Retail marketers are getting a jump start - and spending more - on holiday ads this year.
That's according to Yahoo DSP's 2026 Holiday Shopping Study, which found that pre-Labor Day holiday advertising campaign launches nearly doubled year over year, from 4% to 8%, while more than three-quarters (77%) of advertisers plan to launch their holiday campaigns by November. October remains the biggest kickoff month, according to the study, with a third (34%) of advertisers planning to launch then.
More than half (55%) of advertisers plan to increase their 2026 holiday budgets, up from 44% in 2025, while 57% of agencies and 54% of marketers are planning to do so.
Social media (59%) leads the channels where advertisers plan to increase holiday spending, followed closely by connected TV (CTV) (58%) and video (53%). Yahoo DSP noted that CTV investment is up significantly from 45% in 2025, with 68% of agencies planning to increase CTV spend compared with 42% of marketers.
A majority (83%) of advertisers plan to update holiday messaging to compete for discretionary dollars, with 94% saying they will place greater emphasis on measuring online and offline sales impact. High-impact CTV is also ...