Holiday Arb rankings 25-54, 18-34 - V-103 remains on top, ahead of B98.5's xmas

[rho01]

Holiday Arbitron rankings cover Dec. 11, 2010 to Jan. 5, 2011. This covers two weeks of Christmas music. Country music and WYAY took the biggest hits. B98.5's xmas boost wasn't as big as it was a year ago and V-103 held off the station in all major demos to remain No. 1 with its strongest numbers in 2010.

25-54
1. V-103 (best in 2010)
2. B98.5
3. Kiss
4. Majic
5. WSB/ Praise (tie)
7. Q100
8. Fish
9. Dave
10. Hot
11. Kicks
12. Bull
13. River
14. Project
15. Star
16. El Patron
17. WABE
18. Rock
19. (tie) Fan/Zone

18-34
1. V-103
2. Hot
3. B98.5
4. Q100
5. Project
6. Star
7. Kiss
8. Kicks
9. River
10. tie WSB/El Patron
12. Fish
13. tie Dave/ Wild
15. Majic
16. Bull
17. Praise
18. WABE
19. Rock
20. 99X

 

[secondchoice]

Why doesn’t Arbitron just have a “Holiday” book, (example Nov. 26th Dec. 26th)? For a lot of retailers this “month” is make or break. There is a lot of “non regular” programming, shopping, driving and partying during these 4+ weeks, which “skews” the ratings. There are a number of advertisers who spend a large part of their budget during this period. Arbitron could even sell charge more for this period for non regular subscribers.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Why doesn’t Arbitron just have a “Holiday” book, (example Nov. 26th Dec. 26th)? For a lot of retailers this “month” is make or break. There is a lot of “non regular” programming, shopping, driving and partying during these 4+ weeks, which “skews” the ratings. There are a number of advertisers who spend a large part of their budget during this period. Arbitron could even sell charge more for this period for non regular subscribers.

I've been wondering the same thing and not just for that purpose. Arbitron should issue a report that isolates the Christmas music period rather than have it affect the numbers for parts of 2 monthly periods. Admittedly, the way they do it now is probably beneficial to stations playing Christmas music, but it plays havoc with the other stations.

 

[Seltzer]

Why doesn’t Arbitron just have a “Holiday” book, (example Nov. 26th Dec. 26th)? For a lot of retailers this “month” is make or break. There is a lot of “non regular” programming, shopping, driving and partying during these 4+ weeks, which “skews” the ratings. There are a number of advertisers who spend a large part of their budget during this period. Arbitron could even sell charge more for this period for non regular subscribers.

I've been wondering the same thing and not just for that purpose. Arbitron should issue a report that isolates the Christmas music period rather than have it affect the numbers for parts of 2 monthly periods. Admittedly, the way they do it now is probably beneficial to stations playing Christmas music, but it plays havoc with the other stations.

Why should stations that do Christmas be penalized? They're playing by the rules.

 

[davideduardo]

Why doesn’t Arbitron just have a “Holiday” book, (example Nov. 26th Dec. 26th)? For a lot of retailers this “month” is make or break. There is a lot of “non regular” programming, shopping, driving and partying during these 4+ weeks, which “skews” the ratings. There are a number of advertisers who spend a large part of their budget during this period. Arbitron could even sell charge more for this period for non regular subscribers.

Arbitron, as far as I know, does not sell single books to any station. If they did, a station could buy one, and then milk it for a long time...

Advertisers who buy in PPM markets know the effects of Christmas music on one or two stations. They also know that there are different listening patterns from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, due in part to changes in work and school schedules, many vacation days for workers, and differrent holiday patterns overall. I doubt an advertiser fails to take this into account.

But lots of campaigns are holiday specific and when advertisers audit their buys, they can see the effectiveness of them with the data. TV, of course, "posts" where the actual audience delivery is measured against the station's promise, and adjustments will be made if delivery is not adequate.

Additionally, PPM "books" are 28 days, made up of 4 one-week, Thursday to Wednesday periods... so the survey could not cover Thanksgiving to Christmas... there would always be spillage.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Why should stations that do Christmas be penalized? They're playing by the rules.

You're misunderstanding what I said. I'm not saying they should be penalized. I'm saying Arbitron's Holiday report should cover approximately Thanksgiving to Christmas. That way, advertisers would see the full effect of Christmas music over the time it's aired. The way they do it now, with 2 reports that are part-Christmas music and part regular, makes things murky.

And yes, 28 days doesn't exactly cover Thanksgiving to Christmas, but it's close.