The 3 Key Data Points That Will Prepare Advertisers for Q4 2024

Sure, inflation has had a major impact on consumer behavior, but try telling the 2023 holiday season that — sales last year reached a record $964.4 billion, a 3.8% year-over-year (YoY) growth. And 2024’s holiday season is likely to be even bigger, especially because inflation recently dropped to its lowest point in three years.

How would we know? Because 2024 has already been unusually good to many advertisers, particularly around major seasonal moments. We analyzed MNTN Performance TV advertiser data from April through July 2024, and found that holidays like Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and 4th of July produced top results in multiple key performance marketing metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS), conversion rate, cost per acquisition (CPA), and cost per visit (CPV).

Nobody’s shocked that these major holidays did well for advertisers, of course. Instead, the key takeaway here is that brands need all the data they can get to reinforce their Q4 2024 strategies — and learnings from both this year’s top-performing seasonal moments and last year’s Q4 are the place to start. Let’s dig into the three most useful takeaways for advertisers from both datasets.

1. Cyber Five Remain Pivotal For Many Advertisers

The Cyber Five — the five major shopping days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday — have long been significant days for driving business, but they’ve gained even more momentum in recent years. Overall in 2023, 200.4 million consumers shopping over the five-day holiday weekend broke the record set in 2022 of 196.7 million. Additionally, on average, shoppers spent $321.41 on holiday-related purchases in 2023 — and 70% of those were gifts.

MNTN Performance TV data told a similar story:

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Still Reign Supreme

Remember the days when people raced to their nearest big box store at 2 AM on Black Friday to get in line for Tickle-Me-Elmos? (Are we dating ourselves here?) That kind of in-store frenzy may have waned a bit in the age of online shopping, but the infamous post-Thanksgiving shopping holiday is still producing huge results for many brands.

Per EMARKETER, consumers spent $10.47 billion on Black Friday 2023, a 6.8% increase from 2022. Our data supported this — Black Friday produced the strongest overall ROAS for Q4-focused MNTN advertisers*. A variety of industries — fashion and apparel, pets and animals, recreation, and shopping — experienced their strongest revenue and ROAS on Black Friday 2023, but one vertical saw the best performance across the board. In addition to revenue and ROAS, computer and electronics brands generated their best conversion rate and CPA on Black Friday. This would suggest that for many holiday shoppers, Black Friday was the perfect time to take advantage of deals on the latest and greatest gadgets.

While Black Friday came out on top with some key metrics, Cyber Monday drove the highest overall revenue and conversion rates and lowest CPA and CPV for Q4-focused advertisers during 2023’s Cyber Five. Travel brands in particular saw great performance on Cyber Monday 2023 — they experienced their best revenue, ROAS, conversion rate, and CPA.

Don’t Discount Small Business Saturday — or Thanksgiving

Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be the stars of the Cyber Five, but even Thanksgiving and Small Business Saturday had their moments in the spotlight. Thanksgiving delivered the lowest CPV for advertisers in these industries: food and drink, home and garden, and lifestyle. Small Business Saturday, on the other hand, stood out for hobbies and interests advertisers — this was their biggest Cyber Five day for ROAS.

2. Q4 Isn’t Just for B2C Brands — B2B Advertisers Also See Returns

When people think Q4 and the winter holidays, most think B2C brands. But the season isn’t just for gift shopping — MNTN’s B2B advertisers experienced an uptick in performance in Q4 2023, too.

The week of Cyber Monday delivered the best revenue for both B2C and B2B advertisers, suggesting that B2B brands can benefit from the major shopping moments of Q4, just like their B2C counterparts. Drilling down further into our data, we found that B2B brands saw their top revenue day of Q4 2023 on Cyber Monday itself. Considering many B2B advertisers are selling digital products and services, Cyber Monday is a perfect fit for broadcasting these kinds of offerings.

Even more compelling: while B2C revenue slowed after the second week of December, B2B revenue actually stayed strong through the week of Christmas. This illustrates the immense value of end-of-year messaging for B2B brands — Q4 is a great time for businesses to consider and purchase new softwares for their tech stacks to close the year strong and start Q1 with a bang.

Our data makes it clear: Q4 success isn’t just for B2C brands. B2B audiences are already in spending mode throughout the holiday season — and B2B advertisers can capitalize on that.

3. Performance Doesn’t Stop at the End of Q4

Q4 and the winter holidays may drive big business for many brands, but when advertisers stop (or even slow down) their efforts at the end of the year, they risk losing serious momentum. In fact, in Q1 2024 (or, as we like to call it, Q5), consumer spending actually increased by 2.5% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ).

To understand the true opportunity for brands during the Q4-to-Q1 transition, we looked at advertiser performance from October 1, 2023, through January 31, 2024. While the majority of the top weeks for driving revenue during that time period were indeed in November and December of 2023, advertisers saw consistent, even occasionally spiking revenue performance in January 2024, as well.

MNTN customers in the travel industry are a prime example of the importance of early Q1. The first three weeks of January produced top revenue for travel brands and were only outperformed by the week of Cyber Monday.

So, if it’s not abundantly clear by now, we’ll spell it out — advertisers can (and should) use the momentum from Q4 and the winter holidays to keep performance going strong in Q1.

Connected TV May Be the Ribbon on Top of Peak Q4 Performance

Q4 may feel far off now, but it’ll be here before we know it, and it’s important for advertisers to get a head start on their strategy to generate the best performance possible. How Q4 2024 will transpire is yet to be seen, but key learnings from 2023 and 2024 thus far can be powerful tools to reinforce advertisers’ tactics for the winter holidays and beyond.

Now that we’re more than halfway through 2024, brands should take what they’ve learned from other major seasonal moments like Memorial Day and 4th of July to inform their Q4 strategies. The Cyber Five have also consistently produced top performance, and slowing efforts at the end of Q4 can cut brands’ potential for performance seriously short.

For brands wanting to level up their Q4 performance, adding Connected TV (CTV) to the mix could prove wise. Per LG, CTV users plan to spend on average 14% more year-over-year (YoY) this holiday season than they did in 2023. On top of this, 69% of CTV viewers reported that they remember holiday shopping ads that they saw on streaming services.

Not only does CTV provide engaged audiences who are willing to spend, it has proven itself to be an efficient and highly successful long-term performance channel, especially throughout Q4. MNTN advertisers who ran campaigns in Q4 2023 experienced meaningful YoY growth — impressions increased by 41%, ROAS by 19%, and revenue by 17%. With the reach of traditional television advertising and the precision and flexibility of other digital channels like social media, CTV continues its reign as the performance gift that keeps on giving.

*MNTN Performance TV customers in industries with a clear tie-in to Q4 and the winter holidays. Included industries were: arts & entertainment, automotive, beauty & fitness, books & literature, computers & electronics, fashion & apparel, food & drink, games, hobbies & interests, home & garden, lifestyle, pets & animals, recreation, shopping, travel, vehicles. B2B advertisers were excluded from this group.