Sonos launches S.A.N.T.A. Index to track start of festive season

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Sonos has launched a new Seasonal Audio Noise Tracking Aggregator (S.A.N.T.A) Index to track the start of the festive season.

The company created the special algorithm with the hopes of ending the debate around when the run-up to Christmas officially begins.

The S.A.N.T.A Index measures “jingle waves” in 23 countries across the world to identify the moment holiday cheer begins its ascent. At that point in each country, Sonos will unlock product giveaways, promos, new Sonos Radio holiday stations and more.

“No matter how we celebrate the holidays, it’s a time of year that makes us feel more connected, joyful and nostalgic, whether it’s listening to that jolly song that brings back vivid memories of baking with your family, or watching that seasonal flick that makes your eyes well up no matter how many times you’ve seen it,” Pete Pedersen, Sonos’ VP Marketing said in a press release.

“There is certainly a level of passion and anticipation around when the season actually arrives, so this year we didn’t want to just help our listeners feel more festive by connecting them to their favourite holiday content, but also answering the age-old question: when is it the right time to turn up the holiday sound?”

Sonos has been measuring the so-called “jingle waves” since October 13, analysing the frequency that users search and play the five most popular festive songs and movies on the Sonos app in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Colombia, Australia and more. That data is then combined with other metrics like discussion on social media to create a daily jingle wave score on a scale of 0 – no holiday cheer – to 100 – the most holiday cheer.

Once a country reaches 50 on the scale, Sonos will determine that the start of the festive season in that location. The UK reached that tipping point last week, on November 18.

In other Christmas news, Stormzy has said he has written a song worthy of Christmas Number One on his upcoming album ‘This Is What I Mean’. The record will be released on November 25 and, when asked in an interview if he might have a Christmas song on the album that could hit the top spot, Stormzy told Magic Radio: “Well, lo and behold I’ve got something really special for you guys and do you know why I’m so proud? Because I made this song with love.

“I just made this song, and it came from the most pure place, I wrote it with an amazing artist. A really extremely gifted artist called Debbie and we made this beautiful, beautiful song, and I genuinely think that…I don’t want to jinx it, but I swear to you, I can’t wait for you guys to hear it.”

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