The holidays are quickly approaching, and while you're likely done with campaign planning for the festive season, optimizing your current campaigns should always be top of mind. While window shopping and live linear viewing have taken a back seat to online deal hunting and on-demand Connected TV (CTV) streaming, there are plenty of ways to make an impact. 

We dug into Samba TV’s comprehensive first-party data to detail the best practices on maintaining an omniscreen competitive advantage using TV data and CTV-led strategies. Are you the type who can’t wait to unwrap that holiday gift? Skip ahead and download our full strategy guide now, or read on for some of our top takeaways. 

Audiences are watching holiday content.

In 2020, there was a 57% increase in daily total minutes watched on networks that focus on holiday content (Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, and AMC) during Q4 vs. Q3. Target everyone from the diehard holiday TV content fan to the casual holiday special viewer with TV data-driven and custom linear TV campaign segments.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for online shoppers.

This Black Friday, 68% of the U.S. are likely to be online shoppers and Cyber Monday will be the biggest online spending day in U.S. history (expected to be up 12.4% from 2020). Give the festive decor a run for its money and own the living room by leveraging Samba TV’s agnostic TV data to engage streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) viewers on their second screens while they cozy up with their favorite holiday content. This sequenced digital messaging is the bow on top of your linear ad strategy. Pro tip: retarget TV audiences with CTV and digital second-screen messaging to quickly introduce a story, product, or sale.

Tap into the underutilized audience of light TV viewers this holiday season.

In 2020, there was a 66% lift in CTV ad impressions from Q3 to Q4. Reach of retail ads were saturated amongst heavy (86%) and medium TV viewers (83%).* This leaves a massive opportunity to reach light TV viewers, which made up just 38%. Target cord cutters and light TV viewers across premium CTV inventory to drive incremental reach beyond linear.

Sleigh the competition by staying one step ahead.

In 2020, reach was mainly driven by Apparel, Footwear, and Accessories ad categories (96% exposed reach). With consumers facing so much choice during this popular shopping season, it’s important to stay one step ahead of your competition by messaging households that saw a competitor’s linear or over-the-top (OTT) ad with precise targeting across advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) content. Since SVOD viewers don't get served in-content ads, it's imperative to reach them with ads on their second screens or digital devices. 

No holiday strategy is complete without proper measurement.

Like the perfect length of ribbon, measurement is key. Achieve optimal reach, frequency, and conversion by measuring cross-channel performance holistically and appropriately attribute impressions. Don’t waste budget on ad campaigns that aren’t achieving their objective. Dig into which networks, creatives, and devices are driving the best conversion rate. Pro tip: Samba TV offers on-demand access to granular insights so you can better understand your campaign’s impact. 

Want more insights into how to best optimize your 2021 holiday strategy? Download our full strategy guide and reach out to us to learn more. 

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*Light, medium, and heavy TV viewers are classified by consumption duration as follows: Heavy TV viewers are the top 20%, medium TV viewers are the middle 35%, and light TV viewers fall in the bottom 45%.