Rough Holiday? Nielsen and History Say You Weren't Alone

Once again the trades have been awash with news about big Holiday books for stations that went all-Christmas. 

Early on, Inside Radio reported on the impact of the over 500 stations that went all-Christmas this year: 

The Christmas format supremacy in Nielsen’s holiday ratings survey cannot be overstated, with the format ranking first in 11 of 12 PPM market reports released yesterday. Double-digit 6+ shares were the norm, as were declining ratings at non-holiday stations.  Many Santa stations doubled their December numbers and, more often than not, exceeded their Holiday 2014 performance.

Meanwhile, today, Tom Taylor at Now reported that all Christmas ruled the holiday books in 2015 and...

...broke the records for the first- and second-highest all-time high Nielsen age 6+ total-broadcast-week average-quarter-hour PPM share in any market at any time. This year AC “K103” KKCW in Portland, Oregon soared to a 21.4 share, a new all-time high in PPM. And Friday, we got the second-highest PPM share ever, Jacksonville’s WEJZ at a 19.7.

If all-Christmas wasn’t your strategy and your December or Holiday monthly looked far more like a lump of coal than a hover board, you’re not alone.

Here are five, 6+ month-by-month AQH graphs that Nielsen’s Jon Miller was kind enough to supply.

The good news for many is that your format’s peaks likely lie ahead and have at least some degree of predictability.

This allows you to get to work now on planning how you’ll capitalize on an influx of listeners in the upcoming months.

Related: Keep Summer Listeners Coming Back: 5 Retail Tactics for your Station

1957 Words of Inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King

This morning in “Now” Tom Taylor included one of Dr. Martin Luther King's many great quotes: 

If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.

Dr. King’s words from 1957 were part of a speech encouraging his Washington University audience to keep pressing towards their goals without violence or bitterness.

Today, these words continue to resonate across time and circumstance, and offer a personal challenge to us all.

What’s your next destination/thing you want to accomplish/personal growth or professional goal you want to achieve/outlook you want to have/challenge you want to overcome/way you'll make a positive difference in your family, community, nation and world?

What will be your first steps in moving forward?

Read more about the 1957 Washington University speech here