Holiday TV Ads' Strong Head Start

This year, holiday TV ads got off to their strongest start since at least 2022, as brands extended the shopping season into early October. Data from iSpot – first shared with The Wall Street Journal – shows that holiday-related national linear TV ad spend was up over 13% year-over-year dating back to early October. And spend nearly doubled over the first four full weeks of October, versus the same stretch in 2024.

• Amazon led the charge, dominating early (and later) holiday ad spend, while airing nearly twice as many minutes of ads this year vs. last.
• Brands like Target, Verizon, The Home Depot and Best Buy spent considerably more on national linear TV ad spend.
• Less obvious brands like Hyundai also surged by ad spend, tagging into early holiday hype in an effort to boost end-of-year sales.

Check out more iSpot holiday data in WSJ, or check out The Measure's exclusive Holiday Shopping Trends Report.