The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » All Xmas Music Leads To Higher Ratings/Better Results For Advertisers

RadioActive · December 2, 2022 4:39 pm

Many here hate it, but it's impossible to deny it works, as a new U.S. survey appears to show.

Survey: Beyond All-Demo Appeal, Christmas Music Connects With Big Holiday Shoppers

paterson1 · December 2, 2022 9:05 pm

It's a US survey, doesn't really apply here as much. American radio ratings are more unpredictable overall than here. WNIC in Detroit last year more than tripled their share in December, and then slide back to #7 or #8. Never hear stories like that in Canada, and it would make me suspect how ratings are conducted in US markets. Station in Calgary CHFM apparently had a 20% increase in numbers with Christmas music but nothing like some US also ran radio seem to report for 7 or 8 weeks.

betaylored · December 2, 2022 9:53 pm

How scientific can this be really..guess it's accurate. Stores offer a wide variety of Christmas music.. a great rendition of a classic (bearable if not enjoyable and fairly easy to tune out) might encourage customer spending vs. the cheap stocking stuffer stylings of Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer or heaven forbid, the Do They Know It's Christmas song loathed by some radio folk of a certain vintage.

Last edited by betaylored (December 2, 2022 9:59 pm)

RadioAaron · December 2, 2022 10:06 pm

paterson1 wrote:
It's a US survey, doesn't really apply here as much. American radio ratings are more unpredictable overall than here. WNIC in Detroit last year more than tripled their share in December, and then slide back to #7 or #8. Never hear stories like that in Canada, and it would make me suspect how ratings are conducted in US markets. Station in Calgary CHFM apparently had a 20% increase in numbers with Christmas music but nothing like some US also ran radio seem to report for 7 or 8 weeks.

There's no real difference between how the ratings are conducted, but there is a difference in how they're released. Arbitron in the US publicly releases a "holiday" book covering the weeks where Christmas music has its impact. In Canada, the only public release is (was) the entire Dec/Jan/Feb period. That dampens the swing. As someone who can look at a single month, I can tell you the impact is the same, if not greater here.

Another factor is how highly rated a station is in their regular formal. WNIC, per your example, is normally a mid-level performer at best. In Canada, until recently, only Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto have been measured by Numeris over Christmas. Montreal doesn't do Christmas music, and the Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver stations are high performers in their regular formats. CHFM Calgary is Canada's WNIC.

Last edited by RadioAaron (December 2, 2022 10:18 pm)

RadioAaron · December 2, 2022 10:12 pm

betaylored wrote:
How scientific can this be really..guess it's accurate. Stores offer a wide variety of Christmas music.. a great rendition of a classic (bearable if not enjoyable and fairly easy to tune out) might encourage customer spending vs. the cheap stocking stuffer stylings of Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer or heaven forbid, the Do They Know It's Christmas song loathed by some radio folk of a certain vintage.

paterson1 · December 3, 2022 2:34 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
It's a US survey, doesn't really apply here as much. American radio ratings are more unpredictable overall than here. WNIC in Detroit last year more than tripled their share in December, and then slide back to #7 or #8. Never hear stories like that in Canada, and it would make me suspect how ratings are conducted in US markets. Station in Calgary CHFM apparently had a 20% increase in numbers with Christmas music but nothing like some US also ran radio seem to report for 7 or 8 weeks.

There's no real difference between how the ratings are conducted, but there is a difference in how they're released. Arbitron in the US publicly releases a "holiday" book covering the weeks where Christmas music has its impact. In Canada, the only public release is (was) the entire Dec/Jan/Feb period. That dampens the swing. As someone who can look at a single month, I can tell you the impact is the same, if not greater here.

Another factor is how highly rated a station is in their regular formal. WNIC, per your example, is normally a mid-level performer at best. In Canada, until recently, only Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto have been measured by Numeris over Christmas. Montreal doesn't do Christmas music, and the Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver stations are high performers in their regular formats. CHFM Calgary is Canada's WNIC.

As far as I can tell the only rated station here that sees any big bump is Calgary. As you mentioned the other markets like Toronto and Vancouver already are strong performers so increases on a station like CHFI are not as dramatic. And does a 20% increase in numbers on CHFM equal the 350% increase in market share for WNIC Detroit?

In terms of smaller markets like Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph, London, Ottawa etc. how would we know? All stations are busier leading up to Christmas with more advertising and revenue regardless of playing Christmas music or not. CHYM in Waterloo Region has been the number one station for over 50 years, so again any increase would not be nearly as impressive.

Would the better results for advertisers be the all Christmas music or just the fact they are advertising during the Christmas season on radio? For many clients this is one of the only times of the year they advertise. And I am talking about local advertisers here which I believe the article was referring to as well.

I have nothing at all against Christmas music but I am always leery when radio people trump something like this as something massive when it really isn't. And using a US survey and data as proof only makes it more questionable.

turkeytop · December 3, 2022 2:41 pm

I expect there may be some listeners who would tune out their usual station because it is all Christmas.

RadioActive · December 4, 2022 7:51 am

An American survey, but it's easy to imagine the results would be similar here.

What’s the most hated Christmas song?

betaylored · December 4, 2022 12:29 pm

RadioActive wrote:
An American survey, but it's easy to imagine the results would be similar here.

What’s the most hated Christmas song?

sounds like a possible idea for a topic...
😁🎶🎄🎶🎄🎶😝

paterson1 · December 4, 2022 1:57 pm

RadioActive wrote:
An American survey, but it's easy to imagine the results would be similar here.

What’s the most hated Christmas song?

Maybe, but so far we have no evidence other than Calgary. And that's not enough to say it is similar. I maintain that revenue increases would happen anyway since all stations are busier leading up to Christmas/Boxing Day. Stations that mix in Christmas music leading up to the 25th could very well be as successful revenue wise as those that go all in. In terms of ratings for the most part we have no idea. So the imagining is only an assumption not based on much, other than a US survey which isn't really applicable.

Most hated Christmas song? Can't say I really have one..

Last edited by paterson1 (December 4, 2022 1:58 pm)

RadioAaron · December 4, 2022 6:42 pm

paterson1 wrote:
As you mentioned the other markets like Toronto and Vancouver already are strong performers so increases on a station like CHFI are not as dramatic. And does a 20% increase in numbers on CHFM equal the 350% increase in market share for WNIC Detroit?

The 20% increase at CHFM is for the entire Dec/Jan/Feb rating period while WNIC's increase is for the Holiday book only. Apples and Oranges. Also, markets like Detroit, Chicago, and Atlanta have their AC listening split between AC and Urban AC. The AC stations that flip have a greater opportunity for growth.

As for Canadian diary markets, they are now measured year-round, but the data are released as a rolling average, so it'll be quite a bit harder to extrapolate the effects of the Christmas format.

The first major diary market to do the Christmas format was Majic 100 Ottawa. They did it about 15 years ago because a BBM error required additional sampling for that fall's ratings period. That sampling took place through November and December. Majic's fall book was a massive outlier.

You can be leery that it's massive, but you're wrong. And you completely ignored the reason that the US data shows different results.

Last edited by RadioAaron (December 4, 2022 6:52 pm)

RadioAaron · December 4, 2022 7:13 pm

I just took a look at the most recently available daily report (Dec 1) and CHFI had almost double the rating of the next station (Boom)

turkeytop · December 4, 2022 7:33 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
I just took a look at the most recently available daily report (Dec 1) and CHFI had almost double the rating of the next station (Boom)

Any data as to who the listeners are? I'm guessing middle class women.

RadioAaron · December 4, 2022 7:36 pm

turkeytop wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
I just took a look at the most recently available daily report (Dec 1) and CHFI had almost double the rating of the next station (Boom)
Any data as to who the listeners are? I'm guessing middle class women.

Almost entirely.

RadioActive · December 5, 2022 7:32 am

paterson1 · December 5, 2022 5:55 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
I just took a look at the most recently available daily report (Dec 1) and CHFI had almost double the rating of the next station (Boom)

Interesting. This daily report you are referring would be F 25-54? How is CHFI doing with M 25-54, or total numbers?Is CHFI starting to see a big increase in revenue/traffic as compared to CHUM or BOOM? Or is CHUM with so far no Christmas music or BOOM, playing a few cuts now seeing similar increases?

But we do agree that the US data shows different results as you mentioned, which was my initial point.