State of AI Apps Report 2025 is Live!
Abraham Yousef · March 2024
US Holiday 2023 Advertising Trends
As consumer spending continues to grow each holiday season, retail brands are promoting deals earlier to capture awareness before holiday messaging becomes more competitive. Sensor Tower data shows that Target and Walmart started to tease holiday products as early as August, though ~85% of holiday spend across the retail cohort was allocated to the primary holiday shopping period (November-December).
Key Takeaways:
Half of the brands across Sensor Tower’s retail cohort increased holiday-specific US ad spend across Aug'23-Dec'23. Old Navy saw the highest increase in spend, up 180% YoY, followed by Target (50% YoY) and Ross Stores (40% YoY), respectively
Holiday-specific spend in the 8 weeks leading up to Christmas fell by ~5% YoY, driven by a pullback in advertising from Amazon, whose ad spend declined -75% YoY from Oct-Nov’23
However, holiday spending in December increased 15% YoY as advertisers competed for last-minute shoppers during the critically busy season
Beauty Retail is a top category across the retail cohort, averaging 14% of spend in 4Q23 (ex-Shopping & All Categories), potentially driven by a heightened passion for skin care among younger demographics
Grocery Stores was the category that saw the largest increase in spend in Nov’23, accounting for 21% of spend across the cohort. Walmart heavily advertised its unique grocery offerings before the major holidays as the category jumped to 50% of the company’s holiday-specific spend
For more information, request the full report from reports@sensortower.com.
