Boosting Audiences : ‘Hypoing’ of TV Ratings Increasing

The television business used to be genteel in Minneapolis. Broadcasters called each other by their nicknames and mingled at trade functions on weekdays and lakeside barbecues on weekends.

But relations turned frigid as a prairie pond in winter last month when KARE-TV blanketed the city with letters asking residents to watch its programs, then fill out and return a “research” survey. The reaction from KARE’s competitors was explosive; the mailing came amid the so-called May “sweeps,” when ratings services gather audience-viewing data that determines how much stations will charge for advertising.

CBS Affiliate Complains

“This is not a survey; this is a blatant attempt to boost their ratings,” said James Rupp, president of CBS affiliate WCCO-TV. “They should be thrown out of the ratings book.”

Rupp’s complaint must have sounded familiar to Los Angeles broadcasters this week, in light of Wednesday’s disclosure that A. C. Nielsen Co. will cancel some May sweeps ratings because of a KABC special series that competitors said unfairly boosted the ratings of KABC’s 11 p.m. “Eyewitness News.”

The eight-part series profiled the Nielsen “families” whose viewing habits are recorded to calculate the ratings. In the competitors’ eyes, the subject was a sure-fire viewing lure for Nielsen’s families--and thus a bald attempt to manipulate the ratings.

All Too Common

Both stations’ efforts are examples of activities that have become all too common in the rough-and-tumble world of local television, broadcasters say. Efforts at ratings manipulation--known in the industry’s vernacular as “hypoing”--are chronic and increasing, they say.

Local broadcasters have, of course, for years attempted to boost their audiences with appealing programs during the four times each year when the ratings services gauge local audience levels. Racy news documentaries, movies and other special programming have become a regular feature of the sweeps months of February, May, July and November.

But some stations have also been tempted to try more dubious means to buoy their ratings, which advertisers rely on to divide the $10 billion they spend yearly on local television advertising.

Stations have used a variety of contests, announcements and special promotions to lure viewers to the screen. Some have learned to rapidly change show titles and scheduling so ratings of weaker programming do not bring down the monthly composite ratings for stronger shows.

The research “surveying” used in Minneapolis seems to be the latest wrinkle. “The question is, what don’t they do?” asked Douglas Clemenson, a CBS vice president and veteran of the local broadcast business. “The limit seems to be the limits of people’s imaginations.”

Complaints about efforts to manipulate the ratings have risen steadily in recent years. Arbitron figures show they are up 70% in the last four years, to a total of 206 in 1986.

Use of Gimmicks

Competitive pressures are one reason stations have turned to such gimmicks. Competition has been heightened in recent years by a rapid rise in the number of television stations, and, more recently, a slowdown in the growth of TV advertising spending.

Stations have learned over the years that penalties for breaking the rules are by no means severe. In only a handful of cases over the 40-year history of television have Nielsen or Arbitron, the second ratings company, expunged numbers.

Usually, the researchers respond to complaints by doing what Arbitron plans to do with the KABC series. The company said Thursday it will let stand the figures for the disputed 11 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. time period, while noting in the ratings books it distributes to clients that the station ran a series that might have affected the numbers.

Given Little Weight

These notices are given little weight when advertisers and their ad-agency representatives sit down to map an advertising campaign.

Local sales staffs “usually say, ‘Don’t worry about the notice, give me good ratings and I’ll sell ads,’ ” said Stuart Z. Swartz, vice president of KMSP-TV in Minneapolis. The net effect of the notices, he said, is “negligible.”

The stations are reluctant to take stronger action against offenders for several reasons. The stations, after all, pay big fees to buy their research services.

And dropping a station’s ratings is likely to hurt it financially--and to give it solid grounds for a lawsuit against the ratings company.

“There are real legal issues involved here,” said Pierre Megroz, an Arbitron vice president in New York.

‘Issues Are Basic’

Industry groups have voiced increasing concern. “The issues are basic, and the need to resolve them gets more urgent all the time,” said Mel Goldberg, executive director of the Electronic Media Ratings Council, an independent ratings-monitoring group that includes representatives of broadcasters, advertisers and the ratings companies.

His group is scheduled to meet today to consider whether it should take any action on the KABC series, the station “survey” and other others.

Complaints about ratings manipulation come at a time of growing unhappiness with the entire sweeps method. The increasing use of special sweeps-month programming means the results don’t reflect what goes on most of the year.

There is no longer a constant network season for the sweeps to measure. And the use of videocassette recorders and remote-control devices has made it more difficult to track what viewers are watching.

Some say the whole system is due for an overhaul.

Controversial Practices

As KABC’s example shows, the stations that have used the controversial practices are often in some of the most hotly competitive markets. KARE-TV, the station that stirred a furor in Minneapolis, was bought by Gannett Co. in 1984, and has increased competition in that market by improving its programming and promotion.

“They’d been doing really well, and pulling into second would mean a lot of additional ad dollars,” said Stanley Hubbard Jr., president of Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns KSTP-TV, the ABC affiliate. “They may have thought the surveying would put them over the top.”

In its mass mailing, KARE described its surveys as a “local research project.”

“I would like you to watch Channel 11 as often as possible for the next seven days, and try to watch at 10 p.m. especially,” wrote the station official who signed the letter, referring to the hour KARE broadcasts its late news.

Results Not Released

The ratings services have not yet released their May results, so the Minneapolis broadcasters still don’t know what effect the surveys had. But “you can be sure it will have some effect,” said Rupp, the WCCO president.

He said his station may drop the ratings company services if the KARE numbers are not expunged “because you can bet I won’t pay for distorted numbers.”

Elliot Bass, KARE’s vice president, won’t disclose how many surveys the station mailed out, but insists the research was needed so the station can plan improvements for the fall season. The station needs to survey the public before viewing takes its usual seasonal decline during summer, he says.

“If we had mailed it at another time, nobody would have said anything,” he said. “All we’re talking about is timing.”

Used in Atlanta

The mass-mailed audience surveys were also used during the May sweeps by a second Gannett Co. station, WXIA in Atlanta. “It’s the sleaziest method there is,” said Andrew S. Fisher, president of competitor WSB-TV.

Broadcasters who have sought stiffer penalties for ratings manipulation say that unless such activities are discouraged, other stations in a market feel forced for competitive reasons to take steps to try to drive up their own numbers.

Such a competitive reaction took place in Milwaukee during the November, 1986, sweep period when station WITI, a big CBS affiliate, offered what is believed to be the most expensive local promotional contest of all time. The station offered $1 million in prizes, including jewelry, stock, boats and a Rolls-Royce.

Questions Broadcast

The station got viewers to watch its programming by broadcasting the contest questions over the air between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. The contest was noted in the Nielsen and Arbitron books.

In an effort to protect itself, station WVTV, a small non-network station, made an on-air appeal to Nielsen and Arbitron families to remember its call letters when filling out the ratings diaries. Such appeals are also violations of the ratings services’ rules--so the ratings books noted that infraction as well.

Hal Protter, WVTV’s station manager, said he prevented WITI from repeating its contest this year by publicly threatening to broadcast contest answers if WITI launched another contest promotion. His threat was publicized widely in the local newspapers.

But Protter’s attitude about the contest reflects many broadcasters’ ambivalence about ratings gimmicks. WITI’s contest “was a great, creative idea,” he said. Megroz, the Arbitron vice president, said that while stations have long used special contests to promote themselves during the sweeps, the sums they spend on them are “definitely on the upswing.”

Pat Boone’s Appeal

Station appeals to the ratings households, like WVTV’s, are a regular feature of the sweeps periods. In 1985, singer and religious broadcaster Pat Boone went on the air at station KDOC-TV in Anaheim to appeal to viewers to be sure to fill out the ratings diaries correctly.

Because of Boone’s fame, “that kind of direct appeal can help your numbers,” a Southern California competitor said.

Nor was KABC’s Nielsen series the only use of that idea during the May sweeps. KIRO-TV, a CBS affiliate in Seattle owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, broadcast a three-part series on the ratings process during its 5 o’clock news segment.

The effect on the ratings was not as dramatic as KABC’s series, but the show may have helped KIRO pull narrowly ahead of top-rated NBC affiliate KING for the period, said Pat Scott, KING’s station manager. “We just questioned the propriety of it,” he said.

‘Eye on L.A.’ Series

KABC has drawn complaints from competitors for years as well. In May, 1983, KCBS and other competitors protested when KABC tried to exclude from the ratings for its “Eye On L.A.” series three segments that KABC said were specials, concerning one subject rather than several.

The competition said the ABC affiliate was simply trying to exclude from the monthly tally shows that might have drawn lower ratings. The station has also been accused of excluding the lower-rated second quarter-hour of its 11 o’clock news show by giving the time slot a different name.

Many in the industry hope the use of disputed tactics will decline when the ratings services switch from the quarterly sweeps to a year-round ratings system. If viewing levels were measured all year, it would remove the incentive to try to run up brief ratings “spikes.’

But others point out that only in the largest U.S. markets can the services afford to install meters to record viewing levels year-round.

In the scores of smaller markets, “you’re always going to be at the mercy of the honesty of broadcasters,” said James Sieger, a broadcast consultant in Atlanta.

Television critic Howard Rosenberg assesses the effect of Nielsen’s KABC decision on local television. Story in Calendar.