As has been the case for Nielsen’s Holiday PPM surveys for the past decade, adult contemporary is again the big winner in the Holiday 2024 book (including activity from Dec. 5-Jan. 8). AC dominated with double-digit share delivery, as many stations in the format benefited from their annual switch to all-Christmas music.
Taking a closer look, Inside Radio’s monthly analysis of PPM cross-market average quarter-hour share data, covering Monday-Sunday 6am-midnight, shows AC’s Holiday shares actually down 7-10% year-over-year among persons 6+, 18-49, or 25-54, with shares off anywhere from 1.1 to 1.5 points, the latter for 6+ (15.0-13.5). That’s impacted AC’s full-year shares as well, down 4-8% in these three demographics — most notably among 25-54s, where share moved from 9.1 for 2023 to 8.4 for the past year.
The glaring exception to all the above is in the demo where one might expect it least, adults 18-34, where AC has steadily gained since full-year 2022 (8.9-9.1-9.4), with its Holiday survey’s share also up since ’22 (15.1-15.9).
This begs the question: Which formats trended up year-over-year during the Holiday book? Across the board, news/talk was the big gainer, driven by coverage of then-President-elect Trump’s preparation for his return to the White House, the UnitedHealthcare shooting, and for the survey’s last two days, the tragic fires in Los Angeles.
While news/talk’s share was up 9% for 6+ (8.7-9.5) since Holiday 2023, growth was more significant for 18-49 (+20%, 4.0-4.8), 18-34 (+18%, 2.8-3.3) and 25-54 (+17%, 4.8-5.6). For 6+, the only other formats aside from news/talk with notable growth were all-news (+25%) and classical (+35%).
Other formats seeing year-over-year gains in any demo during the Holiday survey include CHR, up 5-7% among 18-49s and 25-54s, and classic hits, up 16% for 18-34.
There’s still just one format that has grown its share steadily from FY2022 to FY2024: contemporary Christian, up anywhere from 14% to 26% in these four demo groups. Only three other formats have been able to pull the same trick in individual demos: urban AC and the aforementioned AC in 18-34 and modern/alternative rock for 25-54. When it comes to gains since FY2023, urban AC stands out, up 7-10% across the board.
AC aside, the only top-three-ranked format in all four demos is country, which in 2024 remained strong but trended down, off 6-9% year-over-year. The fourth quarter was especially tough for country, as shares fell anywhere from 0.8-2.0 points November-Holiday, and fell steadily since July for 6+.
CHR, the No. 2 format for all but 6+, also saw share erosion during Q4 2024, down 6-12% October-Holiday, most notably for 6+ (4.9-4.3) and 18-34 (7.3-6.5). Classic rock, fifth-ranked for 6+ and 18-34, slipped 9-16% November-Holiday, that 16% slide for 18-34s (5.1-4.3).
Finally, hip-hop-based formats had a rough 2024. Urban contemporary saw its share decline steadily since June among 6+ and since August for 18-49s. Rhythmic CHR, meanwhile, showed a similar downtrend from August to the Holiday survey.