Sponsoring a show vs. merely advertising on it: What's the difference?

[ixnay]

I could have put this on Coast-to-Coast, say, but that's for radio topics (although the same question applies to that medium). Maybe it'll get more hits on this board.

Anyway... the title is (I think) self explanatory.

ixnay

 

[Mediafrog+]

Sponsoring will involve having a major advertising presence on a show, with a heavy spot load, along with billboards and other additional exposure such as product placement and talent mentions. Also usually involves product exclusivity, which means that direct competitors can't buy time. Of course, such sponsors pay a premium.

 

[arnoldevns]

In the early days of television, shows were frequently sponsored by just one company. "The Texaco Star Theater" comes to mind as a good example. From the name of the show to ever ad run in it, the show was sponsored by Texaco. That system changed though as networks looked to get more money from more advertisers. Shows like I Love Lucy had more than one advertiser sponsoring it. Pretty much every show went that way after a while. It's been that way ever since.

 

[Matt]

Shows like I Love Lucy had more than one advertiser sponsoring it.

Actually, I Love Lucy was sponsored in its first run by Philip Morris, a cigarette manufacturer, and all of the commercials featured Lucy and Desi smoking up a storm with the advertiser's product.

When Desilu began syndicating the show off-network, they removed the sponsorship material, made a new intro and close for the show, and added bumpers to alert stations for commercial insertions.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[ixnay]

tested and Matt, I hope the Almighty has made a copy of every example of what you stated, for TST, ILL, and others like them. I would like to spend eternity viewing them, in their original, unedited state. Just to see how people lived back then. ;D I'm 46 and missed out on that era. :'(

Thanks, people.

ixnay

 

[Ultimajock]

Actually, I Love Lucy was sponsored in its first run by Philip Morris, a cigarette manufacturer, and all of the commercials featured Lucy and Desi smoking up a storm with the advertiser's product.

When Desilu began syndicating the show off-network, they removed the sponsorship material, made a new intro and close for the show, and added bumpers to alert stations for commercial insertions.

...even stronger in that direction was the series known in off-network syndication as "One Step Beyond" -- during its 1959-61 ABC original run it was titled "Alcoa Presents"...

...as well, Jack Benny's TV show had been sponsored in its CBS original run by Lucky Strike (as had been his radio show after the Second World War), and at least one of the commercials in each program was woven into the episode's storyline. Benny had been a pioneer in this practice, as he had done it on his first radio broadcast for Canada Dry in 1932; Canada Dry, for its part, hated the idea, and after the original contract lapsed, Benny switched sponsors, and Chevrolet took the Benny program -- with comic ads intact -- the following spring. The practice caught on, and eventually Johnson's Wax had "Fibber McGee & Molly" do it that way, as well as Ipana Toothpaste and Sal Hepatica Laxative on the Fred Allen "Town Hall Tonight" series...

 

[Matt]

Here's a URL for the "I Love Lucy" sponsors...

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eILbFBueCJU [/url]

This is evidently salvaged from some old kinescopes, and you only see bits of the intro at the end of the commercials, but you can see something of the way the sponsorship was woven into the show in ways that were edited out on the syndication run.

Interestingly, when TV Land aired the "I Love Lucy" episodes, they had an animation team reconstruct the original introduction to the show, minus the Phillip Morris sponsor identifications. They did a masterful job of it, but I understand that audience reaction was less than enthusiastic because most of us remember only the "satin heart" introduction with the rolling credits.

By the way, I'm not that much older than you. I'm 49, and not looking forward to next February 1st.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[Matt]

A better example is here...

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYkrN1E_FWA [/url]

Matt

 

[bpatrick]

In the days of one company sponsoring a show,
things could get very ridiculous. The classic case
was a drama about the Holocaust on a program
sponsored by a gas (as in heating fuel) company;
the show was not allowed to show Jews going to
their deaths in gas chambers. Another time, on
a show sponsored by a cigarette company, the
line, "He was a lucky guy" had to be changed to
"He was a fortunate fellow," since the sponsoring
cigarette was not Lucky Strike. And if a show was
sponsored by an automobile company, such as the
"Ford Theater," no one could die in a car crash.

Beyond the occasional "Hallmark Hall Of Fame"
specials, sponsorship is basically a thing of the past; one
company, Armstrong Cork, never advertised on network
television again after CBS pulled "Armstrong Circle
Theater" in 1963.

 

[dhett]

In the early days of television, shows were frequently sponsored by just one company. "The Texaco Star Theater" comes to mind as a good example. From the name of the show to ever ad run in it, the show was sponsored by Texaco. That system changed though as networks looked to get more money from more advertisers. Shows like I Love Lucy had more than one advertiser sponsoring it. Pretty much every show went that way after a while. It's been that way ever since.

IIRC, it was the DuMont Network that started using the model where a show had advertisers rather than a single sponsor. The more I read about them, the more it seems they were just ahead of their time - TV's version of the Edsel perhaps?