Edison Releases Study On 2005 Christmas Music Flips

Edison Media

According to EDISON RESEARCH, among the 119 continuously measured FM radio stations in the top 100 markets that went with all Christmas music during the 2005 holiday season, on average they gained 10% in both 12+ share and 25-54 share over the remainder of 2005. Among the target demographic of many of these stations, Women 25-54, the average gain was also 10%.

While going to an all-Christmas format continues to deliver a significant boost to AC, Christian, and Oldies formats, the year-to-year boost for all-holiday stations in the Fall 2005 book vs. 2004 was essentially flat, with slight losses in some key demos, reports EDISON. These findings lead the company's just-released study, "Christmas Music: The Gift That Keeps On Giving."  Find the study at www.edisonresearch.com.  

The study also found that stations’ gains come largely through an influx of new listeners each fall. Among Christmas stations, on average cumulative audience rose 8%. By comparison, on average TSL only increased 1.6%.

The two stations posting the most dramatic share-point gains 12+ were WTSS/BUFFALO and KRVE/BATON ROUGE, which each rose 2.6 share points. These represent 53% and 42% 12+ share gains, respectively.

EDISON found that 79% of those stations that went all-Christmas were up (vs. 76% from the previous year). As was the case last Fall, the holiday format was good for an extra 0.7 shares 12-plus. When the Fall book was compared to an average of the first three books of 2005, Christmas stations saw a 0.5 share (or 10%) boost over their 12-plus and 25-54 average and a 0.8 share (10%) gain in women 25-54.

But comparing shares between Fall ’04 and ’05, only 43% of all-holiday stations were up year-to-year (vs. 47% the year before). In 25-54 women, 48% of stations were up year to year.

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