January 25, 2024
And so this is CHRISTMAS, and what have you done? Well, if you’re The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. and/or the maniacal math magicians from XTRENDS, you dive straight into the numbers. Sure, for you, dear reader, this is a brief departure from your everyday schedule. For us, it is a matter of great importance. At least it is for those stations that sold their soul to the guy in the red suit. This is their big game (we are not allowed to use the term SUPER BOWL).
The HOLIDAY survey began on DECEMBER 7TH and shuffled off its mortal coil on JANUARY 3RD. Of the 28 days covered, 19 of them were in the evil clutches of one KRIS KRINGLE.
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January 24, 2024
Welcome back to the least surprising ratings survey of this or any year. The incessant par-um-pa-pum-pum of that dastardly little man combined with the constant tintinnabulation of the jingle bells, not only wreaks havoc on my tinnitus, it just makes a mockery of the ratings. Unless, of course, you are the chosen station. Then this is one of the two best surveys of the year.
So it falls to us, The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC., along with our merry math mavens from XTRENDS, to bring the numbers to life. The HOLIDAY survey ran from DECEMBER 7th through JANUARY 3rd. If you do the math – and we did – that means that the curse of BURL IVES and his evil minions were present for 19 of the 28 days of the book. Here is what they delivered:
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January 23, 2024
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with our intrepid number crunching savants from XTRENDS – are back with another ratings hootenanny. Unless you’re the station(s) that sold their soul to KRIS KRINGLE, the HOLIDAY book is generally greeted with a collective “meh.” While it does show the incredible power of radio, it also renders any decision making about tactics or strategies moot. The main question for the non-believers is ‘how quickly will my audience return?’
This survey infamously began on DECEMBER 7TH and expired on JANUARY 3RD. This means the evil BURL IVES controlled the airwaves for 19 of the 28 days. Not a full book but long enough to wreak havoc. Let’s see what happened…
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January 18, 2024
Before we completely forget about 2023 and it’s only a speck in our rearview mirror, let’s take a look at some of the previous holiday season’s shopping trends. What can we learn from these? How can we use this information to create new revenue opportunities for 2024?
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January 11, 2024
How’s that for a click bait title? This is not going to be a blog about making resolutions. I don’t make them and according to Google, 63% of you don’t, as well.
If you’re in a PPM market – and you are not the one station that went all merry and bright – the December and Holiday books fall in the “meh” category. Rather than do a deep dive into surveys that are somewhat skewed, take a broader look at your market and your station(s). Here are a few things to look at:
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