Nielsen Looks At Christmas Music On The Radio

Midday Listeners Love The Holiday Tunes

In a new report on CHRISTMAS music on the radio, NIELSEN writes, "Even if you were passed out on the couch for a tryptophan-induced nap on THANKSGIVING, you were probably still able to faintly hear the holiday marketing blitz ramping up for the season on the TV in the background. It’s CHRISTMAS time and the sights and sounds of the holidays are ringing across our screens and through our speakers. For radio, the annual tradition of holiday music is now in full swing, as most of the stations that typically flip to the 'All CHRISTMAS' format have by now replaced MILEY CYRUS and FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE with BRENDA LEE and JOHNNY MATHIS."

NIELSEN took a close look at Holiday sales, streams and programming formats and found some interesting insights:

• After taking a closer look at airplay from the top 10 AC stations in 2012, NIELSEN found that stations played a whopping 34 versions of “Winter Wonderland” throughout the season. However, THE EURYTHMICS’ version was the most played, at just under 600 spins.

• The holidays are also big for albums. Twelve million holiday-genre albums sold in the U.S. in 2012, accounting for 3.8% of the year’s music sales.

• In terms of holiday formats, the midday daypart (MONDAY-FRIDAY 10a-3p) led the holiday ratings, with listening peaking during the 12p hour over the four-week stretch from early DECEMBER to NEW YEAR’s. Last year, the audience size during middays increased 71% from when the stations were not in the All CHRISTMAS format.

The full NIELSEN report is available here.

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