2018 GR Holiday Radio Ratings?

[blakeharms]

I was just reading an article on WNIC's total domination of the Detroit market last Christmas season...

http://www.insideradio.com/free/detroit ... 81804.html

I was wondering if Grand Rapids releases a holiday radio ratings period? I couldn't find it anywhere but wasn't sure. Thanks all.

[blakeharms]

Grand Rapids does not have a holiday book per se; that is something only reserved for PPM markets.

However, last summer, Grand Rapids was among the diary markets to be upgraded to continuous monitoring. This means quarterly ratings surveys have been replaced with monthly ratings surveys.

Monthly unweighted Arbitrends over a trailing 3-month period no longer exist. Each & every monthly ratings release now qualifies as a certified, statistically valid "book."

So, even though the GR market technically won't have a ratings report card entitled "Holiday," it *will* have a ratings report card that covers the month of December. Good enough, I'd say!

BTW, with each passing year, Christmas music in West Michigan produces a smaller & smaller ratings boost for the stations that adopt the format. In Kalamazoo, the switchover actually harmed 106.5 WVFM's numbers!

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-rel ... o-markets/

That would make sense... it'll be nice to see ratings monthly from here on out. Surprised GR is as low of a market as it is with TV being around ~20 markets higher. Regardless, happy to see the upgrade.

It's also interesting how you mention the smaller ratings boosts here in GR... I wonder if it's because folks are sick of Christmas music beginning so soon. In Chicago, there are not any stations that have started yet, and in Washington, D.C., most stations don't start until the week of Thanksgiving. Perhaps the "novelty" of Christmas music during the first week of November has worn off for some.

Thank you for the information!

[OneBigFan]

Star 105.7 and 100.5 The River started November 1 and my wife asked if we could re-assign the car radio buttons at least until after Thanksgiving.

Is it cheaper to switch to the holiday pre-recorded than their regular programming?

[ftballfan]

The reason radio is ranked in the upper 60's is because not enough owners are willing to allow additional counties to be added to the Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by Nielsen. For many years now, the Arbitron / Nielsen Audio MSA has been restricted to just Kent & Ottawa Counties.

I suspect companies such as Townsquare and Cumulus are worried that inclusion of additional, mostly rural, counties such as Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Montcalm and Newaygo would help B93 expand its lead. Let's face it - country music is king in those areas.

Speaking of market expansion, I was surprised that MacDonald-Garber, Northern, and Black Diamond (may have still been Northern Star at the time) allowed the addition of Manistee and Wexford counties to the Traverse City radio market recently, considering how dominant WTCM-FM is in those two (especially the former)

[Deleted User 12047]

So, even though the GR market technically won't have a ratings report card entitled "Holiday," it *will* have a ratings report card that covers the month of December. Good enough, I'd say!

I'm sorry to report that there will be NO report covering the month of December for any Continuous Diary Measurement market such as Grand Rapids. Let me get very complicated and explain:

Nielsen (nee Arbitron) uses 4 week time periods for PPM markets to produce a one month report. They produce 13 of these per year and cover December listening.

Below all comes courtesy of http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/Survey_Schedule.pdf
PPM® SURVEY SCHEDULE
October 2019 September 12 - October 9
November 2019 October 10 - November 6
December 2019 November 7 - December 4
Holiday 2019 December 5 - January 1
January 2020 January 2 – January 29

Historically, Nielsen used 12 week periods for diary markets, and will continue that trend for the new CDM reports.
CONTINUOUS DIARY MEASUREMENT SURVEY SCHEDULE
OCT19 (Aug-Oct) July 18 – October 9
NOV19 (Sep-Nov) August 15 – November 6
DEC19 (Oct-Dec) September 12 - December 4

So the December report will have very few actual December diaries. Past results show people will not return diaries during the holiday season, so Nielsen quit trying to place them during that time years ago.

JAN20 (Nov-Jan) October 10 – January 29
FEB20 (Dec-Feb) November 7 – February 26
MAR20 (Jan-Mar)January 2 – March 25

Oct 10 thru January 29 is 16 weeks! Nov 7 thru Feb 26 is 16 weeks! The other reports are all 12. Can't do that if you want consistent comparable data. So they will continue their previous policy and place no diaries during the December 5 thru Jan 1 time period - the "Holiday" 13th month for PPM.

Hence no new info available this year.