HBG Media Minute: Christmas 2022 Music Study Pt. II: Age Demographics
In last week’s Media Minute, we discussed the results of a nationwide study in which radio listeners were asked about their favorite Christmas music. We found that ‘50’s Rock’, ‘Retro’, and ‘80’s Pop Christmas’ were the favorite styles of holiday music from over 700 radio listeners. Additionally, station retention was highest in the montages that received the strongest appeal scores, i.e. 95% of listeners stated they would listen to a station that plays ‘50’s Rock’ style Christmas music, a montage that received an 85% appeal score.
We also stressed in our findings to err on the side of caution in playing niche styles of Christmas music, such ‘Country Christmas’, ‘Rocking Christmas’, and ’90’s Hip-Hop’. And while these styles of music still demonstrated high appeal and retention scores in the Christmas radio audience, they do not hold a candle to the classics (‘50’s Rock’, ‘Retro’, ‘80’s Pop Christmas’).
A key for the Christmas music style montages used in this study is placed at the bottom of this entry for your reference
In this week’s entry we will take an in-depth look at the demographic breakdown of our 2022 Christmas music survey, with specific attention given to the featured age groups. Those age groups are 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64.
When poring over our results, we noticed that appeal scores among the youngest age demo had a scant relationship with retention scores (whether they would listen to a station that plays a given type of Christmas music). To illustrate this broader finding in our survey let’s take a gander at the appeal of the Retro montage:
Graph (below): How much do you like this type of Christmas music? Please indicate your response using a 1-5 scale, where a “1” mean you dislike it a lot, and a “5” means you like it a lot.
Ages 18-24 came in over 10 percentage points lower than any other age demographic, at 73%. Next, let’s look at the appeal for the 50’s Rock montage:
Graph (below): How much do you like this type of Christmas music? Please indicate your response using a 1-5 scale, where a “1” means you dislike it a lot, and a “5” means you like it a lot.
Once again, the youngest age demo (18-24) gave the 50’s Rock montage the lowest appeal scores of the various age groups. The following two graphs further exhibit this trend of the youngest age group coming in at a lower appeal score than the other spotlighted ages:
Graphs (below): How much do you like this type of Christmas music? Please indicate your response using a 1-5 scale, where a “1” means you dislike it a lot, and a “5” means you like it a lot.
Ages 18-24 came in at 70% and 57% for 80’s Pop Christmas and Beatles, respectively. The youngest demo seems to like our study’s most popular styles just a little less than everyone else. However, when looking at station retention, the 18-24 demo is noticeably closer in its ranking of the popular Christmas styles to the older age groups… To the next graph!
Graph (below): Would you listen to a radio station that plays this type of Christmas music?
Despite Ages 18-24 giving the Retro style of Christmas music a 73% appeal score, 93% of the youngest age group state that they would listen to station that plays the Retro style of Christmas music. Ages 18-24’s appeal score of 50’s Rock (72%), belies its overall station retention rating of 90%. This trend continues with the 80’s Pop Christmas and Beatles styles: 80’s Pop Christmas – 70% Appeal, 80% Station Retention; Beatles – 57% Appeal, 71% Station Retention.
For context, 93%, 90%, 80%, and even 71% are indisputably positive station retention ratings. The youngest age demo, while ostensibly less enthusiastic than older age groups over Christmas music styles, states that they would listen roughly the same amount to these stations as older age groups. Also, as a general rule, among the most popular styles of Christmas music, the older you are the higher the appeal and station retention scores.
We must continue to reiterate, as we did in last week’s entry, that sticking with the classics is your best bet for Holiday Radio ratings success.
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of the Harker Bos Group Media Minute. Be sure to keep a look out for more studies and blogs like this from the media specialists at Harker Bos Group and Crowd React Media.
Study Profile:
700+ Christmas Radio Listeners
50% Male, 50% Female
Ages 18-64
Nationwide Study
Montage Key:
-Retro
Bing Crosby – White Christmas (1947)
Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) (1961)
Frank Sinatra – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (1957)
-50s Rock
Brenda Lee – Jingle Bell Rock (1958)
Chuck Berry – Run Run Rudolph (1958)
Elvis – Blue Christmas (1957)
-Rocking Christmas
Ramones – Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight) (1987)
The Kinks – Father Christmas (1977)
The Pogues – Fairytale of New York (1987)
-80’s Pop Christmas
Wham – Last Christmas (1984)
Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas (1984)
The Pretenders – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (1987)
-90s Hip Hop and R&B Christmas
TLC – Sleigh Ride
Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight – Let It Snow
K-Ci & JoJo – In Love at Christmas (1998)
-Beatles
Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime
John & Yoko – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
George Harrison – Ding Dong Ding Dong
-Modern Pop Christmas
Kelly Clarkson – Underneath the Tree (2013)
Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me (2014)
Justin Bieber – Mistletoe (2011)
-Country Christmas
Dolly Parton – Hard Candy Christmas
Alabama – Christmas in Dixie
Johnny Cash – Little Drummer Boy
