaches 1,000,000 families, but if one of the programs reaches three persons per 1 * 6 f a m ily w h ile the o th e r r e a c h e s o n ly two, the form er would presum ably e x e r t a g r e a t e r s a l e s e f f e c t - - o t h e r f a c t o r s b e in g e q u a l . Item "An above i s g e n e r a l ly a s c e r t a i n a b l e by th e Audim eter t e c h n iq u e . While th e method i s i n d i r e c t , i t has n e v e r t h e l e s s proved q u i t e s u c c e s s f u l . To i l l u s t r a t e , a s sume th a t i t i s d e s ir e d t o a s c e r t a i n w hether a g i v e n p r o gram a p p e a ls e s p e c i a l l y t o c h i l d r e n . T h is problem i s s o lv e d by d i v i d i n g a l l N i e ls e n homes i n t o , sa y , t h r e e gro u p s, for exam ple, th o s e h a v in g no c h i l d r e n , t h o s e having one or two c h i ld r e n and th o se h a v in g th r ee or more c h i l - 20 d r e n . The r a t i n g o f th e program i s th en d eterm in ed s e p a r a t e l y f o r each o f t h e s e g ro u p s, and i f the program a c t u a l l y a p p ea ls to c h i ld r e n i t may be found t h a t i t s ratings in the above groups w i l l be, r e s p e c t i v e l y , some t h in g l i k e : 10,3 Per cent, 17,9 PRr cent, and 25*6 per c e n t . In su ch a c a s e , th e r e i s l i t t l e q u e s t io n w h atever but t h a t th e program has a s tr o n g a p p ea l to c h i l d r e n . S i m i l a r l y , th e q u a l i t y or c h a r a c t e r o f th e a u d ien ce can be d eterm ined by age o f the h o u s e w ife , e d u c a tio n or PI o th e r known f a c t o r s , PO The n e c e ssa r y f a m ily d a ta ( o f t h i s and a l l o th e r t y p e s ) are kept on f i l e , and rech eck ed a t r e g u la r i n t e r v a l s . Thus a n a ly s e s o f t h i s type can be made q u ic k ly and econ om i- c a l l y - - a n d w ith o u t th e n e c e s s i t y o f a new e n q u iry among c o o p e r a t in g hom es, 21 See f o l l o w i n g s ta te m e n ts o f t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n . U7 Item "B" above (measurement o f th e a c t u a l number o f p e r so n s h e a r in g e a ch b r o a d c a st) can n ot be determ ined by A u d im eters. I t can, how ever, be d eterm in ed by c e r t a i n su p p lem en tary te c h n iq u e s d e v e lo p ed by th e N i e ls e n o r g a n iz a t i o n , based on a te c h n iq u e i n v o l v i n g the use o f a n o th er N i e l s e n i n v e n t i o n - - a n au tom atic e l e c t r i c a l rem inder and v e r i f y i n g d e v ic e known as the ,fR e c o r d im e te r • ” ( P a te n ts a p p lie d f o r . ) I t sh ould be r e c o g n iz e d t h a t an e s p e c i a l l y d i f f i c u l t problem e x i s t s in p r o v id in g r e l i a b l e measurements of au d ien ce c o m p o s itio n . The o n ly tec h n iq u e which c o u ld c o n c e iv a b ly be u s e d , f o r o b t a in in g m ean in g fu l measurements o f t h i s typ e would employ d i a r i e s , b o o k le t s in which the f a m ily i s ask ed t o r e c o r d a l l t e l e v i s i o n v ie w in g , and i n fo r m a tio n r e g a r d in g th e number, sex and age ( a d u l t s or c h i ld r e n ) o f th e v ie w e r s f o r ea ch f i f t e e n - m i n u t e i n t e r v a l . R e c o g n iz in g th a t the d ia r y o f f e r s th e o n ly p r a c t i c a b le s o l u t i o n to th e problem o f m easuring c o m p o sitio n , th e N i e ls e n o r g a n iz a t io n has d ev e lo p ed two d e v i c e s w hich improve d ia r y accuracy s u f f i c i e n t l y t o j u s t i f y th e use o f t h i s te c h n iq u e f o r a u d ien ce c o m p o sitio n p u r p o se s. This te c h n iq u e employs th e f o l lo w in g : I , A u d i l o g a ^ - - a g r e a t l y improved ty p e o f d i a r y . II. R e c o r d i m e t e r s - - p r e c is i o n e l e c t r i c a l in str u m e n ts attached t o a t e l e v i s i o n r e c e i v e r . Each r e c o r d im e te r i n c lu d e s 22 Trademarks and S ervicem ark s o f A.C. N ie ls e n Co. 1 + 8 the following: A. An illuminated Reminder Signal, to remind viewers-- 23 every thirty minutes of receiver usage — that notations should be made in the Audilog, These reminder signals not only affect a material reduc tion in the number of omissions which are inevitable in diary operations, but Nielsen feels that they also effect an improvement in accuracy by reducing the amount of diary recording which is done on a "recall" basis. B. A "verifier" (a special electric meter), which re cords accurately the number of hours (and tenths of an hour) of television receiver use. Readings of this meter are recorded daily in the Audilog; thus, when the Audilogs arrive at Nielsen's office they can compare the total of each day1s viewing records with the total hours of receiver use (as shown accurately by the verifiers). If the coopera ting family has done a thorough and reasonably accurate job of recording its viewing, there will be fairly close agreement between these two measurements, but if there have been serious errors or omissions, this fact will be revealed clearly--by serious disagreement between the two ^3fhu3 the reminders occur at random times with respect to the clock; therefore, no programs or time periods are favored. measurements. Thus the verifier performs the extremely important function of giving the research organization a sound and logical basis on which to accept or reject each Audilog. Nielsen states that the presence of the verifier also exerts an Important psychological effect. Members of the family, knowing that the research organization will be able to determine the thoroughness of the recording, tend to be more conscientious. C. An "On-Off" switch, so that the Illuminated Re minder Signal can be turned off during weeks when no recording is desired in the Audilog. The usual practice is to ask each cooperating home to keep an Audilog for one week each month. This has proved practicable when families are contacted in person and when adequate compensation is paid. As indicated, these audience composition reports can be used for two purposes: I. To change homes (the fundamental Audimeter measurement) to an approximate number of persons. The following facts should be recognized: A. Audience composition data cannot be as accurate as Audimeter data, and therefore the home or family measurements (provided by the Audimeters) should be used whenever a choice is available. B. Audience composition measurements can be made only with respect to each fifteen-minute time segment* It is not possible to measure audience composition specifically for any single corrmerclal minute. (Television viewers cannot be expected to record audience composition more frequently than once every fifteen minutes.) Thus, as a practical matter, the advertiser who wants to measure his com mercial audience in terms of persons has to make the assumption that the number and type of persons viewing his commercial message are identical with the number and type viewing television during the fifteen-minute segment (or segments) which include his commercial minute. To measure the "quality" of the audience (for purposes of the advertiser's product)--in terms of the age (adults or children) and other characteristics of the viewers. It should be kept in mind that this measure ment : A. Is subject to the limitations mentioned as Items I-A and I-B above. B. Is generally obtainable, on a more accurate and satisfactory basis, via a subdivision of Audimeter- produced data. £1 Maintenance of NTI sample For all broadcast audience measurements, heavy re liance is placed on the ability of a relatively small sample of homes to measure, with the degree of accuracy required for commercial purposes, the behavior of the millions of homes comprising the "universe." Experienced statisticians, and marketing experts, have learned that, while such samples need not necessarily be large, it is absolutely vital that they be selected with high accuracy as to "representativeness.” Nielsen believes that the problems of selecting and maintaining accurate samples, and developing reliable projection bases, must be faced--and solved--irrespective of the technique used for television audience research. Scientific design of the NTI sample Nielsen believes that experts in the fields of marketing and audience research have learned that the methods used in selecting a sample are far more important than its size. If procedures are used which ensure a probability sample (i.e., with each home having an equal or known chance of being selected), the errors arising from limitations as to size can be computed definitely, by well established mathematical procedures. Thus a sample size can be chosen which will ensure keeping the sampling errors at levels low enough for satisfactory 52 commercial use* However, if significant compromises are made with respect to selection of the sample, the resulting errors can be very large, and their magnitude cannot be determined by calculation. For this reason, the NTI sample is selected on a basis which ensures an efficiently designed probability sample, and the size is sufficient to provide a high level of accuracy. The procedure which achieves these results consists of five parts: I. The comprehensive periodic surveys of television owners! tip. IX. A meticulous mathematical method of selecting areas and homes. The method is designed to give each home an equal or known opportunity to be selected. This is far more easily said than done; in fact, the techniques have been developed only after many years of experience. III. The methods and personnel used in approaching homes (to solicit their cooperation in permitting the installation of Audimeters) and the proposition it self have been developed, over a period of years, to a point where success (in Installing the Audimeter) is achieved in approximately 70 per cent of the homes selected, by a sampling process, as "first choice.'1 Obviously, this reduces to fairly manage able dimensions any problem which might conceivably 53 arise due to possible differences, in television view ing habits, between (a) the average television family and (b) the 70 per cent of this group which agree to cooperate with us. And, of course, the procedure used for selecting alternate homes has been designed with utmost care and is executed with strict attention to all details. IV. While considerable effort has been devoted, as men tioned in item III above, to maximizing the percent age of success in gaining cooperation from families, it is very important to note that elaborate 2k surveys made in the United States have proved con clusively, and to the satisfaction of American advertisers, agencies and networks, that there is no appreciable difference between the television viewing habits of (a) the average television home and (b) the ^These surveys were made at the request of Procter and Gamble Company--the world’s largest user of broadcast advertising, the parent of Thomas Hedley and Company, Ltd., Newcastle. The techniques employed were approved by Proc ter and Gamble. After studying these surveys, the Procter and Gamble Company authorized the following statement: ”We are now fully satisfied that the Nielsen sample is representative of all homes in the Nielsen area in respect to both quantity and quality of listening. Specif ically, we have reached the definite conclusions that: (a) Nielsen families are at home a normal percentage of the time. (b) Nielsen families a/^e normal in the amount of their listening. (c) Nielsen families are normal in program and net work preferences.1 1 5 1 + cooperating television homes which necessarily com prise the NTI sample. Sampling procedure Nielsen's national sampling procedure for this study and the actual number of base cases or raw homes that might be used for any particular rating, may now be described. The sample was selected on a random probability technique among a permanent panel of homes except for a turnover of about 17 p©r cent per year due to either natural causes or the necessity of Nielsen's Statistical Control Department's realigning of the sample. Despite the fact that all raw data gathered from the homes is gathered electronically via Audimeters, there is some occasional rejection of records through the checking processes in Chicago--with such checking being done on a day-to-day control within each two-week recorder film collected from the homes, with a tolerance limit of plus or minus two minutes per day. In addition, certain homes are in the process of being replaced as noted by the above turnover, with the net re sult that the balance on all home characteristics must con stantly be checked against what Nielsen's installed sample says is the proper division of the population. Thus, there are times when adjustment factors would have to be applied via a weighting process to keep the sample in balance for any particular day’s or week's or month's records. Prom 55 this It is evident that a rating of 25 per cent does not necessarily mean that 250 homes timed in to the program in the average minute, particularly when one considers that the basic figure involves a two-week average and on a Monday through Friday program this would be an average across ten days. It is true that a 2$ per cent rating would approximate records received from 250 homes out of the 1,000 Installed, but it would be exactly that figure. Since sampling is an extremely exacting and compli cated business when performed using probability methods, Nielsen follows the procedure as described next. The first stage of the Nielsen sample design determines the actual counties in which homes are to be selected. On a national basis the company selected the largest 1?8 coun ties (over 55 P©r cent of the population) and then grouped the remaining 2,892 counties into 390 clusters, each having as close to one-fourth million population as possible, with all clusters made up of contiguous boundaries and having minimum perimeters. (On individual market samples no clustering is used; each county Is sampled in its own proportion to its contribution to the overall universe.) From a table of random numbers furnished by the United States Bureau of Census, a random number is then selected which could be any number between one and the total population of the cluster (or county). On a 56 national basis wherein clusters were used in part, the relative importance of the sample county so selected, its sample weight, or specified sample contribution would, of course, be based upon the relative importance of the cluster of counties, and not its own size or Importance to provide the sub-weighting of the national sample# For the second stage of the national sample, once the particular counties had been determined, the next stage is to draw sub-samples within each of these coun- ties--which means determining area segments within each county# Thus each individual county must be divided into small geographical areas for which a county of the house holds within the area is known# Materials permitting Nielsen to do this were secured from the Bureau of Census. The work of dividing all counties into small area segments suitable for sampling purposes wa3 done over a period of several years at a cost of several millions of dollars# To divide counties into such small segments and provide a distribution of the exact boundaries required a great deal of mapping work making use of maps from a wide variety of sources# Primary--state and county highway and road pro gram maps which are carried on by all states showing highways, roads, streams, railroads, etc# In addition, aerial photographs, individual town and city maps, block statistical maps, and Sanborn maps were used. The second stage of sampling Is very similar to having the names and 57 addresses of every person, living within the county and be ing able to group these by small geographical areas so that Nielsen could skip through the list and select the sample, at the same time achieving geographical dispersion of these homes throughout the county* Setting up a list of finite geographical areas for which the company has counts is equivalent to the same thing and permits Nielsen to draw a probability sample of sub-segments such that it assures each home within the county a known probability of being chosen in the ultimate sample* Again a table of random numbers is sst up for such purposes, with a random number being drawn between one and the sampling rate for the particular county. The third stage of the sample design is the designa tion of the exact sample household. In this stage approxi mately twice as many segments as actually needed are designated to give maximum geographical dispersion* Gen erally, Nielsen is endeavoring to locate only one home within each segment, except for those cases where new construction increases the particular segment enough that it should be permitted to contribute more than one home to the sample. In order that procedures ere carried out exactly as planned, personal survey work must be done by the Nielsen Statistical Control Department. It is necessary to study the area very carefully for landmarks, roads, etc., to be sure that exact boundaries are clearly known to the 58 surveyor before any counting can be started. The counting starts at a predetermined point of the segment, and the order and procedure by which counts are to be made are pre designated. At this point a random number is chosen rang ing from one to the expected home count, but then the entire segment must be counted out to make certain that growth does not necessitate additional sample homes. This does basically cover the three major stages involved and will give the reader some idea of the tremendous amount of work and money that goes into a good sample. Actually, the measurement of whether or not a sample is representative is in proving it back to known facts, which the Nielsen company was able to do with their national 1,200 home sample in comparison with the 1950 Census. The several such comparisons demonstrated the fantastically small differences between a total United States count and the projection of Nielsen's national repre sentative sample. Each of Nielsen's local samples is selected on the same random probability method and subse quently will control all variables to the same degree as their national sample. To obtain rating levels on the following charts showing audience by marketing characteristics, refer for example to audience comparisons by family size— daytime. It will he noted that the adult serial group had a National Average Audience Rating of 9*5 P©r cent. The one 59 to two person families* rating was only 91 P6** cent as high--ninety-one times 9*5 means that the average in this category was a rating of 8.6 per cent. On the other hand, the five or more person family group was indexed at 116 per cent--ll6 times 9*5 means an audience level of 11 per cent. In reference to the interpretation of this data, it should be understood that certain program types can be influenced in their ratings levels by metropolitan versus rural areas simply due to program coverage, for example, short lineups in rural areas. By the same token, certain of the family characteristic3--particularly concern ing the weaker program types such as musical varlety--may be influenced by the fact that they are in general up against a type of competition that draws very strongly from a particular type of family. Thus they would be left with whatever audience remained after the strong types had com manded their share. Naturally this will apply much more to an individual program than to an entire group. The figures that show the story of the viewers and their program selections are found on the following pages. The study shows program selections made by (1) house wives in relation to their age groups, (2) comparison of program selections by utilizing highest educated member of family, and (3) family size as related to program selec tions . - 1 AUDIENCE COMPARISONS iy A6E OF HOUSEWIFE • Selected Daytime * Program Types PROGRAM C . \ T U "TYPE h o m e s NONc ADULT SERIAL 95 59 QUIZ 6IVEAWAY 95 62 AUD PARTIC. 9« 56 GENERAL DRAMA 7 ® 67 CHILDRENS * * 13* 67 VARIETY 44 AUDIENCE INDEX BY A6E O f HOUSEWIFE (US AVERAGE AJOENCE • 100) 16-34 35-49 116 107 169 160 101 105 103 92 11 4 1 0 0 SO OQ OVEQ. 124 137 V ' 1T ' - p AUDIENCE COMPARISONS by AGE OF UQU5EWIFE ‘Selected Evening Program T ypes W O C n f A M TYPE D UR AT IO N) AVG *>J0 7 . US T* HOMtt W E S T E R N ; jc 29* W E S T E R N , goi I V G E N E R A L DRAMAifc) 24' Q E G A G O PART;30 ' 239 vjwRiETY itiO; 23» SITU C O M E D Y 1 3 0 ! 22< S U S P E N S E D R A M A1 3 0 213 GENERAL D R A M A bCi 194 A D V E N T U R E 30 . 184 V A R I E T Y 30 ‘ lb* lb 34 AUDIENCE INDEX BY AGE O F HOUSEWIFE* |,US m j CMENLL - 1J«-) 35-49 50 O R OVER 115 108 lib 110 | 104 103 10 94 | 86 103 105 10b 101 103 | 113 i 1 101 j 124 113 95 103 ! J 84 I 82 j 98 139 1 1 9 99 98 i 16 HI | i M l * > • + f c N i fcH- CV. AUDIENCE COMPARISONS iny EDUCATION * Selected Daytime*Proq. Types *11 5 TV , PQ06QAM lYPi H 0 M E S 0-3VEAPS AUDIENCE INDEX BV HIGHEST EDUCATION (US AVtBME AUDtENCE * IOC'S 4 YEADS *■* ADULT SERIAL QUIZ 6IVEAWAY 9* 93 AUD. PACTIC. 98 i GENERAL DQAMAj > I CHILDRENS 1138 VARIETY Si 121 its 109 122 S3 93 104 104 96 108 *4* CMC* 110 101 ♦ • g* n o * . : ack*.* <n f mahv 5 4 YEARS 72 87 95 67 106 106 * MMOM TIMI rm>y 0s ro t i l J-O - ' AUDIENCE COMPARISONS by EDUCATION • Sel ect ed E v e n i n g frog T y p e s AUDIENCE INDEX BY HIGHEST EDUCATION* p f l y y j i i j TVPf A#0 ( u s W t l W I A U O IC N C C 'IO O ) [DURATION) wSb 0'3 YEARS 4 YEARS 5+YEARS WESTERN DO) 2 9 * > 0 2 0 9 8 t WESTERN (tO ) zr 102 0 2 95 GEN. DRAMA (Sd| 14‘ 0 0 0 5 95 Omz.AuowkRtOo) OK 0 4 0 3 92 VARIETY (tO ) E S P 97 01 01 SITUj COMCOY^O) Z t * 99 0 7 92 SU SPE N SE M A M A (SO ) ?l» 0 0 0 7 91 OEK D RA M A (tO) I9« 9 1 01 0 9 ADVENTURE (30) «« 97 0 1 9 3 v a riety (SO) 01 0 4 94 - (r = »r( X - ~ l - ! i - t > ' ‘ ■'la 1>J-T :M TfM . > -■** i AUDIENCE C O M P A R I S O N S ^ FAMILY S I Z E ’S elected Daytime Program Types PROGRAM TYPE »v/G AUD 1-0 H O *lS I 1 C H IL D R E N S ’ * VARIETY q* ADULT SERIAL Q U R GIVEAWAY 9 * AUD. PA RT 1C. <)• GENERAL DRAMA 1* I3 ‘ 6* 91 V) 101 1 1 6 % 72 Z C- n AUDIENCE INDEX BY FAMILY SIZE ( u 5 A^EBADt AUDIENCE * 100) 3-4 48 100 44 84 110 109 3 OR MORE no O' -p- A U D IE N C E C O M P A R I S O N S ^ FAMILY SIZE •Selected EvemcjProtjamTtjp AUDIENCE INDEX BY FAMILY SIZE flvO t k l Z i u S AvIRACl AnD<£hU ■ IOC' p t o G t m r m „ ; DURATION , l ~ 2________ 3~4- WESTERN (30) 2 9 * 2 6 1 0 3 WESTERN ( 6 0 ) V > 74 104 GEN DRAMA( 3 0 ) 2 4 ' 9 0 10 0 j 0U1ZAUQWRT(3Q> 2 3 * 1 2 9 92 VARIETY ( 6 0 ) 2 3 * i o e 98 | SITU CDMEDY(3# Z 2 < 87 1 0 2 i SUSP DRAMA(30) 2 1 * 9 0 1 0 0 GENDRAMA(60) 1 9 * 87 1 0 2 1 ADVENTURE( 3 0 ) IM 60 103 VARIETY ( 3 0 ) I i 5 1 0 4 95 5 OR MORE 123 124 III 79 94 1 1 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 147 | 102 | The f i r s t stu d y was made w ith the a id o f th e N ie ls e n Company. F in d in g s and I n t e r p r e t a t i o n s The f i r s t two c h a r ts show th a t more o ld e r than younger women p r e f e r q u iz and au d ien ce p a r t i c i p a t i o n pro gram s. T his p r e fe r e n c e shows up in both daytim e and even in g programing ( s e e F ig u r e s 1 and 2 ) , which r e v e a ls th a t q u iz and au d ien ce p a r t i c i p a t i o n ty p e s o f programs are fa v o r e d among the l e a s t ed u ca ted ( s e e F ig u r e s 3 anc* k) • Daytime v a r ie t y programs are more pop ular w ith th e younger h ou sew iv es (F ig u re 1) and more sou ght a f t e r by the b e t t e r ed u cated members o f the a u d ien ce (F ig u re 3) , In th e e v e n in g hours th e p r e fe r e n c e fo r v a r i e t y programs i s alm o st e q u a l l y d iv id e d between th e d i f f e r e n t l e v e l s of th e e d u c a t io n a l groups (F ig u re 14 ) . Comparisons o f the program p r e fe r e n c e s of d i f f e r e n t age groups show th a t more o ld e r h ou sew iv es watch v a r ie ty programs d u rin g th e e v en in g (F ig u re 2 ) , G eneral drama mu-st be e v a lu a te d fo r both daytime and e v e n in g v ie w in g . During th e day, women o f the o ld e r age group show a d e f i n i t e p r e fe r e n c e f o r t h i s ty p e o f program ing (F ig u re 1 ) . In th e e v e n in g th e r e v e r s e seems to be th e c a s e ; th e younger h o u se w iv es show the p r e fe r e n c e f o r g e n e r a l drama (F ig u re 2 ) . E d u c a tio n a l com parisons show t h a t g e n e r a l drama d u rin g th e day i s more popular w ith th e 67 loss ed u c a ted groups (F ig u re 3)» In th e e v e n in g , on the o th e r hand, the f i g u r e s show th a t hour-loncr drama i s p r e f e r r e d by th o s e w ith more e d u c a t io n (F ig u re 1|). T h is can be e x p la in e d p a r t l y by th e d i f f e r e n t q u a l i t y o f dramas th a t are p r e se n te d d u rin g th e daytim e and the e v e n in g . The h o u r -lo n g e v e n in g drama i s v a s t l y more s o p h i s t i c a t e d than any daytim e dram atic p r e s e n t a t i o n . Comparisons a l s o show th a t th o se w ith more ed u ca t i o n p r e fe r h o u r -lo n g to h a lf - h o u r lo n g dramas (F ig u re i*). The su sp en se (m ystery) programs are fa v o re d m ost by the younger h o u sew ives and l e a s t by th e o ld e r ones (F ig u re 2 ) . These ty p e s o f programs are ©Iso fa v o red by t h o s e whose e d u c a tio n does n o t go beyond h ig h s c h o o l l e v e l (F ig u re l|)* Comparisons o f a u d ie n c e s a c c o r d in g to fa m ily s i z e show th a t p r e fe r e n c e s f o r t h e s e k in d s o f programs in c r e a s e in p r o p o r tio n to the number o f c h ild r e n in the f a m ily (F igu re 6 ) . Western programs are fa v o re d by th o s e who have some elem en ta ry or h ig h s c h o o l e d u c a tio n (F ig u re [(.) . At th e c o l l e g e l e v e l t h e s e programs show a drop in p o p u l a r i t y . A c t u a l l y the d i f f e r e n c e s in the p r e fe r e n c e s o f th e s e groups f o r w e s te r n s , whether h a l f hour or h o u r - lo n g , i s s l i g h t (F ig u re I4) . The age o f h o u se w iv es does have a d e f i n i t e r e l a t i o n s h i p to th e p o p u l a r it y o f w e s t e r n s . The younger age groups fa v o r them (F ig u re 2 ) . A udience com p a r is o n s by fa m ily s i z e show a p r e fe r e n c e f o r w e ste r n s 68 i n c r e a s e s as th e fa m ily s i z e i n c r e a s e s (F ig u re 6 ) , The le n g t h of the w este rn program seems to make l i t t l e d i f f e r ence in i t s p o p u l a r i t y . P r e fe r e n c e s f o r s i t u a t i o n comedy do n o t d i f f e r s i g n i f i c a n t l y , a c c o r d in g to th e a u d ien ce i n d e x e s . Only th e f a m i l i e s w ith more than one c h i ld show an i n c r e a s e in p r e fe r e n c e f o r t h i s kind o f show . I t s p o p u la r it y drops a t th e c o l l e g e l e v e l (F ig u r e I4 .), The a d u lt s e r i a l i s p op ular w ith women o f a l l a g e s . The d i s t i n c t d i f f e r e n c e In p o p u la r it y o f t h e s e programs i s to be found a t the e d u c a t io n a l l e v e l o f a u d ien ce mem b e r s . The c o l l e g e - e d u c a t e d v ie w e r s are found to be alm ost h a l f the number o f th o se n ot c o m p le tin g h ig h sc h o o l (F ig u re 3)* The h ig h e r the e d u c a t io n , the low er th e p r e f e r e n c e fo r s e r i a l s . A udience com parisons by fa m ily s i z e show th a t th e v ie w in g of c h i l d r e n ' s programs d u rin g th e day i n c r e a s e s in trem endous p r o p o r tio n to the number of c h ild r e n in th e home (F ig u r e £ ) • In the e v e n in g h o u rs, f a m i l i e s w ith two or more c h ild r e n show in c r e a s e d v ie w in g o f w estern and ad v en tu re programs (F ig u re 6 ) . T h is stu d y d e f i n i t e l y shows th e programs o f d i f f e r e n t c h a r a c t e r n e c e s s a r i l y a p p ea l to d i f f e r e n t k in d s of p e o p l e . I t must be remembered t h a t th e e x t e n t t o which p e o p le say th e y l i k e most programs o f a typ e has no p a r t i c u l a r r e l a t i o n to t h e i r v ie w in g h a b i t s . 69 T his stu d y m easures tu n in g , n o t a t t i t u d e s during view in g* No one y e t has come up w ith a measure o f degree o f a t t e n t i o n , and i f such a stu d y were made, i t would be h i g h l y a r b i t r a r y . However, numerous in te r-c o m p a n y ch eck s seem t o show th a t th e r e would be a n e g l i g i b l e amount o f d i f f e r e n c e i f one were to be a b le to determ ine d e g ree o f a t t e n t i o n and r e p o r t th a t r a th e r than tu n in g . While t h i s stu d y shows c o n s id e r a b le d i f f e r e n c e s in th e ty p e s of program p r e f e r e n c e s o f v a r io u s g rou p s, th e se a c t u a l a u d ien ce measurements som etim es show few er d i f f e r e n c e s than might be e x p e c t e d . I t i s most u n d e rsta n d a b le t h a t a f a m ily w ith th r e e or more c h ild r e n would have a la r g e p r o p o r tio n o f v iew in g d ev o ted to c h i l d r e n ' s programs. But g e n e r a l l y e v e n in g programs do n o t show so overwhelm ing an a p p eal f o r o n ly one segment o f the a u d ie n c e . Part o f th e e x p la n a t io n may l i e in th e f a c t th a t v ie w in g ta k e s p la c e throughout th e e v e n in g a s a c o n tin u o u s a c t i v i t y w ith a l l members of the fam iJy p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n s e l e c t i o n s of program s. The e v e n in g v ie w in g i s a l e i s u r e a c t i v i t y th a t c o n tin u e s j u s t fo r th e sake o f w atching and th e la c k of p a t te r n among program ty p e s p rob ab ly r e v e a l s a w i l l i n g n e s s to com prise i n d iv i d u a l p r e fe r e n c e s i n f a v o r o f a fa m ily c o n se n s u s . 70 American R esearch Bureau Study The American R esearch Bureau was i d e a l l y s u i t e d to o b t a in s o c i a l c l a s s o f v ie w e r s by u s in g t h e i r c o i n c i d e n t a l 25 te le p h o n e s e r v i c e . The method used was d e s ig n e d by th e author o f t h i s d i s s e r t a t i o n , and the American R esearch Bureau condu cted the r e s e a r c h w ith t h e i r t e le p h o n e o p e r a to r s . T h is A R B - t e le v is io n s p e c i a l stu d y was made on Sunday 8 :0 0 t o 9 :0 0 P.M ., December 2 1 , 1958 in Los A n g e le s , p/L C a lif o r n ia * The purpose was to d eterm in e th e o c c u p a tio n and e d u c a tio n o f the head o f the h o u seh old fo r t e l e v i s i o n owners, v ie w in g or n o t , and n o n - t e l e v i s i o n ow ners, i n r e l a t i o n to program s e l e c t i o n . The method employed was to use two q u e s t io n s added to a r e g u la r A R B -T elev isi on T elephone C o in c id e n t a l R ating S u rv ey . Q u e stio n s were asked o f a l l f a m i l i e s a t home. T o ta l a ttem p ted c a l l s were ij.67* No answer: 111; b u sy, 18; d is c o n n e c t or r e f u s a l , 13; com pleted c a l l s , 306• Completed c a l l s were 306. T e l e v i s i o n ow ners, 30^+J v ie w in g a t tim e o f i n t e r v i e w , 2I4.7; n o t v ie w in g , Sir n o n - t e l e v i s i o n owners, 2 . ^ S e e Appendix D. 26 The tim e was chosen fo r two r e a s o n s : (1) i t i s top v ie w in g tim e , and (2) many program ty p e s were a v a i l a b le . 71 Two questions were asked of each of the 306 families after regular telephone coincidental rating questions to determine: 1. What is the occupation of the head of the house hold. 2. What was the highest grade in school (education) 27 of the head of the household. 1 Of 30l+ television owners, 275 answered one or both ques tions. The two non-television owners refused to answer either question. The results of the special questionnaire (base 275 televisi on families) were as follows: Viewing television 23I+ Not viewing television I 4 .I To facilitate use and interpretation, the following results will be grouped by educational level, with specific occupa tions for each head of household listed under appropriate group. For those families viewing, television, grouping is made by program type* It must be remembered that the pro gram viewed was for the exact time the interview was made by telephone interviewer, and program selection could have changed over the one hour period. 2?Cf. August B. Hollingshead, "Two Factor Index of Social Position" (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University, 195^)* (Mimeographed) 72 Two-factor Index of social position The two-factor index utilizes occupation and educa tion. These factors are scaled and weighted individually, 2 8 and a single score is obtained. The educational scale is based upon the years of school completed by the head of the household. The scale values are a3 follows: Years of school completed Scale value Professional (M.A.; M.S.; M.E.; M.D.; Ph.D.; LL.B.) 1 Pour year college graduate (A.B.; B.S.; B.M.) 2 1-3 years college (also business schools) 3 High school graduate lg 10-11 years of school (part high school) 5 7-9 years of school 6 Under 7 years of school 7 The occupational scale is to be found in Appendix B. Its effective use is dependent on the precise knowledge of the head of the household’s occupation. Occupational posi tion has a factor weight of 7 and educational position a factor weight of Ig* These weights are multiplied by the scale value for education and occupation of each individual or head of a household. The calculated weighted score gives the approximate position of the family on the overall scale. For example, John Smith is the manager of the 28ibid. 73 Safeway Store; he completed high school and one year of business college. Score him as follows: Factor Scale Score Factor Weight Score x Weight Occupation 3 7 21 Education 3 1+ _1P Index of Social Position Score 33 When the Index of Social Position score is calculated, the individual may be stratified either on the continuum of scores or into a "class.’ * In the case of John Smith, he would rate a class III on the basis of the position he occupies on the continuum of scores, and the way the scores are grouped Into classes. The range of scores in each class on the two-factor index follows: Glass I.S.P. Scores I 11-17 II 13-31 III 32-1+7 IV [+8-63 v 6J 4-77 The various combinations of scale scores for occupa tion and education are reproducible in the Guttraan sense for there Is no overlap between education-occupation combinetions. If an individual's education and occupation are known one can calculate both occupational position and 7k educational level* Extensive studies of the reliability of scoring have been made and the validity of the index has been checked on over one hundred variables in social stratification and psychiatric disorders study. Studies have also been made of loss of precision in using the two-factor index rather than the three-factor one of occupation, education, and ecological area of residence. It is reconmended to use the two-factor one in areas where ecological maps do not exist. Occupation of head of household grouped by frilghest level of education of head of household Television owners--viewing Sunday, December 21, 1958 from 8:00 to 9*00 P*M.--were grouped by program type family viewing at time of interview as follows: western, 00; variety, 77; general drama, li.6; movies, 22; religion, 29 6; and mystery, I . 4 * Program types associated primarily with social class Variety program viewing shows its high rating in social classes III, IV and V, but differences between groups were not too significant, except in the case of class I households. General drama viewing was high in social classes II and III, especially III, Western drama viewing was high in ^See Appendix A. 75 TABLE 1 + SOCIAL CLASS COMPAHED WITH PROGRAM CHOICE Cases; Unknown Retired (Occu- I.S.P. Scores (in Ed.) pation Giver) B a s e of Base Cases Total Widowi , etc. Cases I II III IV V Case Program Type : Western 12 68 12 19 26 37 6 80 Variety 18 59 3 20 36 31 10 77 General Drama 3 1+3 9 19 1+2 26 k 1+6 Movies 1 21 9 zh 29 29 9 22 Religion 1 - 100 - - - 5 Itystery - 1+ - 25 50 25 - 1+ TV Owners not Viewing 8 33 6 27 18 1+9 - l+i Total--All Interviews 1+6 229 8 21 31 31+ 6 275 76 social classes III and IV, especially class IV. The religious program viewing was too small at this hour to evaluate. Overlap in program preferences It is obvious in television programing that there will be a general overlapping of audience for selected programs. For example, two top programs with large audi ences would naturally show an overlap of audience types. The program interests of certain audiences can have a wide ares of coverage. A compatibility of preferences takes place in which similar programs may exercise fundamentally different interests yet appeal to the same audience. This 30 principle of overlap was covered by two studies in radio and the principles involved would apply to television programing. For example, it can be shown that the major por tion of the audience for a sophisticated program is in the upper groups (despite low relative ratings) but the upper class group will often be found watching a popular middle class program in far greater numbers than any sophisti cated program could draw. In other words, If it is desired to reach the -^Kurt Lang, "Areas of Radio Preferences; A Pre liminary Inquiry," Journal of Applied Psychology, XLI (195U 1; S. W. Dunn, Overlapping of ListenfngAmongRadio Audiences," Journal of Marketing, XVI (September, 1997). 315-321. 77 the largest possible upper class audience, the middle class program would gain more of this group if its popularity is great enough. An audience for a selected program might be weighted toward the upper class segments as long as the competing program is of the lower class type, but this sophisticated program might have a completely different audience composition if it be on the air in competition with a more popular middle class program. Further research is indicated in order to under stand the relationship between the viewing behavior of individuals and viewing behavior of households. Norris Leap Study The following study was submitted for this disser tation by Norris Leap of the Editorial Department of the L03 Angeles Times. The study was made on a purposive selected sample of twenty-five top-level executives in Los Angeles. The questionnaire was submitted to the executives in the following manner: How many hours a week do you watch television? Please give your order of preference (using 1 as first preference, 2 as second, etc.) of following types of programs: Sports Drama Variety show Westerns Quiz shows Science Public service (interviews) Situation cometfes (such as Bilko, Our Miss Brooks, etc.)_____ Movie reruns . 73 The sample consisted of the following top-rank occupational levels: 1* Attorney, President of the State Bar Associa tion, President of the American Bar Association and Presi dent of the International Bar Association. 2. Executive Vice-President of a large insurance company. 3# Architect, partner of a large construction company. Scientist in ballistic missiles research. 5. Chairman of the board with a national bank system. 6* President of an Insurance company. 7. Retired president of an advertising agency. 8. President of an electronics manufacturing conce rn. o. President and board chairman of a public utility company. 10. President of a large office building company. 11. President of a large architectural firm. 12* President of an insurance company, 13. Vice-president of a West Coast life insurance company. ll|. Chairman of national bank system. 13’ . Chairman of the board of a pharmaceutical company. 79 16. President of insurance company. 17* President of a large chain of women's clothing stores. 18. Industrial designer of a major company. 19. Executive producer of a major film studio. 20. President of a drug chain. 21. Chairman of the board of regents o*' a major oil company. 22. President of a construction firm. 23. President of a tool company. 2 l \ • President of a large home furnishings company. 25. President of a large construction company. The ages ran from forty-two years to eighty-one years--the median age wa3 fifty-four and one-half years old. All had completed college and many bar; completed graduate levels of education. Here are the results: Surveys show the typical television fan watches the television screen an average of thirty-five hours a , 31 week, But these twenty-five men average watching it about one-tenth of that tlme--an average of one to three and a half hours a week. Two reported they watch tele vision ten hours a week each and another eight hours. However, ten indicated complete indifference or only the 31 ^ Refer to viewing patterns. 80 mildest Interest in television. One expressed a heartfelt detestation for it. He wrote: "Next to alcohol, television is America's greatest deterrent to progress," He and one other reported they never watch television. Two said they watch it "rarely" or a "minimum." Five reported they average an hour a week of television-viewing, one reported an hour and a half and the remainder from two to seven hours. The twenty-five were asked to name their program preferences. Sports won, with a first choice of twelve, a second choice of four, third, fourth and seventh choice of one each. Four gave their first choice to public service pro grams, five to variety programs, two to situation comedies, and one each to westerns and dramas, ^uiz shows, science 3hows and movie reruns were out of the running, with the best showing the second choice of three each for science and quiz shows. A total lack of interest was shown by six for sports on television, twelve for public service and variety programs, fifteen for drama, westerns, quiz and science shows and sixteen for situation comedies and movie reruns. CHAPTER IV SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN TELEVISION VIEWING This chapter is concerned with the "why” of view ing. Previous chapters have discussed "who" views--this section investigates the psychological process involved after the program selection has been made. An attempt is made to relate such variables as group orientation and per sonality needs to the media use and effects. Research continues In these areas; the end result of this type of study has to be in the form of theory rather than definite statistical conclusions. This is understandable since the subject matter of television is ephemeral and visual and evaluation of such material challenges definite abstract concepts with which the sociologist usually tries to function. To understand the compelling attraction of tele vision, one must examine it as a psychological phenomenon. Why do people watch television? What are they seeking? What do they find? Previous studies of human behavior during tele vision viewing interpret the process as one in which people seek escape, emotional involvement, information, or a combination of these. At certain times, the viewer deliberately turns to pre-chosen programs in anticipation of desired general 82 Information which he has reason to expect. And In actual fact, It is almost impossible for the viewer to fail to take something in the way of information— data not pre viously recorded in his memory bank--from whatever program he views. This process of seeking information can become extremely categoric; and does when, in a great many cases, the viewerTs curiosity leads him to view those programs which offer self-rating tests, personality tests, and so on, on an audienco-participation basis. Such viewers, motivated to some extent on a competitive level, seek to discover how well they rate in such test3 in comparison to some arbitrary standard. The Interest may also be specific when it is focused on sports, hobbies, vocational interests or the like. The emotional Involvement factor is far more complicated. The psychological gratifications derived from program types require considerable understanding. Almost all viewers of television seek emotional involve ment, just as they seek information. But there are many kinds of emotional involvement; and the response of most viewers seems to indicate that emotional involvement Is a ^In the same sense that the audience member of legitimate theater seeks emotional involvement. 83 more important factor in their viewing than the desire for information. It is rather widely recognized within the television Industry that the success of a program is often, in fact usually, closely related to its emotional content. Even in news programs, which theoretically might be con sidered purely informational, the wise producer seeks to present the news in an emotional context, and to select for presentation those news items which can be expected to elicit a response. The general theory is that the viewer finds great opportunities in the events on the screen for fantasy and the viewer finds a compensation for life which the real world does not seem able to offer any more. Life is often complex and confusing, the ultimate rules and purposes of society difficult to discern. But by watching television the viewer may, for a short time at least, escape into a fantasy world where all the rules are obvious and under stood, a simple, easy, comprehensible world. In television he can enjoy his wish-fulfillment, and through fantasy he gains his ideal with no problems. It is much as if the viewer were able to transport himself from the complex modern world he lives in to the simple, emotionally satisfying primitive world of his chlldhood--a world in which everyone understands his place and purpose perfectly. S k Of course, the valuable aspect of role playing In fantasy should not be overlooked. Certain aspects of fantasy can help the individual master an understanding of other roles. Fantasy The relationship of reality to fantasy is a unique 2 one In television. Television offers escape In the form of wish-fulfillment, the Individual achieves his ideal without making any demands on himself. The mature person may accept the ideal as unattain able, but never relaxes in his attempt to achieve it. On a primitive level the viewer's gratification is found in the process of wish-fulfillment. That is, he sees a teleplay character winning fame, power, riches, or a mate such as he will never find in his own environment. So he settles for a fantasy wish-fulfillraent, one that he can Imagine as the fruits of his own prowess. For some, life's burden is unbearable--unlesa they can lay it aside for a time while they dwell in the make-believe world of tele vision. Behind all of the psychological factors, no matter what their nature, lies this phenomenon of fantasy. Television encourages this eidetic imagery. Fantasy, the 2 J. P. Mayer, Sociology of Film (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., I9I 4 . 8), p. 67* Discussion of fantasy on films; the principles apply to television. 85 world of day-dreaming, the building of castles in the air, serves the purpose of releasing emotions that have been repressed because they are socially unacceptable. Prom the time of his entrance into the world, man experiences impulses that he must learn to alter and divert. These impulses, because of social demands, are not allowed immediate or direct translation into behavior. Rather each individual learns the manner of expression which gives greatest promise of social acceptance as well as being compatible with the maintenance of his own self esteem. Psychological literature is extensive in regard to the ways in which ego-defense mechanisms may operate to reconcile impulse gratification with social acceptance. To relieve this emotional pressure, man resorts to fantasy. Fantasy is basic to all the arts, not merely the basis of childhood play. Without it, imagination could not lend itself to artistic creation. A successful television program is one which has tapped the unconscious needs of a large number of people. ("Success* is used here in the sense of commercial success, which is equated with the size of the audience.) Therefore, the producer or sponsor who wishes his program to appeal and attract the largest possible audience can virtually predetermine its success by taking two measures: 86 1. Discover the nature of the most prevalent frustrations or hidden emotions. 2. Design his program to tap these emotions, these "universal" hidden aggressions and impulses. This is tantamount to the making of such a serious study of the viewer that all programs are built and planned for his benefit. Television is capable of doing this and more. It rates above all other media in its ability to get people excited, stimulated and imaginative. The viewer expects to become involved emotionally for then he is completely captivated. The fact exists that where people share a common culture, they are likely to share common dreams. When the producer gains a wide audience for his show, he has tapped this reservoir of common dreams. He may do it well or ill, but the size of his audience has psychological significance in itself. Many programs would not enjoy much popularity in a society whose aspirations were directed toward different values. Reality The popularity of television reflects an increasing "visual-mindedness" in modern man. Television's signifi cance as a communications medium can be found in its power to make vicarious experience more "real" to the audience than any other medium. Lippmann pointed this out long 87 before the advent of television: Photographs have the kind of authority over imagination today, which the printed word had yesterday, and the spoken word before that* They seem utterly real* They come, we imagine, directly to us without human meddling, and they are the most effortless food of the mind conceivable*3 When the picture also moves, its authority is advanced* This is even more true of a live television pro gram than of a motion picture, which lacks live television's sense of immediacy and, to that extent, of reality. It gives the viewer the feeling of the importance of what happens simultaneously in different places. This feeling of reality is found in statements by viewers: "Television makes everything seem so real," "Everything comes to life In television." "I feel I'm part of the experience I see in the screen." "Seeing is believing." Even the most cursory observation demonstrates that the vast majority of television viewers, adult and adoles cent, in some degree ascribe "reality" to what they see* Television's seeming reality and its effortlessness make it a unique instrument for providing the information to improve the concept of reality, but this very quality Is at once a virtue and a hazard. It is, In fact, this same 3 Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (New York: Macmillan and Company, 1922), p. 9^. 88 quality that enables television so easily to distort the picture of reality. Television has the power of persuad ing the viewer that what he sees is actually taking place. A mature adult may consciously surrender to this persua sion, while retaining a greater or lesser degree of intel lectual or aesthetic detachment; but the immature person who has a limited background of social experience may have a more intense affective reaction. It is often argued that the television camera, because it produces a direct record of events, is Incapable of "editorializing.” But this argument shows a lack of awareness of both the technical and the artistic require ments of the medium. In the first place, before the tele vision picture can be "taken," someone has to decide what the camera is to see and what It is to ignore. This pro cess of selection by Its very nature requires the use of editorial judgment and this could distort reality. The simple, easily answered question of whether or not audiences respond to the influence of television be comes a complex one when investigation inquires into the nature and the extent of such response in terms of factors involved. What in other fields of investigation might emerge as a standard constellation of cogent factors is here multiplied into a veritable galaxy. In the one case, an investigator is relatively certain that normal methods of Investigation will lead to significant disclosures. 89 In the other, one faces a bewildering complex of vital data that defies analysis in summation form. It is Important to note that the individual's approach to the act of viewing does not Include cognitive awareness of the psychological factors Involved in the process. For the majority of persons, they are simply there; felt, but not actually differentiated and recog nized as such. If the viewer's approach is simply to seek enter tainment, without any direct plan but simply to check the channels and accept whatever strikes his fancy, desire for information probably is at its lowest, and the impulse can be analyzed as predominantly a pleasure-seeking motive. Parenthetically, it does not seem beyond the bounds of reason to note that, for some Individuals to whom tele vision has become almost a way of life, the pleasure- seeking Impulse is losing even that emotional content as it takes on more and more the characteristics of an actual tropism. It Is the viewing act Itself, once the viewer has selected a presentation and has settled himself to devote his attention to the picture, that one encounters an interplay of psychological factors of greet complexity. Nevertheless, close observation on the part of a number of persons Interested in the subject have disclosed that 90 there are several such factors which within limits appear to be constant.^ In fact, inasmuch as these observable factors exhibit not only constancy of incidence but also the preponderance of effect on the viewer, it seems a valid assumption to regard them as basic in the situation. Herewith, then, is a list of these psychological factors which unquestionably have more than fleeting in fluence and effect on the typical television viewer. The list does not purport to be definitive. It comprises, simply, those traits, emotional reactions, emotional atti tudes, cognitive processes, and so on, which observably are in evidence in the majority of cases to the extent that they cannot be ignored. It seems convenient and not illogical to group these various factors into classes wherein they exhibit a certain amount of overlapping in scope and in effect in terms of viewer reactions. Identification In this commonly recognized form of emotional involvement the viewer identifies himself with the people in the story. This is probably the most important single type of emotional involvement found in television, no matter what type of program is considered. Some observers believe that it is the major factor in all viewing. In ^See bibliography for books related to this subject. 91 watching drama the viewer tends to identify himself with the hero, and all starring roles are so designed that this can occur• In quiz shows, the viewer "identifies” with the contestant and his struggles. In profile or expose shows he Identifies with the subject whose life is laid bare. Other types of emotional involvement may be, and usually are, present at the same time, but the identification factor is paramount. The wise producer, or writer, knows that identification is essential to his program. One of the first questions is often "Can the audience identify with the hero?" There is sometimes found a confusion as to the nature of identification. Place, time, age, social or economic status, occupatlon--factors such as these seem to have little if any connection with it. A small boy can easily imagine himself a Superman, or a Roman gladiator. A retired plumber's helper living In Brooklyn has no difficulty Identifying with Sergeant Bllko. A middle- aged housewife with sagging chin takes one look at new feminine stars and has no trouble identifying herself with the heroine. Barnouw states that a wish is at the heart of every identification. If a character behaves toward others in a way we would not wish to behave, we reject the identifi cation, If we must reject all sides of a situation, 92 we withdraw from the story. If we do not take part emotionally in it, there is no story, no drama. There nust be early opportunity for identification with at least one character.-* If the protagonist behaves in a way the viewer does not wish to, the viewer will not identify. He rejects the story, and if asked about it he will assert that it lacked emotional value. What he means is that it was not congruent with his own emotional pattern. Still the drama might be congruent with someone else's emotional pattern. Identification Is a basic factor in the success of any television program. Identification Is the magic wand of the professional dream-raaker. He waves it, this wieldy tool, and the audience is transported into the make-believe world gliranering on the screen, transmogrified into the hero of the drama--each member of the audience shedding his own individuality and personality like cast-off gar ments • Then, for the duration of the story, the audience identifies with the hero; actually is that hero. This carries with it peculiar psychological rewards for the audience. Each individual can forget his problems-- physical, financial or whatever; can be relieved temporarily of the tensions, the obsessions, the frustrations of real life; can savor the heady wine of success, with the hero, ^Erik Barnouw, Mass Communication, Television, Radio. Film, Press (New Vork: Rinehart and Company, 1956), P. ?5* 93 as In a vicariousness of ultimate intimacy he solves pro blems, overcomes all opposition, and dons the raimant of the well-dressed hero: a lush wreath of laurel. Whether or not the audience is aware of It, the entire procedure Is a charade and for each member a proxy charade, but that does not alter its essential quality. As the hero wrests victory from defeat to earn some priceless reward, so does the viewer. At this stage it is no longer a matter of sharing the reward with the hero--the viewer is the hero; It Is his reward. The charade provides, very largely for the audi- once, a second chanca--a phenomenon characteristic of virtually all successful communication. Therefore, to the extent that the story situation epitomizes similar real-life situations for the audience, but with the dif ference that now the second chance means a happier end ing, to that extent Identification supervenes. Lost battles now can be won. Stifling taboos can be flouted. The conventions, restrictions, proscriptions and inhibitions drop behind, like the burned-out stages of a space-borne rocket. Caspar Milquetoast tries on the cape of Superman, and to his agreeable surprise finds it a perfect fit. 91+ The entire mechanism is a refinement of the primi tive, vague, wish-fulfiIlment type of fantasy or day-dream ing, He can imagine himself to be everything that in real life he is not; but the wish assumes no disciplined pattern and, unsustained by any sort at all of allied sensory impressions, fades in and out, a fleeting surge in a non pictorial fog. Dissatisfied and unhappy, with one frustration heaped on another frustration, the audience individually and collectively turns to television, along with other entertainment media. There they find what they cannot provide for themselves: the skillful creations of profes sional dreamers and dream-makers--writers who create dramatic stories— dreaming on a scale of sensorial virtuos ity beyond their capacity. While this discussion has referred specifically to the television drama, Its application to other types of television programs is so readily apparent as hardly to require explanation. In watching a quiz show, the viewer shares the purpose of the person trying to answer the ques tion, He struggles and worries with the contestant, not the master of ceremonies or anyone else on camera. To an extent the viewer even identifies with the news commentator --as is evidenced when the man on camera fumbles his lines or has to cough, and the viewer feels embarrassed. The viewer Identifies with the singer of popular ballads and 95 h la y e a r n in g f o r h i s l o s t lo v e ; i f he did n o t, th e song m ight sound p r e t t y s i l l y . Where i d e n t i f i c a t i o n f a i l s com p l e t e l y , the v iew er e i t h e r s w it c h e s to a n o th er ch an n el or tu r n s h i s s e t o f f e n t i r e l y . But th e r e i s l i t t l e doubt t h a t th e f a c t o r o f i d e n t i f i c a t i o n i s u s u a l l y s t r o n g e s t and most a c t i v e in t e l e v i s i o n drama. Another a s p e c t o f i d e n t i f i c a t i o n i s the phenomenon o f the s p e c t a c l e o f a v iew er who n o t o n ly i s the h e r o -c h a r a c t e r f o r the d u r a tio n o f the p r e s e n t a t i o n , but a l s o c o n t in u e s t o be th a t f i c t i o n a l p erson f o r a p e r io d o f time a f t e r the fad e o u t lias c lo s e d th e normal l i n e o f com m u n ica tio n on t h i s l e v e l . How lo n g the tim e la g i s f o r a r e tu r n to th e r e a l world i s c o n j e c t u r a l : i t depends on th e i n d i v i d u a l Im m ediately c o n c er n e d . Where v ie w e r s do i d e n t i f y w ith th e c h a r a c t e r s in a t e l e v i s i o n drama, se x of th e v iew er i s an im p ortan t f a c t o r , as might be a n t i c i p a t e d . Men i d e n t i f y th e m se lv e s w it h male c h a r a c t e r s , women w ith fem ale c h a r a c t e r s . There i s a l s o an i n d i r e c t form o f I d e n t i f i c a t i o n , i n w hich p a r e n ts i d e n t i f y w ith t h e i r c h i ld r e n . The woman who has abandoned a l l hope o f any glam orous e x i s t e n c e o f h e r own can s t i l l e sca p e r e a l i t y by i d e n t i f y i n g h e r o f f s p r i n g w ith th e happy c r e a tu r e s t h a t f l i t a c r o s s the s c r e e n .^ ^M. Thorp, America a t th e Movies (New Haven: Y a le U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1939)j P* 78. 96 Handel gives the following condensed statements of respondents as examples of conscious and obvious self- identification, and while the reference is to motion pic tures, it applies equally to television: As far as I'm concerned there are many wonderful female stars but it is easier for me to put myself in the place of a male actor and understand and ap preciate his portrayal. This I believe is more important than the admiration felt for a female star. Male, age group 13-29, copy writer. He plays roles which could happen to any man, you get a picture of yourself. These players are the screen version of what a man would like to be. Male, age group 30— , army captain. When watching the screen I probably watch the women more, but In picking my favorite I'll pick my own her, that is, a person who typifies the things I'd like to be. Male, age group 15-29, salesman. They are smart, capable actresses, they live their parts. They make you feel that their roles they act are real, as if they were living it, and so they draw you into the story and make you feel as if you were part of it. Female, age group 18-29, nurse. Like the characters they portray on the screen. The reason for men liking men is that they try to picture themselves in their place, can't do that with a female star. Male, age group 18-29, furniture finisher. Every woman desires to have the qualities of their favorite stars, naturally a woman can't pick a man as her favorite. I admire these stars and would like to be like them. Female, age group 3O-l4 . i 1, secretary. 97 These actresses I mentioned are great. They make me feel every emotion of their parts, I feel as if it were myself on the screen experiencing what they do , rj Female, age group saleswoman, Handel finds that not only does the difference in the psychological makeup of men and women cause a greater interest in players of one’s own sex, but this interest extends deeply into the type of parts normally played by men and women* Women usually live emotional parts, while men play parts requiring action and movement and demonstrat ing power. The psychology of the male member of the audience is closer to that of the male character on the screen than to the woman on the screen. The same is true for women, of course. The result is that the television viewer is normally more interested in the problems and reactions of his sexual counterpart on the electronic screen than in his sexual opposite. It is perhaps not surprising to discover that emotional affinity is found more often in women than it is in men, Handel found that the following responses of interviewees illustrated emotional affinity: It's easier and more natural for a man to understand and appreciate a male actor’s part. Male, age group 18-29, unemployed. Like male actors better, their parts make place for more action and adventure, things a man might do 7 Leo A, Handel, Hollywood Looks at Its Audience (Urbana, Illinois: University of illlnois Press, 1950), pp. 11*6-1 *7. 98 himself. Believe men as a whole prefer action to emotion, while women prefer emotion to action. Therefore, men prefer male stars, and women female stars. Male, age group 30-M+* baker. Their acting abilities, their personalities, their imaginations are outstanding. Prefer pic tures with dramatic backgrounds to action pictures. Female, age group 30-l*l|., secretary.° Viewers also generally tend to consider the acting abilities of their own sex superior: The male actor has to be taken on his merit. The female can ride on glamour. Prefer acting to looks. Believe that the male star brings something on the screen which men would like to be or do. Male, age group 18-29* contractor. Portrayals are natural and real. True to life. Generally consider male actors better than female, the women can be aided by clothes and makeup, etc. Male, age group 18-29, assistant cafeteria manager.9 They are good character actresses, think the men are mostly terrible* Like the parts they play, pre fer a good dramatic piece to sin action story. Female, age group 30-J|i|, salesgirl. Think majority of females are better actresses than men are actors. Women are more emotional than men, like emotional roles better, as portrayed by women on screen. A good emotional actress makes you feel as if you were living her part yourself. Female, age group 30-I4 . I 4 ., housewife, photographer.io Self-identification further manifests itself in the form of idealization and idolization of the actor or 8Ibid., p. 11*8. ^Ibid.. p. li*9* 10Ibid. 99 actress. Again, it is usually the viewer'a own sex that he or she identifies with. Handel reports on this matter as follows: Like the way they act, like the parts they portray, admire their personalities, not so much their looks. Female, age group 30-ljij., nurse. Think they are the kind of people I would like to know, or even be like. I admire them. Female, age group 12-17, student. A woman pictures herself in their place. Admire them and would like to be like them. Female, age group 18-29, dress shop manager. Most women are not too imaginative. They like to have someone to 'be like,1 therefore, they choose someone of their own sex. Favorites play mature roles. Women must have someone to emulate, styles, certain characteristics. ^ Female, age group 18-29, secretary. An interesting situation, with added emotional involvement, exists in the case of the daytime serials, or 1 1 soap operas.” They have an almost entirely feminine audience. The women of this audience readily identify with the soap opera heroine, who is usually portrayed as a woman of better than average intelligence whose suffer ings are the fault of others, never of herself. (It does not occur to the audience that if the heroine really were a woman of intelligence and stable personality, she would make better friends.) The viewer transfers to the heroine her own troubles and frustrations, and discovers to her delight that she is not responsible for them. The very “ ibid 100 f r u s t r a t i o n c r e a te d by the American dream o f s u c c e s s i s r e f l e c t e d i n th e soap o p e r a . Broad o u t l i n e s o f p o l i c y have appeared i n t h e s e program s. The s t o r y may n o t in c lu d e e v en one e m o t io n a lly mature member, f o r th en th e r e would be no c r i s i s s i t u a t i o n . The typ e o f woman who c o n s i s t e n t l y f o l l o w s the soap opera fin d s g r e a t su b sta n c e i n th e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f p r o v id in g h er own p o r t r a i t . She t r a n s f e r s her la c k of s u c c e s s t o th e woman p erform in g on th e s c r e e n . T r o u b le , as p o r tr a y e d , i s n ot o f h er making and can alw ays be blamed on someone e l s e . Husbands who do n o t u n d erstan d what t h e i r w ives e x p e r ie n c e may f i n d th e m se lv e s c o n v ic te d and th e o b j e c t o f com p lete i n t o l e r a n c e . C h a ra cters who make up th e c a se in soap op eras are p la c e d in s e t t i n g s o f a m is e r a b le s i t u a t i o n i n w hich th e y must c o n t i n u a l l y r e a c t im m aturely t o c o n tin u e th e p l o t . The p l o t p a t t e r n s are so slow and l a c k in g in dram atic m o t iv a tio n th a t o n ly th o se a u d ien ce members w ith c e r t a i n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s can c o n tin u e to endure them. Women i n a l l s o c i a l s t r a t a and w ith a l l d e g r e e s o f e d u c a tio n w atch, but women w ith l i t t l e form al e d u c a tio n are more a d d ic t e d . The v ie w in g i n c r e a s e s as the d e s c e n t ta k e s p la c e i n th e so c io ec o n o m ic s c a l e . Through th e p r o c e s s women g a in a d v ic e I p on how to s o l v e t h e i r problem s o f t h e i r own l i v e s . c H. H erzog, member o f r e s e a r c h s t a f f o f TlcCann- E r ic k s o n , gave e x c e l l e n t exam ples o f t h i s p r o c e s s in 101 U n f o r t u n a t e ly th e s o l u t i o n s to l i f e ' s problem s on th e s c r e e n are h a r d ly r e a l i s t i c approaches to th e f i c t i o n a l c r i s e s t h a t ta k e p l a c e . I d e n t i f i c a t i o n and t r a n s f e r e n c e , o f c o u r s e , a c c o u n t f o r much o f th e a u d ien ce a p p e a l. Women can s e e how lo n g s u f f e r i n g and s e l f - s a c r i f i c i n g th e y a r e , and have dram atic e v id e n c e o f how men a r e th e ca u se s o f a l l t h e i r t r o u b l e s . The men are weak and o f t e n t o t a l l y to blame f o r a l l p r o b lem s. These programs a r e packed w ith a d v ic e much o f wliich th e v ie w e r f e e l s i s r e l i a b l e and a p p l ic a b l e i n h e r f a m i l y . C h ild ren are much b e t t e r than hu sb and s. Many women c la im t h a t th e y have been g r e a t l y h e lp e d i n knowing how to h a n d le t h e i r c h i l d r e n . E m otional detachm ent comes e a s i e r t o th e i n t e l l e c t u a l women members o f th e a u d ien ce th an to the woman o f l e s s e d u c a t io n . The r e c o g n i t i o n t h a t th e p ic t u r e i s f a l s e c a u se s r e j e c t i o n and a tu r n in g away t o som ething more con s t r u c t i v e ; p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n community a c t i v i t i e s , r e a d in g and stu d y g r o u p s . C o n sid e r a b le stu d y has been made on th e p a r t o f the t e l e v i s i o n In d u str y w ith th e I n t e n t i o n o f ch an gin g t h i s v a s t p o t e n t i a l o f tim e and p r o d u c tio n now d e v o te d to soap opera s e r i a l s . There i s a daytim e a u d ie n c e t o be won th ro u gh th e change of daytim e program ing. W ilbur Schramm (ed.), The P ro c ess and E f f e c t s o f Mass Com- n»3Ql c a t io n (Urbana, 1 1 1 .: t J n iv e r s it y o f Illinois Press, I955T7ppT 50-55. 102 To the dedicated soap opera viewer there is a kind of wistful thinking which accompanies her response. It amounts to the Cinderella formula where she might be suddenly taken away from her life of routine and be brought to one of great spectacle and recognition. Many programs are pivoted on this theme and have thrilled the daytime viewer for a number of years. The writer and producer of daytime serials has a responsibility to the viewer. There can be no doubt that a large portion of the viewers take these programs seriously and seek to apply . . . them in their own lives. Much of this application seems somewhat dubious if measured by the yardstick of real mastery of personal problems. No mass communication can itself be used against abused application. . . • The writers of daytime serials must live up to the obligations to which the influence of their creations, however unintended coranits them.13 Self-gratlfication Following the all important factor of identifica tion are these other factors of emotional involvement among which is self-gratification. Many persons watch television for one form or another of self-gratification. One of the most obvious types of self-gratification is humor, which gratifies by presenting the frustration of frustration. The psychologist tells us that when we laugh, we are enjoying the reversal of frustration in its most contact form. 13Ibid., p. 55. 103 The situations of successful farce are akin to those of tragedy, A man dangling on the edge of a roof makes us howl with laughter in one film, squirm with agony in another. The emotions tapped are the same. Different moods are different aspects of disguise, The reference is, of course, to the "disguise" in which the incident portrayed is seen by the viewer*s subconscious. The audience finds humor only when its members can definite ly relate themselves in some way to what they see and hear. Some types of humor provide self-gratification by allowing the viewer to feel superior to the character he is watching--without being conscious of this feeling, naturally. A comedian's bumbling fools and incompetent drunks are examples, and so are the many "situation comedies" in which the male head of the household is por trayed as incapable of coping with the simplest domestic crises, from which he usually has to be rescued by his wife or children. The viewer can always consider himself capable of surmounting these situations and, therefore, as being superior to the character who is the butt of the joke. Certain kinds of comedy programs are almost meaning less to lower status people. The sophisticated type of subtle humor of some programs is just not understood since the symbol system used is not presented in a form under standable to these groups. ^Barnouw, op. clt., p. 68. 10k Intellectual aelf-gratification may be realized by watching mystery or quiz programs* The viewer derives considerable Intellectual gratification from guessing “whodunit' 1 or knowing the answers to the questions in quiz programs. The resultant feeling of superiority is especially noticeable in certain programs where the audience is given the answers before the panel tries to guess them. The prestige factor that attaches to certain pro grams is another means of self-gratification. It is quite likely that a certain number of persons watch "high brow" presentations not because they particularly enjoy the pro grams themselves, but because doing so places them in cer tain circles as persons of taste and intellect. These people might be called "program droppers," just as some people are "name droppers." They would rather talk about it than watch it, but to do the former they must do the latter. This form of self-gratification, It might be noted, is an example of the Interweaving of various types of motivation for watching television, since it involves not only a personal emotional factor but also the social factor of group or class Identification. Esthetic Satisfaction Many viewers are in search of beauty. They may find it In music, the graceful movements of the dance, 10^ colorful settings, artistic camera compositions, a well- turned phrase of dialogue, a pleasant face or figure. Variety shows, with their lavish settings and exotic cos- tunes, make a particular appeal to this emotional lure. For many beauty is a relative thing. If they consider their own lives drab, dull and uninteresting, television may help them escape temporarily into a world where men are better-looking, women more beautiful and better dressed, homes more luxuriously appointed* Certainly the factor of gratification i3 almost universal as a consideration in the viewing act. It is doubtful that a person would continue to repeat a perform ance from which he derived no element of gratification. And again one is able to distinguish different degrees of intensity. The simplest and least profound probably is the most common emotional reactlon--emotional involvement. If the viewer is given a period of diversion during which his attention is not directed to the grimmer matters of the life-struggle, he is involved emotionally, and that is what he sought, consciously or not. If the entertainment Is adequate in quality and in quantity to eliminate any element of disappointment, then the viewer "wraps up" the experience with a glow of satis faction that leaves him with the "good" feeling that is a prevalent desire. The satisfaction can range from that io6 shared with, say, the hero in a heavily plotted story when he has completely vanquished the villain; to the type of esthetic satisfaction which is distilled from the subtler artistic values that some viewers seek. Adventure Certainly the term needs neither definition nor explanation. All viewers experience it. As to its appli cation to the television viewer, adventure does not sub side to an inactivity state the moment the viewer has turned on his set, has seen it in operation, has selected a program to watch, and so on. It continues to operate, all through the chosen program; or, for that individual, so long as the presentation holds his attention. If his attention sags far enough, of course, he ceases to want to know more about that particular presentation; but curiosity is in resurgence the moment he abandons the one program to seek another. The common human trait of curiosity often involves the lives of others— particularly those details that are ordinarily encompassed in what society calls one's "pri vate lifen--this Is a form of emotional involvement. Where television acts as a gossip, as a peep-hole into private lives, it responds to this need. Closely allied with adventure is anticipation, which to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the 107 individual, is a foretasting, a pre-experiencing on the imaginative level, of what he expects to view* Sociability Viewers who have little opportunity for personal contacts may be drawn to the electronic screen by a simple desire for friendship or companionship, a voice to break the silence, a picture to disturb the monotony of four walls. The case of the housewife who turns her television set on while she cleans or does housework in other rooms, ’ unable to see the picture, is not uncommon. Television helps keep the bedridden, the crippled, the aged in contact with a world that swirls around them just out of reach. Such viewers often come to consider television personali ties as personal friends who enter the home as visitors. Thus, there exists a segment of the viewing public which looks on the television set as u sort of doorway through which step into their homes to communicate directly and personally with them, the famous, talented, charming persons who have the knack of seeming to hold intimate converse with each Individual viewer. Here the factor of gregariousness comes into effect; and in the case of shut- ins and others who for one reason or another are limited in their contacts with other persons, unquestionably tele vision supplies a very real need in their lives. Thus, then, for them television means human contact. 108 with none of the embarrassing or distressing results and reactions that actual contact with other persons might involve. It means friendship for them; over and over they are told by the objects of their friendly regard that ”We are friends”; that ”You must write to me”; and so on. Before long a sort of intimacy often develops that trans cends anything which would be likely to happen in real life. The viewer in such cases is in the position of tak ing all and giving none; he does not have to compete with others for the friendship so precious to him; he knows that this friendship cannot possibly harm him or hurt him- 30 it is an ideal thing. In today’s Industrial society, the man of the family Is usually absent from the house during the day. The children are in school. The wife Is left alone. Far In the past are the days when families worked together in field or shop. Out of the housewife’s loneliness arises a new form of entertainment. One of its chief panjandrums is Arthur Godfrey. A Chicago advertising agency hired a panel of eight social scientists to watch television. Here is the gist of their report on Godfrey, as given by the agency. Psychologically Mr. Godfrey’s morning program creates the illusion of the family structure. All the conflicts and complex situations of family life are taken out and what is left is an amiable, com fortable family scene--with one important omission. 109 There Is no mother In the Godfrey family. This gives the housewife— viewer the opportunity to fill that role. In her fantasy Godfrey comes into her home as Bin extra member of her family; and she fancies her self a specially invited member of his family.l£ The ability of certain personalities to gather mass audiences is dependent on class identification. The com munication process is certainly most successful if the speech and mannerisms are those of the middle class. Viewers feel they are "just like" myself and the person ality is not talking down to them. Emotional Detachment A person’s emotional detachment Increases as he develops his intellect. Being less naive, the well-edu cated person views a television drama with more objectivity. He is accustomed to observing and analyzing his own reac tions, even as they occur. When he submits to the appeal of a drama, he may be fully aware of what he is doing at the same time. When drama is false to life, when it presents a picture of life that the viewer recognizes as false, he is likely to reject it. To avoid causing this kind of emo tional detachment, producers make great effort to assure "realism" in settings, costuming, props and the like. Dialogue, too, must be realistic. The one area where 15 ^Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders (New York: David McKay Company, Inc."]! 19^7)"> P* 21±, 110 realism is likely at all to be overlooked is in the plot structure. Television has made few attempts as yet to develop a nonrealistic type of dramatic presentation, although the few examples of stylized production which the industry ha3 almost unthinkingly accepted--some of them because of technical difficulties that forbade other solu- tiona--hint at the possibility that non-realistic drama might ultimately be more congenial to the electronic screen than realism. Realism, after all, has simply been copied from motion pictures. Another cause of emotional detachment is found in the viewer’s social group, and his desire for conformity. If his group or group he aspires to, all "look down on” television, and he values their opinions and esteem, he too will turn up his nose at it. His concern for acceptance may outweigh his desire to follow his individual prefer ences. One suspects this in many cases of self-styled intellectuals, as was suggested above. The intercomunica tion between individuals shall always be remembered--a main topic is television and objective discussion is often necessary for group conformity. Still another source of emotional detachment is the viewer's technical knowledge. Few people "in the business" of television watch any program without consciously holding off emotional involvement, to some extent, in order to analyze it. This group, however, is too small to be taken Ill Into account from the producer’s or sponsor's point of view. Thus it can be seen that although a television program Is in reality presented to every individual of the audience, the response is different for each viewer. Since each member of the audience has different social backgrounds, interests, attitudes, each pattern of response is idiosyncratic for each individual. It is a great mis take to classify all viewers together in the sense that they would constitute a homogeneous group. The social backgrounds of the viewers must be considered when judging their attitudes toward life and their reactions to tele vision. To the broadcaster, this could mean that by analyz ing the motivations and personal values of the audience by social class, he could design his television programs to appeal directly to certain segments of the population. He could then tailor them to his market. To accomplish this he must know the processes by which viewers select pro grams, and how specific programs affect them. Why do they watch? How do they use this medium of communication? What personal values do they seek when they turn the tele vision dial? Since individuals try to gratify their individual needs by selection of certain programs in preference to others, this becomes the important thing to explain in the communications process. The television 112 viewer responds to many emotional appeals. Television pre sents limitless creative opportunities to the programers with the knowledge and imagination to make use of them. A program may elicit many different responses for all the different groups it reaches. The wise advertiser will wish to know what these responses are and relate them to various programs• In selecting programs, the viewer, of course, does not consciously analyze his own motives as outlined. Nor is he ordinarily moved by one such motive alone. His variant program selections are the result of the interaction of many motives reflecting the complexity of age, sex, socioeconomic position, group interests, educational background, and personal emotional drives and interests. Many of these motivations will obviously overlap in the complex ways of reasons for selection. It is easily seen that, in one sense or another, almost all the possible motivations come under the heading of vicarious experience. For that, in essence, is pre cisely what television is. Participation of the audience (except for the studio audience) is necessarily limited to the passive role of looking and listening and feeling. CHAPT2R V SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This dissertation was a study of the differences of program selections which are made by television viewers and then related to their social backgrounds, interests, attitudes and social class. It utilized program types rather than specific programs and concern rests in combina tion of program types as related to total viewing behavior. The hypothesis was formulated that different social classes would have different viewing patterns as to program selections. This was verified by the study in which it is shown that social classes reflect actual and significant differences in patterns of viewing. It has been shown that in any given community, the various groupings into social class produce patterns of association, behavior, taste, consumption, and other social characteristics. The type of influence which an individual receives from any given program is determined by his vari ous idiosyncrasies and social experience. This basic fact suggests a number of implications which can be expressed In the following generalizations: 1. Program selections by types can be represented by a group ranking, determined by such factors as age, education, family size, and occupation. Ill* 2. More specifically there is a pronounced and consistent patterning of the population according to pro gram selections when social class is used as the basis. 3* As might be expected, it was found that viewers of the lower social classes use television more for enter tainment, while those in the upper social classes tend to use it less for entertainment and more for information. I 4 .. It is clear that many psychological factors are involved in the viewing process itself. At the present stage of communication research, these factors cannot be statistically evaluated. For the first study the method used was the utili zation of a panel of 1,200 homes in which age, sex, educa tion, size of family were related to daytime and evening program selections. The data show that the preferences of the groups are significantly different. The selections made during the evening do not show the differences that might be expected. The second study investigated the relationship be tween social class and program selections. A total of I 4.67 telephone calls were made in a one-hour period. A variety of program types were available at this hour. The respondents were asked the occupation and highest grade of education possessed by head of household. Social class of head of household was determined by the use of Hollingshead*s Index of Social Position. Respondents were 115 classified according to this index into one of five social classes and the classes were related to program type of selections. The analysis did reveal a general pattern of association but no clear cut distinctions could be drawn. This was possibly due to the great popularity of two pro grams whose audiences would undoubtedly show a large over lap in class preferences* The third study consisted of a purposive sample of twenty-five men in social class I. The distinctive pattern of viewing preferences left no doubts about viewing pre ferences compared with those of other classes. It has been shown that various forms of entertain ment do not determine taste; rather, a person1s tastes con trol the kind of entertainment he chooses. The audience member selects from the television's offerings those which he believes to be harmonious with his likes. Since he is constantly changing, as he moves from one experience to another, and his tastes change accordingly, the audience member would be at a loss to give reason for his selection, because it has so often hung on such a slender thread. Further, it has been demonstrated that specific types of drama, such as fantasy, have some bearing on psychological behavior of the audience. A review of the study shows the following facts: 116 The first study shows that more older than younger women prefer quiz and audience participation programs. This same type of program is also favored among the least educated. The preference for variety programs is almost equally divided between the different levels of the educa tional groups. The suspense programs are favored most by the younger housewives and least by the older ones. These types of programs are also favored by those whose educa tion does not go beyond high school level. Comparisons of audiences according to family 3ize show that preferences for these kinds of programs increase in proportion to the number of children in the family* Western programs are favored by those who have some elementary or h ig h school education. At the college level these programs show a drop in pooularity. Actually the differences in the preferences of these groups for westerns, whether half hour or hour-long, is slight. The age of housewives does have a definite relationship to the popularity of westerns. The younger age groups favor them. Audience comparisons by family size show a preference for westerns increases as the family size increases. The length of the western program seems to make little differ ence in its popularity. 117 P r e fe r e n c e s f o r s i t u a t i o n comedy do n o t d i f f e r s i g n i f i c a n t l y , a c c o r d in g to th e a u d ien ce in d e x e s . Only th e f a m i l i e s w ith more than one c h i l d show an i n c r e a s e in p r e fe r e n c e f o r t h i s kind o f show. I t s p o p u la r it y drops a t th e c o l l e g e l e v e l . The a d u lt s e r i a l i s pop ular w ith women o f a l l a g e s . The d i s t i n c t d i f f e r e n c e in p o p u la r it y o f t h e s e programs i s to be found a t the e d u c a t io n a l l e v e l of a u d ien ce members. The c o l l e g e - e d u c a t e d v iew er s are found to be a lm o st h a l f th e number o f th o s e not c o m p le tin g h ig h s c h o o l . The h ig h e r the e d u c a t io n , the low er th e p r e fe r e n c e f o r a e r i a l s . Audience com parisons by f a m ily s i z e show t h a t th e v ie w in g of c h i l d r e n ' s programs d u rin g th e day i n c r e a s e s in tremendous p r o o o r tio n to the number o f c h ild r e n i n the home. In th e ev en in g h ou rs, f a m i l i e s w ith two or more c h ild r e n show in c r e a s e d v ie w in g o f w este rn and a d ven tu re program s. Women dominate th e p e r ce n ta g e o f v ie w e r s of drama, and s in c e drama u s u a l l y d e a ls w ith m id d le -a g e grou p s, women, in t h i s age group, show a p r e fe r e n c e f o r i t . The t a s t e s and p r e fe r e n c e s o f the t e l e v i s i o n au d ien ce I n f lu e n c e o n ly i n d i r e c t l y th e d e c i s i o n s o f the men in charge o f program ing. As numbers on a r a t i n g s h e e t f o r a p a r t i c u l a r program, the v ie w e r s h a r d ly r e p r e s e n t a c o n t r o l l i n g f a c t o r . Sm all p r e ssu r e groups are u s u a l l y the o n ly groups heard from . 118 Audiences for any program seem to be partly deter mined by the specific day and time. The occupations of the viewers also often determine the number who can watch at a given period. The studies show that women viewers make up the largest audience during the morning hours when husbands are at work and children at school. This also applies to early afternoon. Men watch television more dur ing the evenings and on week-ends and holidays. Men viewers outnumber women viewers on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (sports events). All studies show that the heaviest viewing is done during the evening hours when peak viewing takes place by the whole family. Variety program viewing found its high rating in social classes III, IV and V, but differences between groups were not too significant, except ir the case of Class I households. General drama viewing was high in social classes II and III, especially III. Western drama viewing was high in social classes III and IV, especially class IV. The religious program viewing was too small at this hour to evaluate. In social class I results were as follows for men: sports won; second choice went to variety programs; third choice went to public service programs; fourth choice went to situation comedies, and last to westerns and dramas* Quiz shows, science shows, and movie reruns were very low 119 on the list. Television programing provides for a general over lapping of audience for selected programs. For example, two top programs with large audiences would naturally show an overlap of audience types. The program interests of certain audiences can cover a wide area. A compatibility of preferences takes place in which similar programs may appeal to fundamentally different interests of people com prising one audience. The major portion of the audience for a sophisti cated program comes from the upper class, but the upper class group will often be found watching a popular middle class program. In other words, if sponsors desire to reach the largest possible upper class audience, they would find that the middle class program of great popularity claims the attention of more of this group. An audience for a selected urogram may contain more of the upper class seg ments as long as the competing program Is of the lower class type, but the sophisticated program may have a com pletely different type of audience if it be on the air in competition with a more popular middle class program. An investigation was made of the psychological factors Involved in viewing television. Previous studies have interpreted the process as one in which people seek escape, emotional Involvement, information, or a combina tion of these. The psychological gratifications derived 120 from program ty p e s r e q u ir e c o n s id e r a b le u n d e r s ta n d in g . One f i n d i n g r e v e a ls t h a t as a p erso n d e v e lo p s h i s i n t e l l e c t , he may e x p e r ie n c e a g r e a t e r d e g r e e o f e m o tio n a l detach m en t. B ein g l e s s n a i v e , th e w e ll- e d u c a t e d p e r so n view s a t e l e v i s i o n drama w ith more o b j e c t i v i t y . However f o r the m a jo r ity , a secon d f i n d in g r e v e a ls t h a t e m o tio n a l in vo lv em en t i s m a n if e s t . There are many k in d s o f e m o tio n a l in v o lv em e n t; and the r e sp o n se o f most v ie w e r s seems to i n d i c a t e t h a t e m o tio n a l in v o lv em en t i s a more im portant f a c t o r i n t h e i r v ie w in g than th e d e s i r e f o r in f o r m a tio n . I t was found c o n v e n ie n t and n ot i l l o g i c a l t o group t h e s e v a r io u s f a c t o r s i n t o c l a s s e s w herein th e y e x h i b i t a c e r t a i n amount o f o v e r la p p in g in scop e and in e f f e c t i n terms o f v iew er r e a c t i o n s . In t h i s commonly r e c o g n iz e d form o f e m o tio n a l in v o lv em en t the v iew er i d e n t i f i e s h im s e lf w ith the p e o p le in the s t o r y . T h is Is p rob ab ly th e most Im portant s i n g l e type o f e m o tio n a l in v o lv em e n t found in t e l e v i s i o n , no mat t e r what typ e o f program i s c o n s id e r e d . Some o b s e r v e r s b e l i e v e th a t I t Is th e major f a c t o r in a l l v ie w in g . In w atching drama th e view er te n d s to i d e n t i f y h i m s e l f w ith th e h e r o , and a l l s t a r r i n g r o l e s are so d e sig n e d t h a t t h i s can o c c u r . In q u iz show s, the v ie w e r ’’i d e n t i f i e s " w ith th e c o n t e s t a n t and ills s t r u g g l e s . In p r o f i l e or exp ose shows he i d e n t i f i e s w ith th e s u b j e c t whose l i f e i s l a i d b a r e . 121 F o llo w in g th e a ll- I m p o r t a n t f a c t o r o f I d e n t i f i c a t i o n were th e s e o t h e r f a c t o r s o f e m o tio n a l In v olv em en t: S e l f - g r a t i f i c a t i o n i s p r o v id e d in one form or a n o th e r f o r many p erson s who watch t e l e v i s i o n . One o f th e most o b v iou s t y p e s o f s e l f - g r a t i f i c a t i o n i s humor, w hich g r a t i f i e s by p r e s e n t in g the f r u s t r a t i o n o f f r u s t r a t i o n . Many v ie w e r s are in se a r c h o f b e a u ty or e s t h e t i c s a t i s f a c t i o n . They may f i n d i t i n m u sic, th e g r a c e f u l movements o f the dan ce, c o l o r f u l s e t t i n g s , a r t i s t i c camera c o m p o s itio n s , a w e ll- t u r n e d phrase o f d ia lo g u e , a p le a s a n t f a c e or f i g u r e . Adventure as a form of emotional involvement wa3 found to operate for many programs. The attention of the viewer is maintained as long a3 his curiosity is aroused for new experiences. Sociability is important for the segment of the viewing public which look3 on the television set us a sort of doorway through which step into their homes to communi cate directly and personally with them, the famous, talented, charming persons who have the knack of seeming to hold intimate converse with each individual viewer. Recommendations T e l e v i s i o n network program ing, now i n i t s e l e v e n t h y e a r , has made r e g r e t t a b l y l i t t l e advancement or p r o g r e s s e d in accordan ce w ith i t s o p p o r t u n i t i e s . Programing 122 th a t e n t e r t a i n s f o r e n t e r t a in m e n t ’ 3 sake o n ly , has o f t e n r e p e l l e d r a th e r th an a t t r a c t e d a u d ie n c e s . The v i e w e r ’ s f u n c t i o n as a consumer does n o t c o n s t i t u t e th e sum and su b sta n c e o f h i s l i f e . Most t e l e v i s i o n programers t r y to s e r v e the i n t e r e s t o f most o f th e p e o p le most o f the tim e . The s a l e o f the s p o n s o r ’ 3 product i s th e b a s ic g o a l o f th e o p e r a t io n . T his means b r o a d c a s tin g to the " lo w e st common d enom in ator” in ord er t o g a in th e l a r g e s t a u d ie n c e . But t h i s approach can e v e n t u a l l y be s e l f - d e f e a t i n g w it h in i t s e l f . To do t h i s su b o r d in a te s programing to the s o l e end t h a t the au d ien ce s h a l l be l e f t w ith the i r r e s i s t i b l e urge t o go out and buy. Sameness of program c o n te n t and a r e l u c t a n c e o f sp on sors and p rod u cers t o v a r y , has been p r o t e s t e d by th e a u d ien ce to such a d e g ree th a t many have turned away from th e s e t s . T h is a p p lie s to an e a r l i e r g e n e r a l i z a t i o n r e f e r e n c e , th a t when th e f o r c e s which n orm ally make f o r s t a t u s o f r e in fo r c e m e n t are i n o p e r a t i v e , change i s l i k e l y to o c c u r . E vidence e x i s t s o f d eca d en ce, e sc a p ism and i n s u l a t i o n from th e r e a l i t i e s o f th e w orld in w hich p e o p le l i v e , and i t i s g e n e r a l l y r e c o g n iz e d th a t th e media o f mass com m u n ica tio n in a g iv e n cou n try r e f l e c t s the p o l i t i c a l , econom ic and s o c i a l c lim a t e i n w hich i t f l o u r i s h e s . Many t h in k in g members o f th e in d u s t r y have lo u d ly d e p lo r ed th e m e d io c r it y o f the e n te r ta in m e n t programs and th e la ck in 123 depth In general and many have advocated programs which can teach, Illuminate and even inspire. It clearly indi g ested that there is a constant battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference, and that this is television's opportunity to prove its usefulness. It has not helped to lament the faults of tele vision communication and the weakness of a society which permits it. The very critics who are needed to advance the medium are lost from the scene of its development by this action. The problem of our time is not control of mass media, but rather effective use and recognition of educa tional resources, directed at reinforcing that sense of the significant portion of society that is now lost from the medium. The influence of television should make the people who control Its art become aware of their respon sibility. Television Is a mobile dynamic force which repre sents one of the most effective means for communication of new knowledge, and for persuasion to use It. Today's com plex society is full of problems of an urgent nature both social and personal. It does not help the individual to take refuge by Isolation from reality in escapism. When the public Is adequately informed of problems and persuaded that they need solving, it often moves to meet them with intelligence and courage. 12k Leisure time has become synonymous with viewing time. The average American spends more time viewing tele vision than anything else except working and sleeping. Leisure time could help people discover themselves and the world in which they live. This is Indicative of more need for placing a premium on it. Some variable ratios have been established, that the lower the income bracket, and the les3 educated the viewer, the more he watches television. Undesirability of selection has been exerted where dis placement of interest and redistribution of leisure time activities could be channeled to some kind of viewer goal. Television is inexpensive, accessible and so neutral that it requires a minimum of effort. In regard to adequate use of leisure television viewing, its audience has been made up of a collection of widely differing individual tastes, of likes and dislikes; of environmental prejudices and loyalties, but one point remains: "Go after the lowest common denominator.” It should be recognized that there Is likely to be merit in the preferences of the minority. The broadcasters should hold an obligation to seek out that merit and not merely content themselves to program under the tyranny of the majority. For the majority’s wisdom--however wise-- is never the sum of all wisdom. Television should not be a one-way form of communication--in other words, consump tion without return of services. Art challenges its 125 consumer. The function of art is to make one aware of the Infinity of the human world and this process is cer tainly not advanced by the average television program. On the contrary, people are not allowed to appreciate what life is about. Television is naturally not the cause of this process, but its function should by now have some direction. Television functions as a contributing agent of reinforcing existing conditions. The low common denominator of popular taste ruins any art form by its nature and drives out attempts to present talent to a neutral mass. A developing art form needs serious talents to desire opportunities to present their work, but the pre sent television organization has no garrett for the pres sure of experimental and imaginative work. Also highly talented people are not satisfied to be mere button pushers with work that does not demand Intuition and inherent ability. These people are not attracted to a medium where self-expression does not exist, no matter what wages may be offered. Public affairs programs have been able to attract a higher degree of talent since the latitude is not always restricted by commercial interests that demand mass audiences. Documentary and other derivative programs of such nature have had a secure platform on which to build. Unfortunately, as the public affairs departments become 126 more Important to the networks, there grows a feeling that the programs should be made failure proof by pretested formulas and again, this stops imaginative and experimental works* Public service shows are not often using ”big names” without considering whether their talents advance the subject or detract from it. It is believed to be a generally accepted fact that a representative audience that is found viewing a public affairs program, especially the news, will often tune in for hardly any other programs of television. This change was accounted for as a difference in the social structure of the audience. On the positive side, television stays in tune with the times. Perhaps it did take off at a faster stride than it could maintain. Doubtless certain halts were Inevitable. By thoughtful evaluation imbalances should be righted. In its struggle for survival, television should be more representative of the times and the total audience which it has the privilege of serving, and should be con sidered a new opportunity to reach audiences previously deprived of vital products of all arts. The audience has apparently come to the saturation point in selectivity. Rising program costs require bigger audiences to justify them economically. Program medio crity, no matter how it can be accounted for, reduces audience; reduced audiences weaken the medium^ economics; weakened economics seem to bring on more mediocrity. 127 Neither the nomenclature nor the vernacular of this interests the audience member in his home. He does not care whether he is an asset or a liability to the broad casting industry, but he does care about what he wants to see on television. The audience has a responsibility in this picture, as a whole, which it has not yet lived up to or made more than feeble attempts to meet. The answer has not been found in retreat nor in silence. To continue to do this may mean the continued decline of this revolutionary instru ment of communi oati on. Audiences have been ignored by the broadcasters who have followed previous patterns and presented what they thought "the public wants," The audience "voice" should be heard. An attempt should be made to remain progressively ahead of the mass taste. New experiments in programing should be conducted so that the public, if it chooses, may develop new and different tastes. The day of the state ment by producers that they "give the public what it wants" should be over. By now it is quite evident that producers are giving the public only that which the audience has adjusted to. To always operate with the basis of mass and not class is a self defeating approach--to just cling to the success of past formulae which are even now becoming encrusted and immobile is inviting lack of survival. 128 With auch a large number of facts supported, and yet to be supported, and with a fuller study of the tele vision audience yet to be made, the selection of programs offers to broadcasters the greatest challenge in the history of mass communication. If a new approech to tele vision Is made by men who have a sincere interest in people, a desire to challenge their audiences and invite them to participate in the programs presented, to engage them emotionally, socially, and politically, to expose them to new and accumulated knowledge, then television would serve Its best purpose. This dedication combined with craftsmanship, could mean a new era in communication. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Barnouw, Erik. Mass Cororau.nlcation: Television, Radio, Film and Press'. New York: Rinehart and Co., Inc. Beville, Hugh IT. Jr. Social Stratification in the Radio Audience. Princeton: Prince ton University Press, Elumer, Herbert. Movies end Conduct. New York: Macmillan and Company, 1^33* Bogart, Leo. The Age of Television. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 195b. Brandt, Herman F. The Psychology of Seeing. New York : The Psychological Library, 19l|5• Bromberg, Walter. Crime and the Hind. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1 9 ^ Cantril, Hadley. The Invasion from Mars. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 19^0. Egri, Lajos. The Art of Dramatic Writing. New York: Simon and Schuster, l9i|k. Eisenstein, Serge II. The Film Sense. London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 19i|3< Friedson, Eliot. The Process and Effects of Mass Communi cation. Urbana"J Illinois: Uhiversity of Illinois, Fromm, Erich. The Sane Society. New York: Rinehart and Company, 1955- Handel, Leo A. Hollywood Looks at Its Audience. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois £ress, T^50. Herzog, Herta. "Why Did People Believe in the ’Invasion from Mars'?" F. Lazarsfeld and Morris Rosenberg, The T9FS7 T^9T Glencoe: Free Press, 131 Hovland, Carl I* "Effects of the Maas Media of Communica tion," Gardiner Lindzey, Handbook of Social Psychology- Cambridge, Mass.: Addiaon-Wesley Publishing Company, 19SU. ., Irving L. Janis and Harold H. Kelley. Communica tion and Persuasion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953* Isaacs, S. The Nursery Years: The Hind of the Child from Birth to Six Years" London* Faber and Faber, Katz, Elihu and Paul F. Lazarsfeld. Personal Influence: The Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Conmunl- cations"! Glencoe, ill.: The Free Press, 1955* Kerr, Walter. How Not to Write a Play. New York: Simon and Schuster^ 1955* Klapper, Joseph J. The Effects of Mass Media. New York: Bureau of AppliecT“Social Research, Columbia University, 191+9. . What We Know About the Effects of Mass Communica tion: "frhe Brink o^ Hope, New ¥ork: Bureau of Applied Social Jtesearcn, Columbia University, 1957* Lawson, John Howard. Theory and Technique of PIaywriting and Screenwrlting. New York: G. P. Putnam, 191+9. Lazarsfeld, Paul F. Radio and the Printed Page. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 19^0. _______ . Radio R esearch, 19h-l» New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, Inc., I94I• _____ . Radio Research, 19j+2-li-3» New Y ork: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, Inc., 19^3• , and Frank N. Stanton. Communications Research, 1W8-U9« New York : Harper and Bros •, 1949 • LIppmann, Walter. Public Opinion. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922. Malinowski, B. Sex and Repression In Savage Socle London: Faber and Faber, Ltd.,I93T. _______ . Crime and Custom In Savage Society. London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 19^0. 132 Marx, Herbert L* Jr. (ed.) Television and Radio In Ameri can Life. New York: H. W. Wilson Company” 19^3 • Mayer, J. P. Sociology of Film. London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 191*6“------ ---------- Merton, Robert K. Mass Persuasion. New York: Harper and Bros., 191*6. . Mass Persuasion: The Social Psychology of a War Bond Drive, Hew York! Harper and Bros., I94O. Newcomb, Theodore M. Social Psychology. New York: Dryden Press, 1950* Nichols, Dudley, "The Writer and the Film," introduction to Twenty Best Film Plays, edited by Gassner and NieEoIST New York: Crown Publishers, 19^3* Nielsen, Arthur C. Radio and Television Audience Research. Michigan: Bureau of Business Research, School ot Business Administration, University of Michigan, 1953* Parker, Everett C., David W. Barry and Dallas W. Smythe. The Television Radio Audience and Religion. New York: Harpe rs and B ro s., 1955* Peters, Charles C. Motion Pictures and Standards of Morality. New Yo'rk: Macmillan Company, 1933* Schramm, Wilbur. Communications in Modern Society. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, I9I 4 .B. _____ . Mass Communications. Urbana, Illinois: Univer- sl’ t'y o7 Illinois Press, T9i*9• _______ . The Process and Effects of Mas3 Communication. Urbana! Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1955 • Siepmann, Charles A. Radio, Television and Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 1950. Smythe, Dallas W. New Haven Television. May 15-21, 1952. Urbana, Illinois! University of Illinois Press, 1952. Stouffer, Samuel A., and others. Measurement and Predic- tlon. Princeton: University of Princeton Hress, 1950* Thorp, Margaret F. America at the Movies. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939• 133 Wylie, Max. Clear Channels; Television and the American People. New York: Punk and Wagnalls Co., 19535. Periodicals Carpenter, C. R. "Psychological Research Using Television," The American Psychologist, X (October, 1955)» 606-IO. Crosby, John, "Seven Deadly Sins of the Air," Life, November 6, 1950. Dunn, S. W, "Overlapping of Listening Among Radio Audiences," Journal of Marketing, XVI (September, 1950), 315-21. Priedson, Eliot. "The Relation of the Social Situation of Contact to the Media of Mass Communication," Public Opinion Quarterly, XVII (Summer, 1955)» 230-38. Janis, I. L, "Personality Correlates of Susceptibility to Persuasion," Journal of Personality, XXII (1955). 505-l3. ________ , and B. T. King. "The Influence of Role Playing on Opinion Change, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, XLIX (1955), 211-18. Katz, Daniel. "Psychological Barriers to Comnunication," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science^ llarch, 195?. Kelly, H. H. "Salience of Membership and Resistance to Change of Group Anchored Attitudes," Human Relations, VIII (1958), 275-79. , and E. H. Volkhart, "The Resistance to Change _ " of Group Anchored Attitudes," American Sociological Review, XVII (1952), 553-85. Klapper, Joseph T, "Mass Media and the Engineering of Consent," The American Scholar, XVII (Autumn, 1953), 519-29. " _____ . "The Effects of Mass Media." New York; Bureau oT "Applied Social Research. (Mimeographed) 1959* Kornhauser, Arthur. "Public Opinion and Social Class," American Journal of Sociology, LV (1950), 333-55. 13^ Lang, Kurt. 1 1 Areas of Hadio Preferences; A Preliminary Inquiry,” Journal of Applied Psychology, XLI (1957), 1. Lazarsfeld, Paul F. ’ ’Audience Research in the Movie Field,” American Academy of Political and Social Science, November, 1~9V7• . "Comnunication Research and the Social Psycholo- giat,” Current Trends in Social Psychology, I9I+0. . ”Why Is So Little Known About the Effects of ?eTavision and What Can Be Done About It?” Public Opinion Quarterly, XIX (Fall, 1935), 21+3-51- McDonagh, Edward C. and associates. "Television and the Family," Sociology and Social Research, XXXV (November, 1950), irPZT. Seller, James W. "Novelty Factor in Viewing: It's Myth, Research Shows,” Telecasting Yearbook-Harketbook, 1955-56- Selde3, Gilbert. "How Dense Is the Mass?" Atlantic Monthly, November, I9I+8, pp. 23-27. Stouffer, Samuel A. "Some Observations on Study Design," American Journal of Sociology, LV (1950), 356-69- Warner, W. Lloyd and William E. Henry. "The Radio Daytime Serial: A Symbolic Analysis," Genetic Psychology Monographs, XXXVII (191+6), 3-71. Witty, Paul. "Children and TV— A Fifth Report," Elementary English, October, 195H, P* 9- appendix 136 APPENDIX A OCCUPATIONS 1. Western program type (2 programs available--one 8:00- 8:30 P.M.; one 8:30-9:00 P.M.) 80 base cases: a* 7th grade (2) Housewife--widow Orange picker b. 8th grade (6) Assembler--General Motors Boilermaker Cleaning shop Lumber mill worker Retired (2) c. 9th grade (1) Cook d. 10th grade (1;) Carpenter Machinist Surveyor Television repairman e. High school (12th grade) i Barber Bookkeeper Constructi on Creamery worker Credit manager Electrician Factory worker Foreman--screw co. Gas station attendant Golf pro Laborer Mailman (2) Mstal fitter 1221 f raduate ainter Paper cutter Phone repairman Photographer Plumber Policeman at studio PBX installation man Retired Retired--Post Office Salesmen (1|) Security Officer Telephone Co. operator Writer f• 1 Year college (2) Salesman Secretary g. 2 years college (5) Boiler plant operator Engineer (2) Engineer (mechanical) Telephone worker h* 3 years college (3) C.P.A. Clerk typist Eastman Kodak Representative College graduate (15>) Snglneer Engineer (aeronautical) Engineer (electronic) Engineer (mechanical) Engineer (mining) Estimator Investments Merchant Post Office foreman Purchasing agent Railroad ticket salesman Pood industry (self-employed) Retired engineer 1. Attending college (1) Draltsman m• Unknown or refusal to answer educational question (5) Banker Bookkeeper Pood distributor Oarage owner Ice cream tender Manager--clothing store Salesman Telegraph Company worker Variety program type (one program available 8:00 to 9:00 P.M.) 77 base cases: a. Uth grade (1) Security Guard--Bendix Teacher (2) J* 6 years college (2) lawyer Public Accountant (TKemTsT 138 b* 6th grade (3) Housekeeper Studio ’ workman Tailor c* 7th grade (2) Retired Widow d, 6th grade (8) Aircraft worker Dome a 11c worker Painter Retired (railroad) Retired (lady) Retired (restaurant man) Watchmaker Widow (unemployed) e• Qt*1 grade (3) Chemical worker Milkman Retired (railroad conductor) f, 10th grade (g) Clerk Liquor merchant Mechanic Railroad engineer Salesman 6* 11th grade (2) Ledger clerk Refusal h. High school (12th grade) Advertising manager Bank clerk Contractor Housecleaning (2) Lady--does not work Leadman Mechanic Painter raduate (l6) ersdnnel clerk Pumper--oil Railway express Re s taurant eur Sales engineer Saleslady Tool and die inspector I. 1 year college (3) Drapery work Public accountant Secretary 139 j• 2 years college (3) Electrical technician Management consultant Post Office clerk Retired Tool and die maker k. 3 years college (1) Los Angeles City employees credit union 1* College graduate (l6) Banker Barber Carpet business Engineer Grocery business Language teacher Lawyer Meter setter Newspaperman m# U years commercial art school (1) Techni calartist n. Unknown or refused to answer education question (11) Al2c field rep. Builder Bus driver Housewife Leadman at North American Retail merchant Retired (3) Theatrical producer Works for P&G 3* General drama program type (one program available-- 8:00 to 9:00 P.M.) 1|6 base cases a. JjLth grade (1) Donut shop employee b. 8th grade (2) Butcher Service station attendant c. Qth grade (1) Carpenter Public Health Department Real estate broker Retired teacher Retired (Post Office worker) Service station owner Teacher Yacht landing owner 10th grade (3) Cement mason P a in te r P ro d u c tio n I n s p e c t o r 11th grade (2) B a t t e r y man Tavern owner High school (12th grade) graduate jjll+) Aircraft assemblyman Airplane pilot Appliance salesman Assembler Electronics technician Insurance adjuster Insurance salesman 1 year college (2) Pacific fire rating bureau Sales engineer 2 years college (6) Board of Education worker Design engineer Lockheed engineer Office worker Salesman Stenographer Store manager Attending, college (1) Artist C o lle g e graduates (10) Civi1 engineer Draftsman Judge Lawyer Motion picture director 6 years college (1) Teacher Unknown or refused to answer educational question (1) Barber Pharmlcist Sale s man Space technician Tab machine operator Unemployed Mechanic (2) PBX operator Policeman Salesman Retired Sales suoervisor lkl ] _ ( . » Movie program type {3 programs available--2 from 8:00 to 9:00 P.M.; 1 from 8:00 to 8:30 P.M.) 22 base cases a. 5th grade (1) Travel agent b. 8th grade (3) Air Researcn employee Carpenter Truck driver c • 9th grade (1) Housekeeper d. 11th grade (1) Sheet metal worker e. High school (12th grade) graduate (5) A i r c r a f t mechanic Inspector Office clerk Restaurant owner Telephone installer f . 1 year c o l l e g e (1) Metal finisher g. 2 years college (3) Assistant foreman E ngineer Railroader h. College graduates (4) Ssnker Designer Furnishings buyer Lawyer i . 6 y e a r s c o l l e g e (1) Social, director j . M edical s c h o o l graduate (1) Scrap rrietal bustne03 k. Unknown or refused to answer educational qua 3tlon (1) State manager for Seagrams Ill 2 5* Religion orograra type (one program available 8:00 to 9:00 P.M.) 5 base cases a* 2th .grade, (U Retired b. High school (12th grade) graduate (1) Retired c. College graduate (1) Retail manager d* Unknown or refused to answer educational question (2) Formerly at U.S. Steel Policeman at Warner Brothers 6. Jfystery program type (one program available 3:30 to 9:00 P.M.) 1 | base cases a. 9th grade (I) Service station operator b. 10th grade (1) TfecTIanTc c. Hi&h school (12tn grade) graduate (1) Secretary d. College graduate (1) RetTred (salesman) 7. Television ownors--not viewing at time of interview— 8:00 to 9:00 P.M., Sunday, December 21, 1958. 1|1 base cases a* No schooling (1) Contractor b. 7th grade (1) Assembler c. 8th grade (3) Machini st Practical nurse Railroader--3ignaIs H*3 d. 9th grade (1) Valley Times newspaper dealer e• 10th grade (U) Box factory worker Clerk--liquor store Repairman Sheet metal worker f• 11th grade (2) demonstrator Housewife— widow g. High school (12th grade) graduate (9) Carpenter Labor foreman Postal clerk Spray painter Sheet metal worker 5 : 1 • 2 years college ( [ ) . ) Furniture business Photographer (2) On Social Security i. College graduate (10) Accountant-cashler Auditor Building contractor Corporation manager Engineer j• Engineering school (1) Engineering foreman k« ^faster*s degree (1) Speech consultant in public school 1. Unknown or refused to answer educational question TEE- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---- E n gin eer Hospital employee Service station employee Unemployed (ill) Retail sales clerk Reti red Transportstion driver Work in hospital Law professor Personnel work Reti red Teacher (2) iy* APPENDIX B INDEX OP SOCIAL POSITION The Socio-Economic Factor— Scale Positions 1. Higher Executives, Proprietors of Large Concerns, and ffejor Professionals. a. Higher Executives. Bank presidents; vice-presidents Judges (Supreme C ourts) Large businesses, e.g# directors, presidents, vice-presidents, assistant vice-presidents, executive-secretary, treasurer Military, Comm, officers, major and above Officials of the executive branch of government, federal, state, local, e.g., mayor; city manager, city plan director, Internal Revenue directors Research directors, large firms b. Large Proprietors (value over $100,000) Brokers Contractors Major Professionals Accountants (C.P.A.) Actuaries Agronomists Architects Artists, portrait Astronomers Auditors Bacteriologists Chemical engineers Chemists Clergymen (profes sionally trained) Dentists Dairy owners Lumber dealers EconomIsts Engineers (college graduate) Foresters Geologists Lawyers Metallurgists Physicians Physicians, research Psychologists, practicing Symphony conductor Teachers, university, college Veterinarians (veterinary surgeons) 2. Business Managers, Proprietors of Medium Sized Businesses, and Lesser Professionals Business Managers in Large Concerns Advertising directors Branch managers Brokerage salesman District managers Executive assistants Export managers, int. concern Govt, officials, minor e.g. internal revenue agents Farm managers Office managers Police chief; sheriff Personnel managers Postmaster Production managers Sales engineers Sales managers, national concerns Store managers (*$100,000) Proprietors of Medium Businesses (Value $35*000 - $100,000) Advertising owners (-$100,000) Clothing store owners (-$100,000) Contractors (-$100,000) Express Co. owners (-$100,000) Fruits, wholesale (-$100,000) Furniture business (-$100,000) Jewelers (-$100,000) Labor relations consultants Manufacturer’s representatives Poultry business (-$100,000) Purchasing managers Real estate broker3 (-$100,000) Rug business (-$100,000) Store owners (-$100,000) Theatre owners (-$100,000) Lesser Professionals Accountants (not C.P.A.) Chiropodists Chiropractors Correction officers Director of community house Engineers (not college graduates) Finance writers Health educators Librarians Military, Comm, officers, Lts,, captains Musicians (symphony orchestra) Nurses Opticians Pharmacists Public Health officers (MP.H.) Research assistants, university (full-time) Social workers Teachers, elementary and high Administrative Personnel, Small Independent Businesses, and Minor Professions a. Administrative Personnel Advertising agents Chief clerks Credit managers Insurance agents Passenger agents--RR Private secretaries Purchasing agents Sales representatives Section heads, federal, state and local Section heads, large busi nesses and industries Service managers Shop managers Store managers (chain) Traffic managers b. Small Business Owners ($6,000-&35* 000) Art gallery Auto accessories Awnings Bakery Beauty shop Boatyard Brokerage, insurance Car dealers Cattle dealers Cigarette machines Cleaning shops Clothing Coal businesses Contracting Convalescent homes Decorating Dog supplies Dry goods Engraving business Feed Finance Co., local Fire extinguishers £ and 10/ Florist Food equipment Food products Foundry Funeral directors Furniture Garage Gas station Glassware Grocery-general Hotel proprietors Inst, of music Jewelry Machinery brokers Manufacturing Monuments Package stores (liquor) Painting contracting Plumbing Poultry producers Publicity and public relations Real estate Records and radios Restaurant Roofing contractor Shoe Signs Tavern Taxi company Tire shop Trucking Trucks and tractors Upholstery Wholesale outlets Window shades 11*7 c. Semi-Professionals Actors and showmen Army M/Sgt.; Navy, CPO Artists Appraisers (estimators) Clergymen (not professionally trained) Concern managers Deputy sheriffs Dispatchers, RR train Interior decorators Interpreters Laboratory assistants Landscape planners Morticians Oral hygienists Photographers Physio-therapists Piano teachers Radio, television announcers Reporters, court Reporters, newspapers Surveyors Title searchers Tool designers Travel agents Yard masters, RR d. Farmers Farm owners ($ 2 0 ,0 0 0 - $3i?*000) Clerical and S a le s Workers, Technicians, and Owners of Little Businesses a* Clerical and Sales Workers Bank clerks and tellers Bill collectors Bookkeepers Business machine opera- Conductors, RR Employment interviews Sales clerks Shipping clerks Supervisors, utilities, tors, offices Factory storekeeper Factory supervisor Post Office clerks Route managers Claims examiners Clerical or stenographic factories Toll station supervisors Warehouse clerks lJ+8 b. Technicians Dental technicians Draftsmen Driving teachers Expeditor, factory Experimental tester Instructors, telephone co., factory Inspectors, weights, sanitary Investigators Laboratory technicians Locomotive engineers Operators, PBX Proofreaders Safety supervisor Supervisors of maintenance Technical assistants Telephone co,, super visors Timekeepers Tower operators, RR Track dispatchers Window trimmers (store) c. Owners of Little Businesses Flower shop ($3,000-$6,000) Newsstand ($3*000-46,000) Tailor shop ($3*000-&6,000) d. Farmers Owners {$10,000-&20,000) 5* Skilled manual employees Auto body repairers Bakers Barbers Blac ksmitbs Bookbinders Boilermakers Brake man, RR Brewers Bulldozer operators Butchers Cabinet makers Cable splicers Carpenters Casters (founders) Cement finishers Cheese makers Chefs Compos!tor3 Diemakers Diesel engine repair &■ maintenance Diesel shovel operators Electricians El«ctrntypiats Engravers Externir'n tor? Fitters, gas, steam Firemen, RR Firemen, c ity Foreman, consti*ucti on, dai ry Gardners, landscape (tra ined) C-Iassblowers Glaziers Gunsmiths Gauge makers Hair stylists Heat treaters Horticulturists Lineman, utility Linoleum layers (trained) Linotype operators Lithographers Locksmiths LoomfIxer3 11*9 M a ch in ists (tr a in e d ) M aintenance foreman I n s t a l l e r s , e l e c t r i c a l a p p lia n c e s Masons Masseurs Mechanics (tr a in e d ) M illw r ig h ts Moulders ( t r a in e d ) P a in te r s Paper hangers Patrolm en, RR P a tte rn and model makers Piano b u ild e r s Piano tu n ers Plumbers P olicem en , c i t y Postmen P r in te r s R ad io, t e l e v i s i o n Maintenance Repairmen, home a p p lia n c e s Small farm ers Rope s p l i c e r s Sh eetm etal workers (train ed ) Sh ip sm ith s Shoe repairm en (t r a in e d ) S t a t io n a r y e n g in e e r s ( l i c e n s e d ) S tew ard s, club Switchmen, RR T a ilo r s ( t r a in e d ) T e le ty p e o p e r a to r s Toolmakers Track s u p e r v i s o r s , RR T r a c t o r - t r a i l e r t r a n s . Typographers U p h o lste r s ( t r a in e d ) Watchmakers Weavers Welders Yard s u p e r v i s o r s , RR Owners (under $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 ) Tenants who own farm equipment 6 # Machine O perators and S e m i- S k ille d Employees A id e s, h o s p i t a l A p p r e n tic e s , e l e c t r i c i a n ^ p r i n t e r s , s t e a r n f i t t e r s , toolm akers Assembly l i n e workers B arten d ers Bingo ten d e rs B rid ge te n d e r s B u ild in g su p e r in te n d e n ts ( c u s t .) Bus d r iv e r s Checkers Coin machine f i l l e r s Cooks, sh o r t order D e liv e r y men D ressm akers, machine E le v a to r o p e r a to r s E n li s t e d men, m i l i t a r y s e r v i c e F i l e r s , b en d ers, b u ff e r s Foundry workers Garage and gas s t a t i o n asst. Greenhouse workers Guards, d o o rk eep ers, watchmen H a ir d r e s s e r s H ousekeepers Meat c u t t e r s & pack ers Tfeter rea d ers O p erators, f a c t o r y machines O i l e r s , RR P r a c t i c a l n u rses P r e s s e r a , c l o t h i n g Pump o p e r a to r s R e c e iv e r s and ch eck ers R oo fers S et-u p men, f a c t o r i e s Shapers Sign •n, RR i5o S o l d e r e r s , f a c t o r y S p r a y e r s, p a in t S te e lw o r k e r s ( u n s k i l l e d ) S t r a n d e r s , w ire machines S t r i p p e r s , rubber f a c t o r y Taxi d r iv e r s T e s t e r s Timers T ire m oulders Trainmen, RR Farmers S m a ller te n a n ts who own 7 . U n s k ille d Employees Amusoment park workers (b o w lin g a l l e y s , pool room s) Ash rem overs A tte n d a n ts , p ark in g l o t s C a f e t e r ia workers Car c l e a n e r s , RR Car h e l p e r s , RR C a r r ie r s , c o a l Countermen D airy workers Deck hands D om estics Farm h e lp e r s Fisherm en (clam d ig g e r s ) F r e ig h t h a n d le rs Garbage c o l l e c t o r s Grave d ig g e r s Hod c a r r i e r s Hog k i l l e r s H o s p it a l w orkers, un s p e c i f i e d H o s t l e r s , RR Farmers Truck d r i v e r s , g e n e r a l W a ite r s, w a i t r e s s e s ( " B e t t e r P la c e s" ) W eighers W eld ers, sp ot W inders, machine Wine b o t t l e r s Wood w orkers, machine Wrappers, s t o r e s and f a c t o r i e s l i t t l e equipment J a n it o r s (sw eep ers) L ab orers, c o n s t r u c t io n L ab orers, u n s p e c i f i e d Laundry workers M essengers P la tfo r m men, RR P ed d lers P o r te r s R o o f e r 's h e lp e r s S h i r t f o l d e r s Shoe s h in e r s S o r t e r s , rag and s a lv a g e Stagehands S te v e d o r e s S to ck h a n d le rs S t r e e t c le a n e r s U n s k ille d f a c t o r y workers Truckmen, RR W a lt r e s s e s -- " h a s h houses" Washers, ca rs Window c le a n e r s Woodchoppera R e l i e f , p u b l i c , p r i v a t e Unemployed (no o c c u p a tio n ) Share cro p p ers 151 APPENDIX C ARONS' STUDY Introduction T h is 1s a r e p o r t on th e media and p ro d u ct-m ed ia f i n d i n g s o f a n a t i o n a l stu d y o f newspaper and t e l e v i s i o n u s e . R e s u lt s are based on p e r s o n a l in t e r v i e w s conducted w ith a l l household members, in a r e p r e s e n t a t i v e U n ited S t a t e s c r o s s - s e c t i o n o f 3 ,0 0 0 h o u s e h o ld s . The sam ple was o f the m o d ified p r o b a b i l i t y ty p e , c l u s t e r d e s ig n , u t i l i z i n g 600 randomly s e l e c t e d sam pling p o i n t s . Up t o two c a l l backs were made f o r n o t - a t - h o m e s . A s u b s t i t u t i o n form ula was used f o r u n s u c c e s s f u l v i s i t s . I n t e r v ie w e r s had no c h o ic e of the h ou seh old i n which i n t e r v i e w in g was t o be don e. The same r e s e a r c h te c h n iq u e , a s s o c i a t i o n - r a c a l l - - a te c h n iq u e of e n co u ragin g the resp ond en t to r e c o n s t r u c t ills p e r s o n a l a c t i v i t i e s du rin g the p r e c e d in g d ay, and then a s s o c i a t i n g media exposu re w ith t h e s e p e r s o n a l a c t i v l t i e s - - was employed fo r newspaper and t e l e v i s i o n u s e , and r e s u l t s are shown in terms o f the e n t i r e c r o s s - s e c t i o n : A ll th e h o u se h o ld s and p e o p le in th e t o t a l n a t i o n a l market* As a c o n seq u en ce, v a l i d com parisons can be made betw een th e media s t u d ie d . The data are taken f o r the week b e g in n in g In Septem ber, a p e r io d du rin g which v ie w in g and l i v i n g h a b i t s more n e a r ly approxim ated th e summer p a tte r n than th o se o f th e f a l l s e a s o n . The in fo r m a tio n se cu re d i n c lu d e s o u t - o f home as w e l l as In-home newspaper r e a d in g and t e l e v i s i o n v ie w in g . Newspaper r e a d in g r e f e r s t o a l l n e w sp a p er s-- d a i l y , Sunday or w e e k ly . Results A ll U n ited S t a t e s h o u se h o ld s in w hich th e h o u seh old head had any c o l l e g e t r a i n i n g a v e r a g e s 33& m inu tes w ith t e l e v i s i o n , w h ile "grade school" h o u se h o ld s on the a v era g e view ed 301 m inu tes on an average d a y . When th e r e s u l t s were r e l a t e d to t e l e v i s i o n o w n ersh ip , t e l e v i s i o n equip ped h o u se h o ld s a t th e " c o l l e g e le v e l" view ed t e l e v i s i o n \\22 m inu tes per day, w h ile "grade sch oo l" h o u se h o ld s s i m i l a r l y equipped viow ed t e l e v i s i o n L j. 32 m in u te s. On the o th e r hand, th e r e was a d i s t i n c t tre n d f o r tim e d evoted t o new spapers to d e c r e a s e as e d u c a tio n was 152 less, whether the results were taken for all United States households In the education classification or for just those in which there was one or more newspaper readers. Whatever the education level of the households, the amount of time devoted to viewing television was about three times what was spent reading newspapers. Average Minutes Per Day Per U.S. Household According to Educational Levels Educational Heading Viewing Ratio: Level Newspapers Television TV/Nsp College 12? 33& 2 .7 High school 111 375 3«1| Grade school 10l+ 301 2.9 Refused*5 99 296 3.0 Total U .S . 110 339 3 .1 £ The highest "grade" attained by the household head. No differentiation was made between "some college" and "college graduate" and similarly, bl£.6 per cent of households. The apparently lower viewing levels in the two classifications below $l+,000 resulted from lower ownership of television sets. Thus, when household viewing time was related to extent of set ownership, average minutes per television equipped household in the $3*000 to 3*999 group was at the same level as for households in the $J+,000 to l+,999 classification (1+51 minutes vs. I | l + f l minutes), or in the $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 and over group (1+1+1 minutes). Time devoted to television by television equipped households in the under $3 ,000 category (11+.8 per cent of households) tended to be at a higher than average level (605 minutes). In the table below, minutes spent with each medium also have been related to television ownership, or to the number of house holds with one or more newspaper readers, as the case may be. These figures appear in parentheses. Household newspaper reading per day, on the other hand, tended to decrease as household income became less, whether the results were related to all United States house holds in the Income category, or to just those households which included one or more newspaper readers. 153 Average Minutes Per Day Per U .S . H ousehold A ccordin g to R eported Annual Household Income Annual R eading V iew ing R a tio : Income Newspapers T e l e v i s i o n TV/Nsp L ess than $3,000 92 (10L) 2^9 (6o5) 2.7 >3,000- 3,999 103 (Ho) 291 (1+91) 2.8 > 5,000- k,999 108 (121) l+li| (558) 3.8 ; 5,000- 6,999 120 (131) 5oo (526) 3.3 ;7,000- 9,999 131 (137) 5l0 (537) 3*3 110,000 and over 128 (132) 525 ( 5 5 l) 3*3 T otal U .S . 110 339 3 .1 R e fu sed 8, 10£ (117) 229 (336) 2 .2 N ote: The r e s u l t s are e x p r e ss e d in terms o f a l l h o u se h o ld s in each Income c l a s s i f i c a t i o n , thus p e r m ittin g d i r e c t com parisons between the m edia. However, as an a id to i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , m inutes sp e n t a l s o have been r e l a t e d to t e l e v i s i o n ow nership and to the number o f h o u seh o ld s w ith one or more newspaper r e a d e r s . These f i g u r e s appear in p a r e n th e se s in th e t a b l e . 913»5 Per c e n t o f h o u s e h o ld s . The o c c u p a tio n o f the hou sehold head in g e n e r a l d id not seem a s i g n i f i c a n t f a c t o r in th e t o t a l amount o f tim e sp en t v ie w in g t e l e v i s i o n by a l l h ou seh old members combined. Whether the h o u seh o ld head was in th e " p r o f e s s io n a l, p r o p r i e t o r , manager, e t c . ” c l a s s i f i c a t i o n ; " c r a f t s”; or " s e r v l c e ” --h o u a e h o ld t e l e v i s i o n v ie w in g was a t a g e n e r a l l y comparable l e v e l , and th r e e tim es what th e se h o u se h o ld s spend rea d in g new spapers. The se e m in g ly low er l e v e l s fo r " fa r m er s” and " r e t ir e d " r e f l e c t e d th e somewhat lower p r o p o r tio n o f such homes equipped w ith t e l e v i s i o n . When t e l e v i s i o n v ie w in g was r e l a t e d to the e x t e n t o f t e l e v i s i o n ow n ersh ip , h o u s e h o ld s headed by farm ers and r e t i r e d p erson s view ed a t a h ig h and not to o d i f f e r e n t a l e v e l from th o s e w ith heads in o th e r o c c u p a tio n a l gro u p s, as can be seen i n th e t a b le below: 151+ Average M inutes Per Day Per U .S . H ousehold A ccording t o O ccup ation o f Head o f H ousehold R eading V iew ing R a tio : O ccu p ation a Newspapers T e l e v l s io n TV./Nsp P r o f e s s i o n a l , T e c h n ic a l P r o p r ie t o r , Manager, e t c . 11}4 (120) 398 (U31) 3.5 Parmer, Farm Worker 128 (135) 283 (lj66) 2.2 C l e r i c a l , S a le s 110 (125) 321+ Uii!|) 2.9 C r a f t s , M echanics, Machine O p era to rs, e t c . 107 (121) 3l|k (U5D 3.2 S e r v i ce 98 (112) 3 W (1^0) 3.5 R e t ir e d 119 (121+) 30b (l+6l) 2.6 T o ta l U. S, 110 339 3.1 N ote: The r e s u l t s are e x p r e ss e d in terms o f a l l hou s o - h o ld s in each o c c u p a tio n c l a s s i f i c a t i o n , thus p e r m itt in g d i r e c t comparisons betw een th e m edia. However, as an a id to i n t e r p r e t a t i o n , m inutes sp en t a l s o have been r e l a t e d to t e l e v i s i o n ow nership and to th e number of h o u seh o ld s w ith one or more new s paper r e a d e r s . These figures appear in p a r e n th e s e s in th e t a b l e . 93«2 per cen t of all hous^hoD is In the sample are in c lu d e d in t h e s e g r o u p in g s . 155 APPENDIX D THE RATING SERVICES The following section is a discussion of the rating services. It is designed to help all interested under stand their operation more fully. It does not endorse one service over another, nor does it (the author hopes) add to the confusion and misinformation that already exists in the field. The information on the services comes from their own discussion of their methods. This has been edited from pamphlets describing their services, from tele phone conversations with their personnel and from personal letters describing their methodology. This has been done with their permission and the author of this dissertation hopes that his choice of material properly tells the story of these services without bias* The discussion does not review the battle of the advantages or disadvantages of the various systems used. The author of this paper is indebted to the three research organizations described since all three cooperated In this study--It is hoped that the three services approve of the objective discussion of their services. These are the three services to be described: 1, A. C, Nielsen Company Is a Chicago firm, with a long background In researching the food and drug markets. It runs the largest rating service. It has the biggest of all possible universes, all the 1^8,000,000 television homes in America, To measure it, Nielsen tabulates the viewing of a cross-section sample of 1,200 homes. In each of these homes, Nielsen wires an electronic gadget, called the Audimeter, to the television set. The gadget records a minute-by-minute history on a roll of film of how the set Is tuned. Every two weeks a member of the family extracts the film (and when he does so, two quarters drop out to pay for his trouble) and he mails It to Chicago, The com piled results are released to subscribers about a month later, Nielsen claims in reliability what he might lack in speed. See Chapter III for description of Nielsen's methods, 2, The Pulse Inc., owned by Dr, Sydney Roslow, specializes in cultural reports on a city-by-city basis, polling l6l television markets. His ratings are important to local stations, and to national advertisers worried about special local markets. Interviewers are adult, married women--local residents of the communities bearing a questionnaire. They ask the family to recall what 156 programs It caught during the previous twenty-four hours. The interviewer helps her subject reconstruct the day*s activities: ’ ’Were you home for dinner? What did you watch? • . . And then, I suppose, you did the dishes? What was the family watching while you did the dishes? . . . And then you sat down to rest? What did you see?" As each activity is recalled, the interviewer displays a schedule to aid the recall of programs. Pulse employs a printed roster, modified probability sample based on United States Census block statistics and standard sales management data. 3. American Research Bureau selects a national sample of 2,200 homes, using the same universe as Nielsen. Its method enables American Research Bureau to identify which members of the family were watching. Each home Is equipped with a "diary." The family is asked to keep a running log of what it watched on television, and which members did the watching. It has become evident over the last few years of the development of television, that it is increasingly Im portant f<r all associated with the industry to understand the process of research in audience measurement. This section, as stated below, presents the story of the "rating services" and their methodology. The intelligent use of television audience study data will in the future probably determine who remains active In the industry. As research techniques become more refined and specific, facts related to quantitative and qualitative audience measurement will become imperative to the programera of the medium* The sponsor attempting to reach certain audiences without adequate research will operate at a distinct disadvantage as compared to the sponsor who properly utilizes audience measurement to know "where he has been," "where he is," and "where he is going" in television. The television audience is the base of all suc cessful and unsuccessful programing. The knowledge of this audience is vital to successful planning. Limitations of Research No research will provide information that is com plete for all avenues of evaluation or sales effectiveness. It is not a substitute for creative and imaginative think- ing--it is rather the tool to emulate the results of what has been done or can be done. 157 There exists a widespread disagreement by industry members as to what is the most reliable service and whose methodology is preferable. The rating services themselves are open in their criticism of each others systems. The chaos of these criticisms of the ratings con tinues unabated. This, unfortunately is true that every one wants his show to have a top rating and if one rating will not sell a show, salesmen pull out another that shows a very high rating for the same show— often taken when the audience was large due to promotion tactics. The most promising attempts to clear up so much of the misunderstanding is to be found in the work of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). The ARF represent a worthwhile effort to establish accurate standards for television audience measurements. It is a non-profit organization devoted to the cause of improved research methods. Attention is drawn to the first ARF Reportl which deals with the "theory" of audience measurement. Since a major difficulty in television research is the fact that no two rating services arrive at the same figures for the same program, criticism continues. Of course, this Is due to the basic differences in techniques and methods. Each rating service has characteristics In methodology that give advantages and disadvantages accord ing to the specific situation and needs of the research. One can give speed, one separation of socioeconomic groups, one can give urban viewers, another rural. The factors that account for rating differences Include the following: 1. Measurement techniques. 2. Sample size. 3. Area measured. k. Sampling variation. 5. Number of broadcasts. 6. Broadcast dates. 7. Tabulation. 8. Seasonal-geographical, competitive changes Advertising Research Foundation, "Recorrmended Standards for Radio and Television Program Size Measure ments" (New York, 195M* p ^■This section was taken from American Research Bureau, Television Measurement for the Sponsor (1958)» used with permission of ARB, 158 Ms asurement techniques There are four general ways of obtaining viewing information and all four, plus some combinations, are in common use today* The four are viewer diary, mechanical recorder, telephone interview and personal interview* All four are "measurements of viewing," but each one approaches it from a different angle* Each technique is really measuring a different thing--set operation in one case, what people said under two conditions and what people wrote in another* It may be expected that each of the methods will produce a dif ferent rating for the same program. Sample size Another source of differences between services and their ratings is that all use different sample sizes-- ranglng all the way from one hundred homes or less up to several thousand homes. There is naturally larger room for error in smaller sample sizes and one can reach a point where audience data is completely meaningless when the total number of differ ent homes used in the survey is too small. Conversely, while a sample cannot be too large from the standpoint of accuracy, it certainly can be too large for the work required of it and the client's budget that supports it. Every rating service is perfectly well aware of these factors and uses a sample size consistent with the job it Is trying to do and the manner in which it elects to pro mote and sell its service competitively. Inasmuch as sample size is so important, it should be understood that every user of television research has a perfect right (and obligation) to be informed of the exact size of the tabulated sample upon which each rating is based. Unfortunately, this information is something difficult to obtain. Area measured A rating produced by measurement of, say, six counties comprising a metropolitan area can be expected to differ from a rating taken (even by the same system at the same time) in forty counties around the same metropolitan area* This difference is caused by variances In signal reception, effect of "outside" stations which put a viewable 159 signal into fringe counties, and by different working, living and viewing habits of rural and small town viewers. Sampling variation Two similar surveys (by the same service in the same area at the same time) will normally produce ratings that are different. While both ratings will fall within the standard deviation or confidence range that applies, they nevertheless will appear as two different numbers. That fact, in itself, in no way detracts from the value of either figure. Number of broadcasts It stands to reason that viewing data for one par ticular broadcast on a certain date will differ from a rating average obtained by measuring two or more broadcasts of the same program. Broadcast dates One service may publish its "July” rating for a program, having measured the first program in the month, perhaps on the third of July. This rating can easily differ from the "July" report of another service which happened to measure the program broadcast a week later, on the 10th. Tabulation There are a number of way3 in which different re sults can be obtained from the same base data. The con cepts of "average-per-minute-audience" and "total audience” fall under this heading. In the former, one estimates the average viewing audience at any given minute of a program, and, in the latter, the audience that saw five or six minutes or more of the program. The total audience rating is always higher than the average-per-minute. Both are completely legitimate and useful audience estimates. Seasonal, geographical and competitive program changes These factors can cause rating differences within the same service and between different services. Though rather obvious, they are sometimes overlooked as reasons for changes or differences in ratings. i6o Thus, it is not surprising that ratings differ. It would be far more startling if they did not. The problem of "rating differences" will probably diminish as more people become better acquainted with audience measurement. ARB states that there is little to be accomplished by the sponsor's continuous concern with and comparison of rating results by different com panies. Over-attention to the fact that a program has this rating and that rating and the other rating (all from dif ferent services) may cause one to miss the significances of trends, competition, local program efficiency, and other points Important to individual television success and which are reported by a primary service. In other words, rating differences between services are normal and generally explainable by one or more of the above-listed factors. Rarely Is a specific difference totally explainable in a precise way. This is not to say that one should ignore all but one service. Many advertisers and agencies use one ser vice principally. There are many instances, however, where the sponsor and agency use part of one service and part of another, or both or three at the same time. They do this because of the need for different types of information and they are prepared to accept and accommodate the rating dif ferences they find. What is a rating? What does It mean when the program gets, say a 25 rating? A rating Is simply a percentage, part of 100 per cent. The 100 per cent represents all television homes in the measured area. For this illustration, say that about one-half these homes are not tuned in (set out of order, away from home, etc.). That reduces the potential from 100 to 50 per cent. Of this 50 per cent, say half were watching a show on Station A and half were looking at the program on Station B. Half of $0 per cent is 25 per cent--and that is the rating. All the stations seen in the market have to share homes that are tuned In. These are called "sets- in-use," or "homes using television." The rating Is expressed as a percentage of all the homes that potentially might have looked in (the total number of television homes in the market), not a percentage l6l of those that were actually viewing television* There is a figure for this last item. It Is called share of audience. For an example, use the above illustration where the rating was 25# This was half of all the sets in use at the time, so the "share of audience" would be 50 per cent. If the rating had been 10, the audience share would have been 20 per cent--because 10 is 20 per cent of $0 per cent (all the homes that were tuned in). Standard deviation There is one very important fact about ratings that has for some reason escaped the attention it deserves: A rating is an approximation. When a program is rated at 10, that means about 10, not exactly 10. The plus or minus range around the rating which makes up this "about" is known as standard deviation and the Important thing is that this range, though differing with the size of the sample used, can be measured with mathematical certainty. Standard deviation applies to all ratings, no matter who produces them, and to all measurements based upon sampling techniques. The plus and minus "confidence range" around a rating is usually expressed as having a reliability of 95 times out of 100. This means that if one made the same survey 100 times, the rating results would fall within the calculated confidence range 95 times. (There are other reliability levels too, but the 95“out-of-100 is most frequently used in broadcast research because It seems to fill most requirements.) This is how this principle works in connection with ratings, using a typical ARB local area sample size of 300 homes: Program Plus or minus audience (in deviation (In Low rating High rating rating paints) rating points) limit limit 2.0 1.6 0. 1* 3.6 2 , 15.0 l+.l 10^9 \9'.l J-.VJ W.L+ 3 4.0 2.3 1.7 6.3 9.0 3.1 U.9 11.1 20.0 4 .6.••••••••...15.4 | ^6 1*0.0 5.7 34.1 45.9 50.0 5.9 44.2 55.8 162 Thus, if the program has an actual audience of 20 per cent, one knows there will be a plus and minus range of 14,6 rating points around the 20, and that the rating estimate will fall between 15*^ and 21+.6. Another way to look at it is this: if one took two identical surveys at the same time, one might show a 20.0 and the other an 18.0. Still a third survey would produce another figure, perhaps a 21.5. But note that 95 out of 100 rating estimates would fall within the 15.1 | to 2I 4.6 range established by the sample size, with the majority of results tending to cluster close around the actual audience of 20.0. The next table is a deviation table which shows the plus and minus confidence range of various ratings in terms of several sample sizes. As mentioned earlier, size of the survey sample is important. By size is meant the actual number of different base units measured (whether it is homes, wheat farms or air brake parts). The plus or minus deviation range nar rows as the sample is increased. Note next how an increase in sample of five times--from 100 to 500--cuts the range of deviation more than half--from 6.0 down to 2.7. Plus or minus deviation Sample size for a rating of 10.0 100 6.0 200 1+.2 300 3.5 l j . 0 0 3.0 500 3.7 Naturally one would rather have the larger sample because it produces a rating with a narrower margin of possible deviation. But it rau3t be remembered that to increase the sample size five times, one must be prepared to pay five times as much for the survey. A sample of 1,000 may cost ten times the 100 sample cost if you are dealing in homes or similar units which require inter views • It can quickly be seen that to spend any money on a very small sample such as 100 or less is a dubious undertaking, and, at the same time, that nultiplying the expenditure five, ten or fifteen times will still leave one with some deviation range around the results. The practical solution is to U3e a sample that enables one to make logical business decisions and still remain within a reasonable budget. 163 £ Standard Deviation Table (Plus or minus deviation expressed in rating points) Sample size rating 100 200 ago koo 500 1.0 2.0 1.4 1.1 1.0 0.9 2.0 2.8 2.0 1.6 i.4 w 3.° 3.4 2.4 2.0 1.7 1 *4 4.0 3-9 2.8 2.3 2.0 i.§ 5.0 4.4 3*1 2.5 2.2 1.9 6.0 4.7 3.4 2.7 2.4 2.1 7.0 5.1 3.6 3-0 2.5 2.3 8.0 5.2 3*8 3.1 2.7 2.4 9.0 5.7 4.0 3.3 2.9 2.6 10.0 6.0 4.2 3.5 3.0 2.7 12.0 6.5 4.5 3.7 3.2 2.9 15.0 7.1 5.o 4.1 3.6 3.2 18.0 7.7 5.4 4.4 3.8 3.4 20.0 8.0 5.6 4.6 4.o 3.6 22.0 8.3 5.9 4.8 4.i 3.7 25.0 8.7 6.1 5.0 4.3 3*9 30.0 9.2 6.5 5.3 4.6 4.1 35.0 9.5 6.7 5.5 4.8 4.2 40.0 9.8 7.9 5.7 4.9 4*4 45.0 9.9 7.0 5.7 5.o 4*4 50.0 10.0 7.1 5.8 5.0 4-5 8 Maximum deviation to be expected in 95.5 out of 100 cj (two standard deviations) The samples should be large enough to produce reliable information within known limits--and not uselessly padded* Also, the sample size means number of "different” homes surveyed. When one is aware of standard deviation, he is better prepared to understand his problems and solve them, with the help of accepted research methods* For example, one should no longer be upset when a rating drops a point or two (perhaps even five points) compared to last month's figure--nor should one be too excited when it gains a little. He should wait for the following report so one can put together a three-time trend. If the rating continues to drop a few points or gain a few, then it is beginning to see a significant direction of audience activity and can govern action accordingly* 161+ It is well to remember when working with ratings to produce a "cost-per-thousand" for announcements or pro grams that the resulting cost figu < ■ ' * also has a confidence range just as did the rating used to compute it* A high rating is not necessarily an ingredient to television success* Some of the best television campaigns, in terms of sale of merchandise, have occurred with pro grams or announcements that were the low *st-rated in the market! Probably the best example of this are the daytime "women's shows." Notoriously low-rated with 2s and 3s (compared to evening shows with 20s and l|0s), many of these local, live or film participation shows have sold more of the product than the manufacturer <_uuld produce. The secret here seems to be that the program, personality, commercial and the product are extremely well matched to reach and sell a big part of a comparatively small audience of housewives* In other words, the incidence of sale to this small audience is extremely hlgh--with little waste circulation. When one hears somebody say, "High ratings don’t mean a thing," it is that kind of situation they are describing* So when one sees a low rating, it should not be tossed away without consideration of the problem one is trying to solve. Most often, a low-rated time period is also in a low rate bracket and this can easily mean a very acceptable cost-per-thousand. Also, the size of the market has a lot to do with the real meaning of a rating. That is the difference in size of the actual audience in these three situations, all calculated with a 5»0 rating: Total Market television homes Rating Homes viewing New York i|,600,000 5.0 230,000 Cleveland 1,100,000 5.0 55,000 Roanoke 325,000 5.0 16,250 Of course, station rate cards are supposed to account for these differences in potential, but they do not always, at least to the same degree, and for this reason many cost- per-thousand estimates will have an "inherited" bias and are not properly comparable. The value of having adequate quantitative research data on hand for television purchases is well illustrated by the experience of one advertiser in a major city a few 165 years ago. His was a product sold exclusively to women and, at the time, television availabilities were exceeding ly sparse. He was finally offered a participation series In one station's evening schedule on a fairly high-rated local show. There was a long waiting list, the company president wanted to get into television and, on the sur face, it looked like an easy decision for the ad manager. But on checking the program's audience record, including a close look at audience composition data, and figuring cost-per-thousand, he found that it would be less expensive to make door-to-door calls on housewives In town and actually put the product into their hands. Audience composition When studying a television availability or program performance, audience composition is Just as important as the rating (sometimes more so). There are Innumerable examples of programs having a larger rating than other shows, but fewer viewers and a consequent higher cost-per- thousand viewers. For example, a program rated at 20,0 with three viewers per set has a larger audience than a show rating 25.0 with only two viewers per set. Similarly, one can find a program rating of, say, 10.0 reaching far more adult viewers than a program rating fifteen or twenty points which has a greater appeal to children. The nature of the advertising problem dictates whether one wants a high or low cumulative rating. If aiming at a fairly restricted audience group (children, perhaps, of a particular age segment, or sports fans) and one needs to repeat and repeat to make a sale, he should select a program calculated to attract the segment and be satisfied with a comparatively low cumulative rating. If the problem is to reach as many different people as pos sible in all categories, one should build toward a high cumulative rating (try to get it as near the total rating points figure as possible'/. This would mean that many people have been reached but a large part of them only once during the week. 166 3 The Story of Pulse Minimum Pulse sampling totals 2,000,000 different families annually. Pulse is the industry's largest scientific sampling available--exceeded only by the United States Census. United States Census housing statistics and sales management standard data guide Pulse's randomized, probability sampling. Figures are processed exactly as received. Thus, one can apply Pulse-validated data directly for buying or selling time, talent, programing--or for any of the many collateral merchandising and promotion activi ties inseparable from result-producing advertising. Pulse interviews all members of a home available at the time of the visit. It uses no short-cuts or substi tutes for face-to-face interviewing--the sole Pulse method. Minor refinements have occurred in the natural progress of Pulse— larger samples, more time periods, and since 1955» three visits to reduce to a minimum "Not-at-Homes" in the original sample. (The influence of the "Not-at-Horoe" has proven insignificant; each report states the percentage.) Pulse emphasizes the fact that nothing takes the place of face-to-face interviewing in the home. Aided recall is not just "remembering." Aided recall, "memory- jogging," Is applied in Pulse's technique of associated activities framing the brief span of a few hours, for which a printed roster is used--an actual section of program logs supplied by the stations themselves. It is necessary to determine family activity before the printed roster is used to aid specific recall, and pin down the facts ac curately. If an Interviewer finds no viewing or listening, she completes a few necessary routine questions, and without ever having shown a roster passes to the next assigned family. Only when television activity has been engaged in is the roster used, accompanied by intensive probing. How accurate is aided recall? In printed media recall, it has been found that readers can not just "remember"— but that if a copy of the 3 Miaterial edited from booklets submitted to author by The Pulse Inc., and used with permission. 167 newspaper or magazine is presented, then--as exemplified in the findings of Starch, Gallup, and others--people do recall, in astonishing detail their previous noting and reading. Similarly for television from association of activities for a given time period, plus a program list for identification, people can and do report accurately. The Pulse roster aids memory, and enables the respondent to cite the facts of listening or watching, with accuracy. Pulse finds that its large samples more than equalize any understatement or overstatement, for a depend able average. Who uses the Pulse method? Pulse issues monthly television reports for many basic markets and supplemental markets. Among stations, networks, agencies, advertisers, Pulse has more subscrip tions than research firms, agencies and advertisers. Pulse certifies sound interviewing 1. Direct check is made on every tenth interview, for every report, for every market. 2. Pulse supervisors spot-check work in the field. 3. Pulse interviewers are briefed in meetings before each survey, 1|. Directly from Pulse headquarters, postage-paid, coded verification cards are sent by first-class mail to every tenth family and returned to Pulse. Each supervisor makes ample personal-interview follow-up on interviewers’ visits to homes. The quality of each interviewer's work is checked by experts at Pulse headquarters. Interviewers send their reports directly to Pulse--they do not pas3 through hands of supervisors. No "influence” ceui be brought to bear in the objectivity of the findings. 60 Pulse interviewers are repeatedly reminded of and rehearsed in the techniques of standardized Pulse inter* viewing. By standard instruction, and intensive training of field personnel in all markets, Pulse assures expert, professional level results. 168 The one psychologically correct approach In Pulse's scientific sampling the "human equation" is important. Income-level and cultural match-up are vital facets, to assure rapport, mutual psychological empathy. Indiscriminate interviewing, mixing families and inter viewers from "the opposite sides of the tracks," so to speak--or "task force" interviewing with traveling staffs or interviewers from outside the comnunity— create bias and artificial response. Pulse interviewers are local to their locality. What is the Pulse approach? Pulse interviewers make an original attempt--plus two follow-up attempts--to visit with the same family. Pulse is able to measure out-of-home television and radio, program by program, station by station, additive to the home audience, with meaningful identification. To Pulse, "Not-at-Home" does not mean zero. Pulse finds that visiting accounts for huge additions to total audiences reached. Home entertaining counts heavily on television. Today families with black and white sets are visiting to see color. And Pulse finds that the enormous increases In portables--both television and radio--produce added audiences* Also, public places, restaurants, lunch counters, barber shops, beauty parlors, taverns, clubs, hotels attract sizable audiences for television. The great upsurge In portables and transistor set3--and portables for television--are expanding the total audience with personalized listening and viewing. How accurate is a "rating"? (<2uality of sample is vital. It must be truly representative, so that the parts represent the whole. The Pulse sample sums up the total universe under examina tion, Including proper distribution of Income groups, Negroes and whites, foreign-language groups. Pulse finds that accuracy of reporting Is indis pensable. Any method short of personal, face-to-face interviewing loses control of accuracy by the inherent defects of the Intermediary. 169 Pulse states that its defect of people who may overstate or understate averages out in a single report# So nany different families are interviewed for so many dif ferent periods of the day, that even a dishonest, fraudulent attempt to mislead an interviewer would be of insignificance in any total rating. How accurate is the Pulse sample and its technology? "Time-line association" describes what members of a family are doing for the period examined, as during "breakfast time," for example. Pulse reports ,cribe this in detail. Families are able to remember exactly ^hat they were doing "Just a few hours ago" or "last evening." Limited periods of only a few hours are covered, not the entire day and night. Pulse schedules— with their major-market perlods--are: Periods Time of lntervlewsa 8 A.M. to 12 noon Between and 5 P*M* 12 noon to [ j . P.M. Between 5 and 6 P.M. > 4 to 7 P«M. & 6-8 A.M. Between 7 and 8 P.M. 7 P.M. to 12 midnight Between o and 7 P*M. next evening ®For far West, interviewing periods are adjusted to the earlier appearance of Eastern nighttime live shows. Klnes and films aid Pulse standardization in more and more markets• "Printed roster" is taken from logs submitted by the stations, combined in one reference-sheet per indivi dual period, verified by supervisors and interviewers. Last minute changes may occasionally affect titles of programs— but Pulse audiences as reported are accurate for the time cited. Every tenth interview of every survey in every market is verified independently from Pulse head quarters. Spot-check by Pulse supervisors made concur rently, in the field. United States Census Bureau and sales management data are used in laying out the interviewing assignments and sequence, over which no interviewer or supervisor is able to exercise any "slanting" influence whatsoever. Interviewers go clockwise around the block and visit every other dwelling. 170 Procedures of Pulse interviewing have been standar dized over a period of many years, and any deviations from standard practice would be quickly detected in home-office study of returns for any inconsistencies* Standard instruction literature, training, and forms assure uniformity of reporting on the standardized Pulse Interviewing technique. In the coverage of more than 150 markets, with hundreds of experienced interviewers, Pulse states a pride in the consistently high-level performance of i13 field personnel. Inasmuch as Pulse interviewers do not work on any artificial and limiting "quota” basis, they are free to take all the time necessary for a proper interview* An interview averages seven minutes per family— including the families that have no tuned in television for the period studied--and the families that are glued to their sets* "Nothing to report" is as welcome as a detailed analysis. A roster is used only for recording the latter. Certain standard data are recorded for all* Moreover, an "ice-breaker" question, "Is anyone listening, etc." is noted--but obviously the interviewer at 1^:00 P.M. checking earlier morning listening on a Saturday does not interview the man of the family on the game he is watching now. And if no listening was engaged in for the earlier period, there is no roster used. Pulse interviewers obtain certain standard data for the record, but withheld from reports. Audience composition is printed--for each hour--and nationally, for each network program* Standard. --Pulse Indicates that men--not women — are loath to reveal their ages frankly, if they are beyond the "Over 1+0" taboo range in business--particularly white- collar executives. Women reveal their ages to Pulse in vestigators freely--"woman to woman talk." Age breakdowns are available but not published. Classifications are: 1* Children --eleven and under 2. Teens --twelve to seventeen inclusive 3* Adults — eighteen and over Rentals.--Pulse also states that rentals are a more reliable guide to income levels than any other method. And it is easy to cross-check on rentals. People will not truthfully report their income, considered an invasion of privacy by anyone except the United States Income Tax Collector. How valid is Pulse audience composition? 171 The United States Census gets its information by door-to-door interviewing, for no other method has ever been found to produce accurate information. Pulse uses this method exclusively, with close agreement with official count. Projection by other methods can easily show more children, more teenagers, more men, more women than exist. Pulse publishes audience composition per hour, per 100 homes, in every report. Pulse indicates that correct information--not "one-number" or "big-number" data--is the essential need of the buyer or seller of time, program, or talent. If huge ratings were essential to commercial sales-effect for the advertiser, radio would have remained a central music box, and television a scientific toy. A rating is not a "price tag." Some of the most successful programs of record have never been in the top category of any kind. Pulse embraces a complete research service includ ing an extension of advertisers' and agencies' own research departments and providing many "custom-made" surveys for stations and networks. Pulse's established monthly inter viewing In the home makes it possible to obtain special surveys of wide variety, expedited confidentially, with speed and economy. Pulse staff interviewers enjoy unique entree for getting current data from pantry, refrigerator, and medicine chest purchases--or the complete range of major household appliances and automobiles. Purchases are actually seen and verified. New models, new products, new usage, before-and- after comparisons; preference voting; dealer outlet exper ience, Income available for rental or purchase and price levels and pricing policies are all assisting product marketing. Personal coincidental Interviewing from minimum- samples of 1,500 families visited right while a show is telecast, can give complete ratings, audience composition, and audience reaction, the next morning. Pulse uses program profile studies. It states that too often a show is dropped, just when it Is begin ning to click. Pulse interviewing in depth, utilizing scientific techniques of question-asking and question- naires--documents the facts and gives evidence of true 172 show potential, or reveals it as a dismal flop. Developed for network usage, a life-saver in critical situations, it informs what must be done to improve a show tinder natural conditions of viewing and listening. Pulse area studies for television eliminate any doubtful claims or guess-work about the true picture of any station's marketing effectiveness. The television coverage of actual usage--not engineering data--are con vincing sales ammunition for stations, CPA»s— Cumulative Pulse Audience--surveys show the total homes reached by each station--dally, weekly— for the usual periods, and the plus of post-midnight viewing and listening. Total audience— in home and out--a certi fied performance audit of each family interviewed, includ ing all members of the family. Pulse provides same-base media-comparison data that enables industry to decide the best places to invest advertising dollars, in single or combined media, from known facts of consumer interest and preference, not guess work, Each medium has its particular assets, Pul3e high lights those assets. Pulse serves any media— for the Pulse objectivity guarantees impartiality in findings for constructive usage.U In Pulse experience dating back to 19^+1* a tremend ous backlog of information has been acquired. For case- histories, subscribers make profitable use of their back- files, or consult the library. The best "contract," Pulse has found, is no contract. Single reports, seasonal usage, special market selections, complete "package" of all markets for which are interviewed each month— or special markets reportsd— everything Pulse produces is available. Pulse quotes from standard, published rates available at request. Pulse reports are priced at a modest scale to enable subscribers to use them as reports— on a continuing basis, for broad, meaningful trend data. Subscribers enjoy the benefits of a steady supply of In formation gathered by Pulse, apart from reports issued. Pulse's long experience Is available for advertisers and their agencies, for personal consultation in regard to confidential projects and planning. See study on reading and television habits. 173 The Story of ARB--American Research Bureau The American Research Bureau, or ARB as it is familiarly known in the industry, began in Washington, D.C., in 191+9* almost at the same time of commercial television itself* Prom one office, directing surveys in three cities, it has grown to offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, two in New York, as well as Washington, D,C* (Beltsville, Maryland) directing the efforts of over 1,700 full and part-time employees across the country, surveying the nation as a whole and over 15>0 television markets on a regular basis, with 200 additional markets surveyed for coverage informa tion earlier this year. ARB’s services Include quarter hour by quarter hour viewing records, by stations, in practically every competitive television market, on a regular basis. 1* Overall viewing records for every network pro gram are issued monthly, with a supplement report for alternate week programs following the survey week. 2. Coverage information, showing per cent of cover age of all stations (outlying and home station) in medium and small size markets, is issued yearly. 3. Overnight telephone coincidental reports are available in any market, region, or the nation as a whole. Special tabulations for uncovering further information from ARB’s diary storehouse is available on request. Special commercial impact and viewer marketing surveys. ARB's method of audience measurements is the Interviewer-Supervised Viewer Diary, placed in hundreds of homes, selected at random, within the survey area. The diary method is a tested research technique that is not unique to television audience measurement. Neverthe less, ARB maintains constant check on diary reliability and the method has been most reliable. ARB now has a new instantaneous service system called Arbitron. 171* Arbltron During 1957 and early 1958* ARB developed for com mercial use the industry’s first instantaneous television audience measurement system. Called uArbitron," the system uses a fixed sample--palnstakingly selected and main- tained--connected by special wire lines to a central data- processing office. An inconspicuous device located inside the television set in the sample home sends set tuning data to the central office for decoding and instantaneous cal culation, The resulting information goes to an automatic printer and to a visual display. In this study, ARB clients may watch the rating progress of a show while it is actually on the air. Daily and monthly Arbitron reports are available to clients. The service was first introduced for New York City, and Arbitron installations are being built now in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Detroit, When all seven installations are completed, a multi-city Arbitron report will provide an instantaneous comparison of network programing. ARB’s use by television stations, advertising agencies, and advertisers is sizeable in the television research industry. 1, In a recent Issue of Broadcasting-Telecasting magazine, the top forty television billing agencies were listed. Of these, thirty-seven are home-office ARB sub scribers. Two others have partial branch office subscrip tions • 2, Over 90 per cent of the stations located In ARB survey areas subscribe to ARB reports for programing and management decisions. 3, In two years, effort put behind extending television research to advertisers direct, ARB can call over seventy-five advertisers direct clients. The list Includes names from among the largest to the smallest in many lines of merchandise. How ARB information is obtained and produced The ARB viewer diary.— The backbone of the ARB television Information service is the viewer diary, in which the subject family keeps a record of its viewing as 17$ the viewing occurs* The recording pages, one for each day of the week, give ample space for notation of times viewed, stations and programs seen, and audience composi tion. No direct compensation of any kind is given to the ARB respondent families. ARB has found that when properly approached and instructed as to the purpose of the survey, nearly all families will cooperate, particularly when they understand that their names and addresses will not be re leased for any reason. In rural areas, where contacts for the national diaries are made by mall, diary families can participate in a contest where winners are given $50 savings bonds* This Increases participation in the sample without affecting viewing. Each month, every ARB sample is completely changed and composed of new or different families. It has been ARB's experience that families will keep accurately one week's record of their viewing and that the great majority will not keep a satisfactory record if retained in the sample for a longer period. The diary technique for obtaining information has a number of important advantages. Among other things, it is adaptable to any size area, is fast and economical, covers all broadcast hours, reports a wide variety of In formation and--especialiy important--reports actual viewing and not merely set operation. Since it was developed as an Instrument for audience measurement, the viewer diary has experienced tremendous growth. Today, the majority of measurement services employ the diary method in some form. While the diary has many advantages, these lose their meaning if the original source--the diary itself-- is lacking in accuracy or is invalid in any way. A con tinuous program of testing, validation and study Is an important part of ARB's activity. One of the most elaborate and far-reaching field tests of the diary and its capabilities was conducted in major markets In 1956. While the results of these tests have been given wide circulation through a booklet, ”A New Look at the Television Viewer Diary,” this is the review of them briefly. Meat questions about the viewer diary generally fall Into these two categories: 1 76 1, How do we know that the viewing habits of families who will not accept a diary are not different from those who do cooperate? 2. How do we know the diary-keeping families really keep an accurate record? In ARB's opinion, the correct approach to these questions is not to theorize about whether non-cooperating families are different or whether accurate records are kept. The important thing to consider is the effect these factors might have in the final results if they do exist and how they will show up if another system of obtaining information is used. If non-cooperating homes are different and/or accurate records are not kept, then the diary results will differ from those obtained at the same time and in the same areas by unannounced telephone coincidental interviews. For example, if the ARB diary was reporting an average daytime set use of 15 per cent in a market when there really was 30 P°r cent, a properly run phone coincidental survey in that city would find the real figure--or very near it (the telephone technique reaches nearly 100 per cent of the sample with very few refusals and also Is ac curate in obtaining instantaneous viewing data). This was the basis of the field validation tests mentioned. In eight markets (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, St. Louis, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago and Washington) ARB matched the regular ARB diary surveys with results of telephone coincidentals taken at the same time in similar sample s. The extremely close agreement in results produced by these two techniques certainly supplies ample proof that audience ratings obtained from diary homes do not differ appreciably from those obtained by the telephone coincidental method. As a result, statements that diaries unduly influence viewing or do not produce an accurate record of viewing simply cannot be supported by the evi dence at hand. How the sample is selected The method used in selecting the sample for the ARB television nationals is direct and simple. In effect, the entire United States is treated as one large universe or area to be sampled. The sampling is done in such a way that, insofar as possible, every television home in the 177 country Is given an equal chance of being selected, regard less of location. The first step In national sample selection is to prepare a list of counties, grouped by states, enumerating the total homes for each county. The total listing of homes for the entire United States is then divided by the desired number of different sampling points. This yields the sampling interval (the numerical spacing between points to be sampled)• Beginning with a random starting point in the list of counties, ARB applied the sampling Interval successively to obtain the location of each sampling point and the number of points per county. If a city or community is selected, sample homes are obtained from the latest R. L. Polk City Directory or nearest similar list obtainable. In the case of rural points, these are selected from the applicable rural route lists In the United States Official Postal Guide. Once these points are established (approximately 1,000 per month), they are sub-sampled for television set ownership. The effect of this operation is to readjust the sample from an all-homes basis to a television-home basis. Areas of higher television set penetration, of course, tend to gain more representation in this way. Some sampling points turn up no television homes and are not used for diary placement. Wherever practical, this sub- sampling is done by ARB Interviewers. In more remote areas, mail ballots are used with the same sampling pro cedure. During this entire process, careful controls are maintained so that the sample does not become distorted. It Is with approximately 2,200 base sampls families, located as described above, that the ARB national viewer diary is placed each month. This sample produces its own data (ratings), and the ARB national report is not merely a compilation of several ARB city reports. In the case of large city areas where ARB is conducting local and national surveys simultaneously, of course, a certain number of diaries are used twice, i.e., tabulated with the nationals and again with the city diaries. The ARB metropolitan area (city) sample Samples for the ARB city reports are selected with the same technique used for the national* The base sample for these Is $00 homes. Homes used are selected by tele phone directory sampling in such a way that every telephone 178 home In the specific area being surveyed has the same chance of being chosen, regardless of location, make of set or other factors. Field tests and study of viewing habits helped in the decision to base ARB city surveys on telephone homes. There were several factors involved. The proportion of telephone homes in cities now is high (for example, it now exceeds 82 per cent in New York, 79 per cent in Fort Worth and 79 Per cent in Chicago), and undoubtedly television homes--the base for ARB surveys-- have an even higher telephone saturation. For these reasons, ARB may be assured that the survey results ob tained if non-telephone homes were included in the sample could not differ greatly, even if viewing in non-phone homes was totally different than in others. And, of course, there has never been any real indication that non telephone homes differ markedly in the nature or amount of viewing from those with phones. Contacting the diary families ARB makes three interviews with each diary family. The first, completed about two weeks before the measure ment period, determines if the home has a television set and solicits the family’s coooeration; the second is made one or two days before the measurement period starts, to make certain the diary has been received and that family members understand its purpose (all diaries are mailed directly to the participating family from ARB’s Washington headquarters)o The final interview is made on the third or fourth day of the "diary week" to insure that the diary is being properly kept and will be returned promptly. A self-mailer accompanies each diary, and the family is directed to return it to ARB immediately after the end of the survey. All interviews are conducted by trained staffs, selected chiefly on their demonstrated ability to get along with people and gain cooperation. The majority of interviewers are women, many of whom have previously been employed in customer relations departments of large con cerns. Each staff is managed by an area supervisor who normally i3 promoted from the interviewer ranks. New interviewers are trained by being given small amounts of work and being checked carefully in all steps by the supervisor. It is ARB’s belief that this system of placement and return of diaries gains the advantage of interviewer contact without the disadvantage and temptations present 179 when the interviewers are allowed to handle the diaries themselves. In rural areas, where interviewing is not practical, the national diaries are placed by mail and a follow-up letter is used. Normally, the ARB Nations are tabulated on about 1,700 to 1,800 diaries and the city reports on from 200 to b r 2$* These actually tabulated sample sizes are regarded as more than adequate for practical television business decisions, particularly when it is noted that the entire sample applies to each rating produced. In the network national reports, the ratings and other data are based on whatever part of the total national sample is indicated by a program's United States television coverage factor. A number of people in the broadcasting and adver tising business today find it hard to understand how a sample of, say, 2f?0 television homes is adequate to por tray with reasonable accuracy the television viewing of a whole city or area. It "can be fully and acceptably explained--if the "pupil" Is trained to accommodate in his mind highly technical mathematical and statistical theories, formulae and procedures. Very few people are .so trained and it will not be attempted here. The average broad caster or advertiser must rely on logic, his own common sense, experiences and observations to help find the understanding he needs on this point. Tabulating the diary results Diaries returned by viewers to AHBTs Beltsville, Maryland, plant are received by the Tabulating Section and edited for completeness and clarity. The diary must con tain a suitable entry regarding each day's viewing. If no viewing was done, an entry such as nSet not on today," "Television out of order," or "No one at home today" must appear. About 2 to 3 Per cent of the diaries are thrown out either because of illegibility or lack of proper entry on one or more pages. After editing, the diaries go to the tabulation team responsible for that particular report. Ten to twelve teams are employed and in the winter months, day and night 3hlfts of tabulators are on the job. ARB uses women tabulators specially trained for this exacting task. They record diary entries on master tab sheets which are checked carefully at several stages. In turn, the master sheets go to the Composition Section where they again are scrutinized for errors In station and program listing 1 8 0 and where the ratings and other data are typed on master composition sheets for reproduction. ARB uses the hand tabulation method of diaries chiefly because of the form of diary used. It is known as an "open-endH diary and allows a triple verification of each viewing entry--a check for station, program title and schedule time. The hand tabulation system specially devised for ARB diary has proved much more economical, accurate and rapid than any of the mechanized methods against which it has been tested. ARB's installation of IBM equipment is used pri marily to obtain the coverage data provided in the monthly ARB television nationals report. This installation enables ARB to process rapidly the vast quantity of pro gram lineup data and to eliminate the coverage duplication existing in each lineup. The IBM equipment is also used for the analysis of responses, varieties of coverage problems and combinations of these items. Here is istics covering Technique, Type of information furnished, Sample Size and Report Frequency, Markets Covered, Cost, Availability and Delivery Schedule, and Additional Services: 1. Teclinique (method of secur ing information) 2. (A) Base sample size (Actual number of different homes in original sample) (B) Tabulated sample 3. Sample frequency and family compensation L4. Measurement period Intervlewer-supervlsed viewer diary. National--2,200 National Supplement — ljljOO Local--30n to 600 National--l,6f>0 to 1,8$0 National Supplement--1;50-730 Local-~200 to ^50 Both national and local samples are changed com pletely each month. No com pensation paid for family cooperation. Monthly: Normally, the first week in each month, for national and most local reports. National Supple ment provides data for second week in month. Broad cast day part: Entire 214- hour day. 181 5* Frequency of reports 6. Area surveyed 7. Number of local market areas surveyed yearly 8. Delivery schedule of reports 9. Cost and availability of information 10. Additional services National and 17 major mar kets monthly. Other markets 6, 1|» 3> or 2 times yearly. National--Total United States, fully projectable. Local--Standard metropoli tan areas of cities in most cases (1-16 counties). Over 130 markets. Approximately three weeks from end of survey week. Based on sliding scale de pending on client television billing. Advertisers whose agencies already subscribe receive a substantial dis count on all reports. National report rate de pends on number of network shows. No contract re quired. Any part of ser vice may be purchased on an "until further notice,” month-by-month basis. 1. Telephone coincidental me a 3urament• 2. Wide variety of special tabulations of raw diary data, including cumulative ratings, audience flow, regional ratings• . Special diary surveys. • Overnight National Rat ings . 5. Metropolitan area cover age (A to Z) studies ^ 6. Special design surveys.^ 5"TV Measurement for the Sponsor" (1958), used with permission. 182 The second stage of familiarization v/ith ARB is in determining what the service characterlsties mean in terms of the client's specific needs. This simply means matching his requirements against what the service offers. Much of this can readily be done--such as checking the markets reported on, the frequency of reports, the kinds of information provided, and the way the service is sold. With some aspects of survey technique, the uses for special tabs and so on, one will probably find it profitable to discuss a television situation with a service repre sentative who is experienced in relating the service cap abilities to the solution of protlems. Cost is an important factor to most clients. In that connection, it should be remembered that there are no bargains in research, good research costs money--at the same time it should be pointed out that the most expensive research Is not necessarily the best available. And it cannot be stressed too much that, particularly for the new user of research Information, the way a service is made available should be carefully noted.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Runciman, Alexander P. (author)

Core Title Selected Social Psychological Factors Related To Viewers Of Television Programs

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Sociology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, general

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Vincent, Melvin J. (committee chair), Harvey, Herman M. (committee member), Neumeyer, Martin H. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-45805

Unique identifier UC11357862

Identifier 5904400.pdf (filename),usctheses-c18-45805 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 5904400.pdf

Dmrecord 45805

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Runciman, Alexander P.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA