As the holiday season approaches, a joint study by Comscore’s Proximic division and Nexxen reveals where and when marketing activities will surge most. The research, based on surveys and trend analysis, indicates that more than 50% of marketers are primed to spend the majority of their holiday advertising budgets before November’s end.
The study found about three-quarters of holiday marketing budgets were already secured by September with 97% locked in by October. Despite this, a small percentage of marketers admit to finalizing their budgets as late as November or beyond, so there may be additional spend that radio sellers can clench for their stations.
53% of the marketers planning to utilize the bulk of their budgets at this time, and a significant portion looking to December for their major spending efforts. Notably, economic concerns like recession or inflation seem to have minimal impact on this year’s holiday ad spending, with a majority of marketers planning to maintain or increase their budget from the previous year.
In terms of advertising channels, audio advertising will be utilized by about a quarter of the surveyed marketers. Desktop and mobile advertising emerge as the preferred choice, with 79% of marketers aiming to invest in website or browser advertisements, excluding social platforms. Connected TV and over-the-top advertising are also popular, but linear advertising is less favored.
A point worth noting: while the marketers are in charge of programmatic budgets, there’s a slight preference for direct buys over programmatic spending. Budget distribution is mainly targeted towards brand awareness, followed by customer acquisition and retention.
