To help publishers and advertisers better understand this year’s holiday-shopping landscape, we’ve pulled data from our demand partners for October 2019 to 2021. We’re taking a look at the share of ad spend and impressions in six top industry verticals to assess how they responded and predict trends for the upcoming holiday season.

Food and Alcohol

We saw the biggest drop in the share of ad spend and impressions for the food and alcohol industry in 2020, compared to the other sectors we looked at. With no vaccines and lockdown in place, people were not going out, and there were no holiday parties. Now spending has recovered and is doing better than in 2019. Businesses expect customers to host more holiday gatherings this year, with bigger spreads of food for friends and family. 

While we saw a considerable drop, 29% in ad spend share from 2019 to 2020, this industry is also experiencing the best recovery. There was an increase of 47% in the share of ad spend in 2021 compared to last year, surpassing 2019 levels. Unable to enjoy the holidays together last year, it’s clear that this year people are keen to eat, drink, and be merry.

Tech

Tech surged last year, and other than politics with high ad spend due to the elections, there was a significant jump in both impressions and ad spend. Again, this follows the change in consumer behaviors over the pandemic, with people working remotely from home. Since the vaccines and return to the “new normal,” there has been a drop, however, it still remains much higher than the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. 

For impressions, we saw a 56% increase in 2020 compared to 2019, and ad spend was similar, with a rise of 46%. At the same time, they dropped by around a third for impressions and a quarter for ad spend, but are still higher in comparison to 2019, between 30- 35% for impressions and ad spend. The industry is holding firm and perhaps changed forever, as we expect continued growth in the sector.  

Automotive  

Automotive digital advertising had been on the rise in the years leading up to the pandemic. Even as Covid hit last year, digital ad spend increased by 22 percent. Automotive advertisers have evolved from relying heavily on linear television and its declining reach to programmatic advertising to reach larger audiences on auto shopping sites and other digital destinations.

We saw little change from 2019 to 2020 for share of impressions, with only a 3% drop. Whereas the share of ad spend was up 18%. However, this year the numbers have taken a nosedive, dropping by two-thirds for both share of ad spend and impressions compared to 2020. Automakers and dealers plan to spend less on advertising this holiday season, following a year of supply chain disruptions. Some auto dealerships have been left with roughly one-third of their normal inventory levels, leaving little reason for brands to pay out for holiday ads. 

Retail 

Also, referred to as the “Golden Quarter,” for many retailers, holiday shopping is when they make the majority of their annual revenue. While the retail sector took a big hit last year, struggling under declining sales, retailers are getting ready to go head-to-head as they keep up with the strong projections this Black Friday through New Year’s Eve cycle, and ad budgets are set to see a return to pre-pandemic days. 

Our data mirrors this trend, as we saw both the share of ad spend and impressions dropped by 25% in 2020. However, this year’s levels bounced back to those seen in 2019. It is no surprise that this is a similar pattern to the food and alcohol industry. When it comes to holiday shopping, the two go hand in hand, as people shop for parties, family get-togethers, and presents. 

This has resulted in a quick recovery for the retail industry, as businesses prepare to greet more customers in-store, with bustling shopping centers and trips to see Santa.  

Key Takeaways

While the pandemic caused an immediate pullback in ad budgets in 2020, following a review of our data we’re predicting a healthy demand over the 2021 holidays for many industries, with the food, tech, and retail industries looking forward to solid ad spend. 

Global supply chain disruptions have prompted inventory issues across multiple categories; meaning automotive advertising is down this year, due to a shortage in supply. But publishers and advertisers should be prepared as we head into the thick of the holiday season; the National Retail Federation says it anticipates nearly 2 million more people will shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday alone. So make sure you have the video content brands want to appear next to and users love.

The post 2021 Predictions and Trends for Ad Spend Over the Holiday Season appeared first on Primis.

This is a good opportunity to share some insights from Primis data, collected from 2.5 billion opportunities per month across 19 primary industries. Using this data, we are able to forecast what to expect this holiday season, and determine what characteristics are shared by the publishers that maximize video ad revenue opportunities during these most lucrative of months.

‘Tis The Season To Advertise

Let’s start at the bottom line. 

The average daily ad impressions for publishers in Q4 can be more than 50% higher than the average for the rest of the year, according to Primis data. As we approach Christmas and Thanksgiving, the daily ad impressions get even higher.

November and December are the most important months of the year for consumers, and advertisers spend more in order to be at top of mind. Not all the budgets are spent on the holidays themselves, as shoppers often search for gifts in advance, and can place the order weeks before the actual holiday. Therefore, it is important for advertisers not to miss out on the opportunity to reach consumers also in the weeks leading up to the holidays.

The Big Spenders: Food, Tech and Retail

Three categories pop out when looking at advertiser spend towards the holidays: Food & Beverage, Electronics & Computers, Retail.

Food & Beverage advertising budgets are unique in that they see the highest growth, begin to rise the earliest, and stay high the longest. This is probably caused by peoples’ interest in food and drink extending to New Years celebrations. 

However, all three of the industries jump a few days before Thanksgiving and remain elevated through Christmas. While they spend their budgets on a wide variety of website categories, some verticals get a larger cut of the advertising pie. 

The Big Earners

Speaking of pie, on the other end of the advertising chain, the publishing sector seeing the biggest growth in the Primis network is Food & Lifestyle. Many people are having family and friends over for the holiday, even during the pandemic, and are expected to cook some delicious meals. That means that there is a lot of traffic coming to recipe sites, and having people in a cooking state of mind is great for Food & Beverage advertisers.

In 2020, it will probably be a bit different. Nonetheless, it stands to reason that people will continue to prepare holiday meals even in a lockdown. In fact, the Cooking category of publishers saw impressive growth at the onset of lockdowns, as seen in our covid consumption and engagement reports.

For Food & Lifestyle websites, the peaks that you see in the above graph represents an increase of impressions by almost 200% on Thanksgiving Day and over 100% on Christmas Eve.

The growth on Food & Lifestyle sites is a combination of three elements. 

First, are the advertising budgets that are at their peak. Especially Food & Beverage ads targeting contextually relevant sites. 

Next is traffic growth. According to Primis research, traffic can grow up to 110% before Thanksgiving and 80% before Christmas. 

Lastly, there is the time spent on site. Duration on-page grows before Thanksgiving and Christmas by around 35%. Meanwhile, network-wide duration growth stands at 20% before Thanksgiving, and just 10% leading up to Christmas.

What Can Publishers Do?

Based on what we’ve seen, publishers have a very important mission. There are very large budgets out there looking for quality inventory across display, sponsorships, and especially video. Focusing your efforts on growing and maintaining video inventory, especially at the end of the year, is going to go a long way in making it a merry holiday and a happy new year.

The post How Publishers Can Attract Holiday Video Advertising Budgets appeared first on Primis.