How to Plan Your Christmas Advertising Strategy on YouTube

The Q4 holiday season is here! For YouTube advertisers, this quarter is one of the busiest times for YouTube app and TV advertising, with Christmas presenting a high-stakes opportunity to boost performance while maintaining cost efficiency. With strategic planning, your Christmas ad campaigns can set the stage for a strong finish to 2024 and an even stronger start to 2025.

Read on to discover how to optimize your YouTube ads strategy for the season’s unique demands and ensure your ads make a memorable impact this Christmas and beyond.

When To Start Your YouTube Christmas Advertising

The final quarter of the year is a peak period for holiday advertising, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Cyber Five, Christmas, and New Year. For Christmas in particular, the buying season begins early, with many consumers planning purchases over three months in advance, yet a significant wave of last-minute shopping continues right up to Christmas Eve.

Timing is a key piece of your Christmas advertising strategy to effectively capture this demand. According to Numerator’s Q4 Holiday Survey, 70% of holiday ad viewers will use online channels for their Christmas purchases, and 44% plan a blend of online and in-store shopping, making it essential to reach them wherever they are.

Moreover, holiday spending expectations are high: 79% of shoppers plan to spend over $200 on Christmas alone, while the NRF projects an average holiday expenditure exceeding $900 per consumer. This makes the holiday season an even opportunity for YouTube advertisers to drive brand visibility and impact through well-timed and optimized video ads.

Mapping Out Your YouTube Advertising Timeline for the Christmas Rush

With Christmas just around the corner, how should you map out your strategy for the season? Here’s an ideal timeline to guide your Christmas advertising as you finalize your Q4 and look ahead to Q5. And if you’re not starting now, it’s never too early to prepare for 2025!

September: Build Brand Awareness with YouTube Campaigns

We mentioned that customers start looking into holiday purchases three months or more before Christmas. That’s precisely why September is the ideal time for your awareness campaigns for your YouTube Christmas advertising to be riding high.

A prominent YouTube advertising format for reach campaigns is bumper ads, which show consistent, year-round performance based on Campaign Lab data.

Further, we analyzed the performance of bumper ads by month, and the data shows that September offers the most cost-effective opportunity to build awareness before transitioning to your YouTube Shopping campaigns. As awareness campaigns typically increase in cost during October and November, it’s essential to establish a strong presence in September.

October: Engage Audiences with Views Campaigns

October is the perfect time to focus on driving engagement and views through Video View Campaigns. YouTube highlights that 91% of viewers connect with video content on both a technical and emotional level. Thus, aside from effective audience targeting on YouTube, driving views also involves heartwarming ad creative to keep audiences engaged. 

According to Strike Social’s Campaign Lab data, YouTube video view campaigns’ cost per view (CPV) has improved by 10% year over year (2023 vs. 2024). As Halloween advertising wraps up, be ready to transition smoothly into your Thanksgiving and Christmas campaigns.

October stands out as the most cost-efficient month for VVC, with November also showing favorable CPV. This lets you stretch your Video View Campaigns and maintain a consistent, always-on holiday advertising strategy.

Download the YouTube VVC Case Study

By effectively using YouTube Shorts and the AI functions of Video View Campaigns, Strike Social achieved 5M+ total video views and 59% cost efficiency. For an HVAC brand advertising during Thanksgiving week, a peak moment in Q4, this campaign was a total success.

Download the report

November: Target Shoppers with Video Action Campaigns

As November approaches, following the conclusion of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, it’s time to shift focus to sales-driven holiday ads. Target shoppers during the Thanksgiving period and Cyber Five, with 67% of consumers expected to make purchases during Cyber Week. Salesforce projects that online stores will capture 7% of in-store sales on Black Friday, underscoring the need for a more aggressive approach as the month winds down, ahead of the Christmas advertising rush.

YouTube Video Action Campaigns are designed to prompt viewers to take action, such as making a purchase or visiting your website. By linking your ads to your Product Feed and leveraging YouTube’s short-form content with Shorts Ads, you create a powerful combination for driving sales.

CPC trends for YouTube VAC ads show that you can kick off early Christmas campaigns in September at a cost-efficient rate. Although CPCs may peak in October, by November, you’ll be well-positioned to capture conversions again.

December: Boost Conversions and Reignite Reach Campaigns

Alas, the holiday advertising season’s culmination all boils down to how you will end your year. We recommend keeping your conversion campaigns going, and, even better, hitting the budgets harder, especially during the final weekend before Christmas. With only five days between Black Friday and Christmas Eve this year, expect a noticeable increase in YouTube ad views as shoppers ramp up their buying activity.

As highlighted earlier, December’s CPC for YouTube Video Action Campaigns saw a slight 2% increase, which is typical for the busiest time of holiday advertising campaigns. Meanwhile, in preparation for Q5, Reach campaigns focusing on bumper ads see an 8% decrease compared to November and a 6% reduction compared to the overall CPM from 2023.

Best YouTube Placements for Christmas Advertising Videos

As you plan your Q4 holiday advertising strategy, you should focus not only on when to launch your Christmas ads but also on where to place them. Selecting the right YouTube ad placements can make all the difference in driving the views and clicks you need to succeed.

In-stream Skippable and Non-Skippable

With a reach of over 3 billion users, placing your ads within prime YouTube video content is a surefire way to get audiences to stick around and create strong brand recall. Non-skippable ads, in particular, are proving highly effective, especially across YouTube’s mobile and Connected TV (CTV) formats. The combination of mobile and TV screens during Q4 boosts visibility and ad retention, making it an ideal placement for holiday campaigns.

In-Feed

In-feed ads are perfect for capturing the attention of users actively searching for holiday-related content. These ads appear when users are looking for gift ideas or researching Christmas shopping options. By utilizing the right holiday keywords and contextual targeting, you can ensure your Christmas ads appear in front of the right audience, driving traffic directly to your product pages and increasing the chances of conversions.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube Shorts, with 50 billion views daily, is one of the most versatile ad placements for your Christmas advertising strategy. Whether you’re running a Video Reach Campaign (VRC) or a Video View Campaign (VVC), YouTube Shorts video ads offers an excellent opportunity to increase visibility and engagement. Its short-form, vertical video format is perfect for delivering festive, attention-grabbing ads that resonate with today’s on-the-go consumers.

YouTube TV

YouTube’s Connected TV (CTV) platform has grown significantly since Q4 2023, and, according to our YouTube benchmark report, it’s become a top placement for high ad retention and view rates. 

According to LG Ad Solutions, 43% of CTV audiences report that ads help them decide on their holiday purchases. Moreover, 72% of viewers will likely scan a QR code featured on CTV ads, further engaging with the brand. With more consumers watching TV through YouTube, this is an essential placement for holiday advertisers seeking to drive both awareness and conversions.

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Further Reading

Introducing Performance Max Ads

As Google TV grows, you may wonder if it’s worth adding to your brand or client’s advertising strategy. Before making a decision, it’s important to weigh the benefits of incorporating Google TV into your advertising mix.

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What is The Best YouTube Advertising Strategy for The Christmas Season

A well-rounded Christmas marketing strategy involves a combination of creative approaches, targeted ad formats, and real-time optimizations to deliver the best possible return. Here’s how to refine your YouTube advertising strategy for your holiday ads this 2024:

Real-Time Optimization with Expert Support

• You must make quick adjustments based on real-time data to stay competitive with your Christmas advertising strategy. Partnering with a specialized YouTube ads agency like Strike Social, allows you to free up your time as our team optimizes campaigns 24/7, ensuring your ads perform at their best throughout the holiday season.
• YouTube CTV ads tend to have higher engagement rates and cost efficiency, as evidenced by our data showing a 6% increase in view rates compared to 2023 benchmarks. By working with a YouTube CTV agency, you can reduce your CPV by up to 18%, improving the overall cost-effectiveness of your Christmas campaigns.

Spreading Holiday Joy with YouTube Ads

A successful YouTube campaign when advertising for Christmas involves optimal timing, placements, and creative strategies. All those combined with the help of an expert YouTube ads agency can bring out the biggest smiles to your brand’s viewers and stakeholders just as Q4 ends and Q5 draws near. 

For expert planning and support in executing a winning YouTube Christmas advertising strategy, get in touch with our team today. We’ll help you with a personalized walkthrough of our AdTech solutions to help you through your 2024 holiday ads to a prosperous beginning for 2025.

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