Data: UK retail brands serve up huge Xmas ad impressions
December 21, 2023
Samba TV, a provider of TV technology for audience data and omniscreen measuremen. has shared insights on holiday advertising in the UK.
With the holiday season in full swing, retail brands are serving up massive advertising impressions to capture the attention of consumers.
Key highlights include:
Retail brands comprise half of the top brands leading up to the holiday season: The retail stores within the top 10 advertisers based on impressions served between November 19th and December 10th were Tesco, Aldi, Asda, Argos and M&S, each of which reached about 17 million UK households. Each of those brands saw double or triple digit increases in impressions served during the holiday timeframe (November/December) compared with earlier in the fall (September/October). Tesco was the top retail brand with its ‘Become More Christmas’ campaign (pictured).
Lottery and Health/Beauty remain stand-out verticals during the holidays: Despite retail brands comprising half of the top 10 advertisers, the two leading brands based on impression count were actually lottery and health/beauty. Tombola served the highest number of impressions, but with a relatively high average frequency of 42.1 it reached a lower number of households (14.5 million) than most of the other top 10 brands.
Yves Saint Lauent drives high reach by balancing average frequency: With a holiday season spike over 4,000 per cent in ad impressions compared with the previous month (October 19th to November 10th), Yves Saint Laurent rose to eighth within the top 10 advertisers based on impressions served in the lead-up to the holiday season (November 19th and December 10th). The brand had a relatively low average frequency of 13.7, allowing it to achieve higher reach than several brands that served more impressions. Outside of the top 10 advertisers, other luxury brands like Giorgio Armani Beauty and Prada bumped up ad spend dramatically during the holiday lead-up, with increases exceeding 1,000 per cent from the prior month.
93% of ad impressions across the top 50 holiday advertisers reached heavy and medium linear TV viewers: Light TV viewers remain difficult to reach with ads, as none of the top advertisers served more than 10 per cent of their ad impressions to this group. Of the top brands, Tombola and Asda are doing the best job at reaching light TV viewers on TV, with about 9 per cent and 8 per cent of impressions reaching this group that makes up 45 per cent of UK households, respectively.