Spots Before Their Eyes

When commercial TV was introduced in Britain four years ago, it was widely regarded as a transient evil from abroad and no cause for real alarm. Today a host of ecstatic advertisers attest that commercial television has come to the Isles to stay. Six companies now produce programs for the commercial channel in competition with the rigorously noncommercial BBC. One of the two leaders, Associated Television Ltd., announced last week that it had made -L-4,100,000 ($11.5 million) in its 1957-58 fiscal year--almost ten times its previous year's profit.

Commercial TV has pushed the good grey BBC out of the popularity contest altogether. No BBC program, according to TAM (Television Audience Measurement Ltd.), is now a serious contender for the ten regularly top-rated shows. In the most recent survey, the U.S. export oater called Wagon Train led the pack, followed by a typically British whodunit series (Murder Bag) featuring diabolically clever homicides. One other U.S. show made the list in the No. 10 spot: CBS's ad-lib courtroom drama, The Verdict Is Yours (TIME, May 19).

Sponsorship is forbidden. Result is that, more than any other televiewers in the world, Britons have spots before their eyes. Sandwiched between programs and at "natural breaks," the commercials sometimes run five or six in a row. But they have demonstrated their power as Britain's most effective advertising force. This year advertisers will plunk down some -L-50 million to fire their TV messages into almost 6,000,000 British homes. Already British admen are agitating for a third channel--commercial, of course.

The televised blurbs, so understated at first that it was sometimes hard to tell what was being advertised, are now couched largely in such hard-sell terms that they seem downright un-British. But there is still an undertone of restraint; e.g., amidst a bunch of filmed interviews with housewives who swear by a detergent called Omo, the British admen have included one housewife who candidly states that she does not use Omo, has no intention of ever trying it. Makes it seem more authentic, they explain.

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