STATIONS TRY MAKING HAY ON MAY SWEEPS
A red flag was raised. Why would a station essentially sacrifice one sweeps period to boost another? As it turns out, the decision was a corporate one that affected every CBS O&O in the belief that May ratings were worth better than twice the February take.
"We work under the idea that you get about 30% of your business from November, roughly 20% from February and 50% from May," Perret said.
Until recently, there was a presumption that February, May and November were equally valuable, give or take a few bucks. Most station executives and ad industry analysts seem to agree, however, that equity is a thing of the past.
"May is really it now, and it has been it for a little while," said Michael Eigner, VP and G.M. at WPIX, the Tribune station in New York. "The reason is pretty simple. You get maybe six months of shelf life out of the May book. It determines everything from June through the beginning of the fall clear through November. With February, you only get March, April and May. With November, you only get three months as well."
That thinking is at work not only in the preponderance of big-ticket series dotting local newscasts beginning April 24 (when May sweeps officially began), but also in the way the networks have packed their slates with an unusually rich lineup of high-profile projects.
ABC, for instance, has the broadcast premiere of Oscar-winner "Forrest Gump" and a four-hour "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" on three successive weekends. CBS and NBC are featuring crime and punishment, with the Eye web primping Mario Puzo's "The Last Don," and the Peacock launching the four-hour "The Odyssey."
Motivational effect
One ad industry analyst pointed out that because May wraps up just before the upfront ad sales commence in early June, networks tend to pack their slates as something of a psychological ploy.
"If you're coming off big numbers in May, your sales department can spill a bunch of hype about how everything is great, the network-station is back on track, all of that," he said.
Another analyst added, "You can lose February and November now, but if you win May, your ad season is still saved. May is the 800-pound gorilla. A lot of people think it's worth more than February and November combined."
Don't include in that thinking Lyle Banks, VP and G.M. for WMAQ in Chicago. He contended that while May is certainly key, "it becomes less important when you consider the number of changes that stations make between (ratings) books.
"I mean, there is so much competition now that you can't afford to wait months and months to make strategic changes. Nothing truly carries you for six months anymore. For that reason, a lot of buyers are using July diaries to base their buys for the remainder of the summer."
Banks said that markets evolve too rapidly for buyers to put much stock in any one collection of ratings data.
"The smart buyers look at overnights that come out after the (May) book is over," Banks added.
Estimated worth
A general sales manager at a top O&O station also disputed the notion of May holding all the marbles, believing, "They're all worth about the same, frankly. Because once you get to the fall season, you wind up using estimates rather than projections for the new programming. And you don't much need May numbers to tell you that."
Maybe so. But Bill Croasdale, prexy of national broadcast for Western Intl. Media, pointed out that the value of May goes beyond mere numbers.
"With the season finales and cliffhangers and the wrapping up, May generates a lot of excitement that can carry a network or station through sheer momentum," he said. "You don't have that in November or February."
