-
courtesy All Access Music November 3, 2017
-
Ho Ho Ho!
The “holiday spirit” will soon blanket shopping malls, yards and airwaves across the UNITED STATES. NIELSEN MUSIC reports that holiday music is continuing to grow in popularity each year and hundreds of radio stations nationwide will soon make the annual switch to an all-CHRISTMAS format. Over the last few years, more than 500 stations have gone to holiday programming on or around THANKSGIVING.
Holiday music’s popularity is rooted in what many consider to be the classic era of the genre, the 1950s and 1960s; so you may be surprised to hear that NIELSEN’s 2017 Music 360 Report finds that more than a third (36%) of “holiday music fans” are Millennials… the largest of any generation. Gen X comprised 31% of holiday music fans, while “Boomers & Beyond” (55+) made up just 25% of the category.
This surprise discovery led NIELSEN to investigate and dispel a number of commonly-held beliefs about Holiday Music and its fans.
Myth #1 – Only Older People Like Holiday Music
Holiday Music Fans Breakdown:
- Gen Z (Age 13-17): 8%
- Millennials (Age 18-34): 36%
- Gen X (Age 35-54): 31%
- Boomers & Beyond (Age 55+): 25%
Myth #2 – Holiday Fans Aren’t Streaming
Share of Overall Holiday Music Listening Time By Format Type (Greater than 100% bc people listen to music on more than one format type!):
- Streaming: 40%
- Radio (over-the-air or satellite): 26%
- Digital Music Library: 13%
- Physical Music: 12%
- Other: 10%
MUCH MORE TO BE READ HERE ABOUT CHRISTMAS MUSIC
