We Need A Little Less Christmas?
Written Nov. 11, 2009 by Sean Ross in with 1 Comment
When the all-Christmas format flips start coming, it always feels like a deluge -- particularly when there are two in a market hot on each other's heels.
But so far, Scott Fybush of 100000watts.com, which keeps the defintiive list of holiday formats every year, says "the pace seems to be a little slower than it was a year ago." And at least one of last year's more controversial format flips, WCBS-FM New York, is going to keep the Christmas format to HD-2 this year.
Last year, the special holiday book PPM numbers showed that the Christmas format was bigger than even its proponents had expected -- during the holiday weeks themselves. During November and January there was finally evidence of regular AC format fans being run off. And even in a fall of economic free-fall, the appetite for comfort food wasn't quite as voracious as some had thought.
Last year was not the year that the industry decided that "Christmas doesn't work"--and 2009 won't be either. PPM likes to reward the only one of anything in a market and some holiday formats will look even better without fragmentation. But 2009 may be the year the industry realizes that it is possible to over-indulge.And that Christmas music is not a long-term substitute for marketing, or for dealing with the other issues of an always-evolving format.
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I recently asked a programmer how the PPM factored into the decision of when to start playing Christmas music. The response; It's more a matter of timing for sales than how PPM records listener reaction.
I guess just because you have data and know what listeners want doesn't mean you have to use it.