Macy’s scores big with actor Alison Brie, and Amazon increases its investment in Prime-specific holiday ads.
Walmart captured the highest share of holiday TV ad impressions during the five-day period Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, according to data from media performance vendor iSpot.tv.
Macy’s and Amazon grabbed the next highest share of voice over the holiday weekend. To capture this data, iSpot.tv tags linear TV ads that mention the holidays, holiday shopping, holiday sales, Cyber Monday and Black Friday.
Overall, for the Thanksgiving weekend, 428 retailers advertised touting the holidays, a 9.2% year-over-year increase, and there were 132,100 holiday ad airings, a 3.3% year-over-year increase. Although, household TV ad impressions decreased 3.4% year over year, to 27.28 billion impressions, according to iSpot.tv.
Retailers with the highest share of voice for Thanksgiving weekend TV ads
The retailers that had the most TV ad impressions mentioning holiday shopping from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday were:
- Walmart – (4.8% share of voice)
- Macy’s – (4.1% share of voice)
- Amazon – (3.2%)
- Kohl’s – (2.9%)
- Target – (2.7%)
- The Home Depot – (2.7%)
- Lowe’s – (2.3%)
- Verizon – (2.2%)
- Etsy – (1.8%)
- Amazon Prime – (1.3%)
To nab these top spots, Walmart and Macy’s increased their TV ad reach during the Thanksgiving weekend, up 22% year over year for Walmart and a 35% increase for Macy’s. Merchants can increase their ad impressions by increasing their investment in the number of times their ads air and when those ads are aired.
“Many premium events get larger reach,” an iSpot.tv spokesperson said. “But things like Hallmark movies, Friends reruns get a lot of reach as well for less investment. Just depends on the type of audience brands are looking to reach, such as more active viewers vs. casual viewers or trying to target specific audiences most likely to take an action after the ad.”
Holiday ad impressions for Amazon decreased 23% year over year, and instead Amazon allocated its linear TV ad budget to Amazon Prime specific ads, with those TV ad impressions increasing 58% year over year.
Etsy increased its ad impressions the most on the list, up 127% year over year. This year, Etsy has made a push to market itself as a gifting destination.
Macy’s ad impressions soar with celebrity talent
Macy’s increased its share of voice 34% year over year during the holiday weekend, and it used actor Alison Brie to boost its spots.
Brie was the most-seen celebrity endorser among all holiday-themed ads during the five-day stretch, according to iSpot.tv.
This was Macy’s first celebrity-enhanced ad campaign since 2018, according to iSpot.tv. Macy’s has increased its TV ad investment in 2024 overall, with its ad reach increasing 11.4% compared with 2023 and airing 10,000 more ads.
What’s more, Big 4 networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox) delivered 36% of Macy’s TV ad impressions in 2024, compared with 30% in 2023. Plus, 32% of impressions were during primetime programming compared with 25% last year.
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