In 2024, Father’s Day Advertisers Need to Think Outside the Toolbox

After dipping slightly from 2021 to 2022, U.S. consumer spend on Father’s Day was expected to increase by more than $2 billion in 2023. This made last year’s Father’s Day the biggest to date, as people spent a total of ~$22.9 billion.

With 91% of celebrators reporting that they’ll purchase something for Father’s Day 2024, this year is looking like it’ll rival 2023. But what people get for their dads might be different than in previous years — as the American Psychological Association reported, the role of the modern day father is shifting. This may mean consumers will be looking for a wider variety of Father’s Day gifts this year. Advertisers will want to expand their targeting to reach a greater breadth of audiences to keep up.

With all this in mind, we were interested in learning more about the strategies and resulting performance of Connected TV (CTV) advertisers around the holiday. To do so, we analyzed data from MNTN Performance TV customers who had an obvious Father’s Day tie-in and could benefit from running campaigns around the holiday, from the following industries: arts and entertainment, automotive, computers and electronics, fashion and apparel, food and drink, games, gaming, hobbies and interests, home and garden, lifestyle, products (think household gadgets, phone accessories, etc.), recreation, shopping, and sports. In this article, we dive into first and third party data to better understand advertiser and consumer behavior when it comes to Dad’s big day.

The Current State of Father’s Day-Focused Advertiser Performance

Before we analyze findings from 2023, let’s take a look at how Father’s Day-focused advertisers are faring on CTV in 2024 thus far. We know that for many brands Q4 is a major time for driving business. And after a strong Q4, it can sometimes take a while for performance to pick up steam at the beginning of a new year.

But this doesn’t seem to be the case for Father’s Day-adjacent industries. For these advertisers, revenue, return on ad spend (ROAS), and average conversion rate all increased month-over-month (MoM) throughout Q1 2024.

The growth these advertisers have seen is even more impressive when comparing data from Q1 2023 to Q1 of 2024. A lengthy list of key performance metrics improved by double digits year-over-year (YoY):

As we head towards Father’s Day 2024, this YoY improvement should be encouraging for brands, especially considering the growth that Father’s Day-focused advertisers experienced in 2023.

Key Metrics Improved Year-Over-Year

As mentioned above, Father’s Day 2023 experienced record high consumer spend. And Father’s Day-adjacent brands certainly saw the benefits of this.

We looked at 2023 advertiser data from a month before the holiday through a month after, in comparison to the same time period in 2022, and found that multiple key metrics increased by significant amounts.

This year-over-year growth is impressive, but 2023 Father’s Day advertiser performance stood out on its own as well.

Last Minute Shopping Bolstered Advertiser Performance

A 2023 study by Sago reported that two-thirds of consumers made Father’s Day purchases one to four weeks before the holiday — and our Performance TV data aligned with this.

While multiple major shopping holidays fell in the timeframe from May 18-July 18, 2023, the week before and the week of Father’s Day both stood out. The week prior to Father’s Day generated some of the strongest revenue numbers of the time period for all Father’s Day-focused advertisers, outdone only by the weeks of the 4th of July and Memorial Day.

When drilling into the data even further, we found that there was a notable spike in revenue from June 12-16, 2023 — this indicates that the majority of consumers waited until the last minute to shop for dad.

Breaking these findings down by industry, here’s what we discovered:

The week before Father’s Day 2023

• Food and drink, hobbies and interests, lifestyle, recreation, shopping, and sports advertisers saw a notable lift in revenue.
• Automotive, gaming, and recreation brands experienced their strongest ROAS.
• Food and drink and gaming advertisers produced their best average conversion rates.

The week of Father’s Day 2023

• Arts and entertainment, gaming, automotive, and computer and electronics brands experienced a notable increase in revenue.
• Those in the food and drink industry produced their strongest ROAS.
• Gaming advertisers drove their lowest cost per visit.

For Some Brands, Results Didn’t Stop After the Holiday

Father’s Day may have fallen on June 18, 2023, but we found that for many advertisers, performance didn’t stop when the holiday was over. Arts and entertainment, fashion and apparel, and products brands saw a notable increase in revenue the week after Father’s Day, too.

So, how exactly did Father’s Day-focused advertisers produce such strong performance around the holiday in 2023? We’re glad you asked.

Father’s Day Advertisers Upped Their CTV Investment Ahead of the Holiday

With Father’s Day 2023 predicted to be the biggest yet, advertisers prepared well ahead of time. All Father’s Day-focused industries increased spend on their CTV campaigns by notable amounts from the week of 5/14 to the week of 5/21 (one month out from Father’s Day).

Prospecting and Retargeting: Better Together

When choosing the type of CTV campaign to use, advertisers should make strategic decisions based on business goals. Prospecting campaigns are great for reaching fresh audiences and generating new business. Retargeting, on the other hand, can be used to re-engage with customers that are already familiar with a brand.

There’s an interesting split in campaign type usage among Father’s Day-focused advertisers. Our performance data from May 18-July 18, 2023, showed that a smaller percentage of that group ran prospecting or retargeting on their own, while nearly two in three chose to run both campaign types together, which yielded better:

• Visits per advertiser 
• Conversions per advertiser
• Average revenue

This finding speaks to the value of a full-funnel approach to CTV advertising. In a digital-heavy world where consumers often have multiple touch points with a brand, it’s important to consider all parts of the buyer journey. This way, you can reach and nurture potential customers, no matter where they are in the funnel, ultimately leading to better results.

Father’s Day-Focused Industries vs. Other Advertisers

Advertisers with a clear tie-in to Father’s Day certainly saw a lift in performance around the holiday, but we were curious about how other CTV advertisers fared. To understand this, we analyzed the performance of all MNTN customers who advertised between May 18 – July 18, 2023.

The advertisers we identified as having an obvious tie-in to Father’s Day did well when it came to revenue and ROAS during this time period, making up seven of the top 10 industries for these key metrics.

Here’s a full breakdown of those lists:

But Father’s Day-adjacent industries weren’t alone here. As we dug further into the data, we found that there was a ton of variety among advertisers that performed well across the board in terms of key performance metrics like revenue, ROAS, CPV, CPA, and average conversion rate. These top-performing brands included:

• A travel insurance company
• A lifestyle retailer
• A vet supply brand
• A foundation for the performing arts
• A major metropolitan zoo
• A software for scheduling meetings and events
• A large cosmetics company
• A fishing gear and apparel retailer

If you’re not picking up what we’re putting down, let us give it to you straight: both brands who have a clear tie-in to Father’s Day — and those who don’t — can benefit from advertising around the holiday.

Grow Your Father’s Day Performance With a Full-Funnel CTV Strategy

Father’s Day 2024 is prepped to be bigger than ever. And with the large majority of those who celebrate planning to make a Father’s Day-related purchase, the holiday poses a major opportunity for advertisers.

MNTN Performance TV data has highlighted that CTV is an effective channel for a variety of brands to produce meaningful results. But for those who want to ensure the best performance possible, it’s vital to start targeting audiences at least a month prior to the holiday. Additionally, it’s beneficial to run both prospecting and retargeting campaigns to reach consumers no matter where they are in the buyer journey.