For advertisers, the holiday season poses an optimal opportunity to reach a new and broader audience, boost sales and foster brand loyalty with customers. And this season, CTV should be a core area of focus.
According to Samsung’s ACR data, in Q4 2024, CTV viewership jumped +8% YOY, making it one of the most effective channels to reach engaged consumers at scale. With more eyes on the biggest screen in the home, CTV offers a prime opportunity to stand out, tell your story and outpace the competition.
Here are five essential tips to level up your seasonal advertising strategy in 2025:
1. Capitalize on peak holiday viewing to find new customers
Where will you find new customers this holiday season? Getting festive in front of their favorite streaming content.
Our research based on our proprietary smart TV data shows that streaming viewership grows by 11% during Thanksgiving week and 19% during Christmas week, compared with average non-holiday weeks. Also, viewers spend 8% more time watching streaming programming in Q4, compared with the rest of the year.
Rising holiday viewership means you can maximize your campaign’s reach to a broader audience, including shoppers who may be new to your brand.
2. Maximize your media spend and find new customers
Given the high viewership, it’s no surprise that Q4 ad investments can generate the highest ROI. Still, the key is to avoid investing in ad opportunities that don’t deliver and waste valuable campaign dollars.
If you’re running ads on linear and AVOD, you’re likely failing to get in front of 41% of potential CTV viewers, according to our research on reach, fragmentation and duplication. Not only that, advertisers are missing out on $141 billion in untapped revenue due to the fragmented TV ecosystem. That’s a lot of money left on the table.
Connect with those overlooked audiences through tools that pinpoint and remove duplicated consumers and instead target viewers missed across linear and ad-supported streaming, including “cord-cutters” and “cord-nevers.”
3. Drive engagement and action across screens
Capturing attention on CTV requires thoughtful and engaging ad creative that considers how viewers consume content.
Based on a survey we conducted of US consumers aged 18 and older in Q4, we know that 80% of viewers have a mobile device close by while watching TV – and almost 60% use that device to purchase after seeing a TV ad. This offers a great opportunity to enhance your CTV ads with QR codes and mobile-mimicking vertical formats to drive immediate action.
4. Align with fan-favorite content to make ads more memorable
Where you run your ads during the holiday season is just as important as finding the right audience. Connect with holiday viewers by serving ads within the content they love.
Our insights show that the most popular genres during the holiday season are movies, drama and reality TV. Placing your ads alongside this content increases your opportunity to drive awareness, engagement and conversion.
5. Ad creative that converts
From early-bird shopping to last-minute gift buying, the ad creative that you run during your holiday campaign makes a big difference. Holiday viewers are emotionally invested, and ad creative during this season can inspire gift-buying ideas – especially when ads align thematically with the content viewers are watching.
Anchor your holiday campaigns to timely moments within compelling content and using thoughtfully designed creative. Weave in the colors of the season. Go for contrast to make your ads pop with jewel tones and metallics, not just red and green.
This way, your holiday ads will resonate with consumers on a personal level, capturing their attention, building positive associations and inspiring them to take action.
Your holiday ROI opportunity starts now
With the holiday ad strategy above, advertisers can effectively attract, engage and convert their target audience, ensuring a successful and profitable holiday season. Samsung Ads has the right solutions to help your holiday campaigns reach the ROI you’re after.
As viewing habits evolve and consumer attention becomes harder to capture, those who adapt their tactics now will be best positioned to win during the most competitive time of year.
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