Just thought you might want to know where some of the ad dollars are going this holiday season.
and remember the importance of local-direct: Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.
Radio’s Festive Flippers See Early 40% Audience Gain Across US
As Thanksgiving officially kicked off the holiday season last week, it was radio that enjoyed the feast as sleigh bells brought listeners back in force. Stations from Biloxi to LA that flipped to all-Holiday formats saw huge in-car audience spikes across 15 US markets.
The measurement, which tracked more than 1.3 million connected vehicles through Xperi’s DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal between November 25-30, showed a 40.4% average increase in audience share for holiday music stations, with consistent gains in every market measured, demonstrating the widespread seasonal lift tied to format switches.
Portland’s KKCW posted the largest share increase at 68.4%, followed by Washington, DC’s WASH (61.7%) and Cincinnati’s WRRM (56.2%). San Francisco’s KOIT and Boston’s WMJX rounded out the top five at 55.0% and 53.6%, respectively.
Other major markets mirrored the trend. Philadelphia’s WBEB rose 46.8%, Chicago’s WLIT climbed 42.1%, and Dallas’s KDGE increased 40.3%. Even smaller markets showed measurable gains: Biloxi’s WMJY up 34.0%, Salt Lake City’s KSFI up 31.5%, and Lexington’s WMXL up 22.4%.
The AutoStage dataset captured listener movement in real time as audience share rose steadily from Thanksgiving Day through the weekend. Top-performing stations saw their share nearly double by November 30. KKCW in Portland grew from 9.3% to 15.6%, while WASH in Washington, DC, increased from 3.9% to 6.3% over the same period.
All metrics came following enhancements to the DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal in November, which now provides audience analytics to 250 US markets.
These results even outperform Katz Media Group’s 2024 review of 102 PPM-measured stations, which found that switching to all-holiday formats drove 34.4% growth in Average Quarter-Hour listening and 17.7% gains in cumulative audience.
The best news for advertisers? That festive boom directly translates to seasonal commerce. Critical Mass Media and iHeartMedia found that 98% of holiday music listeners say Christmas radio gets them into the holiday spirit, while 90% say it makes them more excited to shop, and 83% say it signals time to start shopping. Three-quarters are more likely to purchase from companies advertised on holiday stations.
No comments:
Post a Comment