NETWORK TV SEX AS A COUNTERPROGRAMMING STRATEGY DURING A SWEEPS PERIOD - AN ANALYSIS OF CONTENT AND RATINGS

A common assumption in the TV industry is that, ''Where there's sweeps , there's sure to be sex.'' This study rested that assumption by condu cting a content analysis of sexual behaviors in ABC, Fox, and NBC prim e-time programs during the February 1992 sweeps period, when CBS was c arrying the Winter Olympics. The random sample consisted of nineteen e venings (fifty-six hours of programs). The three networks carried 12.1 0 sexual behaviors per hour during the sweeps period, up slightly from 11.99 per hour during a fall 1991 nonsweeps period. An additional 5.0 4 sexual behaviors per hour were presented in the promos for prime-tim e programs. Unmarried sex was the predominant type of sex, and disappr ovals of unmarried sex were rare. Pregnancy, AIDS, and other STDs were seldom shown or mentioned. Correlations between sexual behaviors and ratings produced either nonsignificant or negative results. The study concluded that where there are sweeps, there may or may not be more se x, depending on which network one is analyzing. ABC cut its number of sexual behaviors per hour by almost half, while Fox more than doubled its rate per hour.