What CTV advertisers need to know for the 2022 holiday season

“Early bird trends are continuing to evolve,” said Chris Contreras, senior vice president of customer success and revenue operations at MNTN. “Thanks to this year’s economic uncertainty, consumers are looking for deals — and looking for them earlier. The holidays are the busiest season for advertisers, which can also make it easy to get lost in the shuffle on channels like linear TV.”

The gift of CTV for holiday marketing teams is performance. While TV advertising has historically meant, by and large, untargetable and unmeasurable outcomes, CTV balances linear TV’s storytelling with digital’s targeting and measurement. This allows brands and retailers to reach customers with engaging TV ads more effectively and measure campaign effectiveness — especially during the crucial holiday season.

Establishing CTV holiday timelines

Marketers’ busiest season starts well before the holidays. 

By August and September, teams are finalizing and testing strategies to have campaigns debut by October, geared toward capturing early-bird shoppers. In 2021, 61% of consumers started shopping by early November, according to the NRF. With people finishing more than half of their shopping by late November, running campaigns ahead of Black Friday has become non-negotiable. 

Contreras recommends that CTV advertisers target large audiences during this time, focusing on interest, geographic and in-market viewers.

As a marketing channel, CTV can tie in direct-response goals, enabling precise audience targeting and accurate reporting to measure success while leveraging video. Not only do viewers retain more of the marketer’s message when they watch a video compared to reading it in text, but they can’t scroll past a CTV ad.

The busy season continues. Throughout November, CTV advertisers extend their prospecting campaigns and expand retargeting efforts to capitalize on existing web traffic and earlier efforts. Aggressive promotions at this time further entice consumers to purchase.

In December, teams that continue retargeting and prospecting campaigns through Christmas maintain momentum and reach shoppers seeking online gifts or gift cards. 

When it comes time for the late-holiday push, CTV’s nimbleness is instrumental for advertisers seeking to adapt their messaging and direct shoppers to gifts that are still available. Last-minute shoppers also gravitate to digital gift cards, eliminating worries about shipping times — a valuable revenue boost ahead of Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Understanding holiday shopper personas

As with every advertising strategy and campaign, this holiday’s CTV marketers strive to know their shoppers and understand what messaging will resonate with audiences.

The ideal holiday shopper will vary for each brand and retailer. However, in 2021, men spent almost 10% more on average than women on their holiday shopping. People 45-54 years old also spent more than other age brackets, with an average spend of $1,161.98. 

Tone is another crucial consideration for CTV, as advertisers seek to avoid being too aggressively promotional during what can be a stressful holiday season. Storytelling is essential, too, and positivity and humor stand out for viewers. According to research from MNTN, if people love a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in the future, 44% will share the story and 15% will buy the product immediately.

Creative updates and omnichannel opportunities

The malleability of CTV allows creative to be refreshed and deployed quickly, often in a matter of hours. CTV advertisers can update content frequently to reflect new sales, deals, inventory adjustments or other announcements at a faster rate than possible on linear TV.

Marketing teams are also embracing omnichannel opportunities during the holidays. During the 2021 holiday shopping season, most people shopped online — including through mobile commerce — and in-store at malls and department stores. Online marketplaces such as Amazon are poised to see the most growth during the upcoming holiday shopping season as well. Buy-now-pay-later is another offering influencing holiday shoppers. Six in 10 shoppers would like to use BNPL as a payment option and are interested in shopping at stores offering BNPL — just one differentiator marketers can incorporate in their CTV advertising.

“Thankfully, with CTV, advertisers can incorporate all of these consumer trends, with messaging tailored for each audience,” said Contreras. “By creating variations on ads with tailored messaging, you can deliver customized, personable experiences for viewers that resonate more.”

Sponsored by: MNTN