tabulated the replies with respect to at least the five companies which are appearing here today; and with this is a textual supplement with respect to certain of their subsidiary services. We received from three of the companies-the A. C. Nielsen Co., Videodex, and Trendex-letters adding to or correcting items in the chart. We also have for insertion in the record letters from the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, under date of June 21, 1957, and June 20, 1958, in response to inquiries from the committee as to the possible jurisdiction of the Trade Commission with respect to false advertising using rating results. The final item is a letter from Miles A. Wallach, president of TPI Ratings, Inc., dated June 13, 1958, and an attached study of TV viewing in Syracuse, N.Y., for a week in March of this year. (The documents referred to are as follows:) SENATE COMMITTEE ON INTERSTATE AND FOREIGN COMMERCE, March 27, 1957. GENTLEMEN: The Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce has been conducting an extensive study, involving lengthy hearings, with respect to the development of the entire television industry. During the conduct of this study, it has received a number of inquiries or complaints concerning the national rating services which now provide television program ratings. These have given rise to certain questions as to the possible effect of such ratings upon the program service being furnished the public. It is certainly not my desire to interfere in any way with your conduct of what is essentially a private business; my only concern is with the possible impact of ratings upon the service the public receives and upon the overall development of the television industry. It is in this light that I would appreciate receiving the following information about the methods underlying your service: 1. What portion of the United States is covered by your measurements? Please list the specific cities in which your measurements are taken. 2. What services does your company provide to its subscribers? In this connection I would like to know whether you provide a purely national service, a series of local services, a combination of the two, or any other form of published rating information. 3. Please indicate the number of services that you offer to the broadcast industry, such as ratings, sets in use, share of audience, and whether these are provided on an overnight basis, a weekly basis, a monthly basis, or semiannual basis. 4. How large a sample do you employ in collecting the information used for each service indicated in the answer to the preceding question? More particularly, list the number of samples taken in each specific city listed above and the manner in which they are taken. 5. How is the composition of this sample determined? What efforts have been made to make it an accurate cross section of the population in the area being measured? In other words, please spell out the criteria you have employed in developing the same which you use. Is the selection of the sample made locally, or is it done by your national office? 6. Will you please outline in complete detail the methods which you employ in obtaining information as to the programs which the public viewed at the time which you are seeking to measure? Indicate the devices employed, the number and nature of the personnel conducting the survey (if it is done by telephone or personal visit), the time when the measurement is taken in relation to the actual broadcast of the program, and the time required to process this information for publication. If you make telephone calls, are your reports based only on the completed calls? Is the percentage of uncompleted calls published? 7. What effect, if any, does the type of service ordered by a broadcast interest have on the manner in which you conduct your measurements? 8. Does a quantity order by a specific broadcast group have any effect on the manner in which you conduct your measurements? 9. Is any attempt made by your organization to correlate your results with other rating services? If not, why not? If so, how is this done? 10. What are the advantages of your services over those offered by other rating bureaus? 11. In your estimation, what effect, if any, does the publication of your measurements have on the success, or lack of success, of various programs, or on the success or lack of success for a broadcast station in obtaining an account? 12. In what form do you sell your services to subscribers? That is, do they place an order for your service on a regularly recurring basis or do you, upon occasion, conduct special surveys in selected markets, not ordinarily covered, on a specific order from a particular station or other interested party? 13. What percentage of your revenue is received from the business placed with you by the networks, by individual broadcast stations, and by advertising agencies and others? 14. Please furnish any other information which you feel would be necessary and helpful in giving the committee a full and sound understanding of your method of operation and the effect it has on the public and the broadcast industry. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I will appreciate your furnishing the above information at your earliest convenience. Cordially yours, WARREN G. MAGNUSON, Chairman. Television rating services: A comparative analysis of the nationally significant ratings Weighted average of individual market survey which are continually changing in accordance with clients' wishes and company's workload. 67,000 personal interviews per week (minimum) with each interviewee questioned concerning his or her family's television viewing during the day of the interview and the previous evening. Modified random probability sample with sample blocks taken from census statistics. By personal interview (information is obtained in initial interview). None. Generally a given week of the month. Some markets are reported monthly and others as infrequently as once a year. Trendex, Inc. Telephone coincidental (tele- 15 major cities which can Permanent sample; changed | New sample each month.... 4 of the sample is new each] only to reflect population changes and when sample homes drop out. Audimeters containing film cartridges are installed in the TV sets. Every 2 weeks the family removes the film cartridge and mails it to the company. A new film cartridge received from the company is at once inserted in the audimeter to record the next 2-week period. Diaries are mailed to families from the central office. A personal interview is made just before the period of diary recording to see if diary has been received and to answer any questions. Another interview is made during the middle of the recording week to make sure diary is being properly kept and will be returned promptly. Mostly women, many of whom have previously. been employed in customer relations departments of large concerns. Area supervisors, normally promoted from the interviewer ranks, train all new interviewers. Viewers record in the diary the time during which TV was viewed, the station and program viewed, and the number of viewers (men, women, and children under 16). 3 weeks (approximately) month; each sample home participates for 7 months. Diaries are mailed to fami- comprehension Viewers record in the diary 1 week for advance ratings Respondents are telephoned during the time a particular series of programs is being televised. Tabulated results are based on total calls placed, not on the number of completed calls. Approximately 33 interviewers are used during each half hour of surveying. The interviewers are all women, many of whom are shut-ins. Interviewer asks if anyone is 1 week for published reports; Monthly ratings measure.. Information (in addition Sources of revenue (from Television rating services: A comparative analysis of the nationally significant ratings-Continued A. C. Nielsen Co. The percentage of all TV Number of stations which by each program (projec- Share of audience: percent age of all viewers watching a particular program. Not available. Sets in use: total. Number of stations which transmitted the program. Total number of viewers and audience composition: 37 percent individual broad- 5.5 percent networks. 4 percent advertisers. 3.5 percent others. Sets in use: total. Television revenue accounts 45 percent networks. 35 percent advertising agencies, and "others." 20 percent individual broadcast stations. |