Everyone loves the holiday season. The advertisers especially see that as a golden opportunity to boost performance. The team at Google has shared top trends and insights based on what they have seen with the seasonal holiday tends in APAC in 2023. These insights will help with better growth opportunities and prepare better in years to come.
There has always been a strong demand growth in the holiday season from advertisers. Did you know there was 25% overall growth in eCPM in the 2023 holiday season? That is a number you can’t ignore. Here are four seasonal holiday tends you need to know to strategize better –
Ad Formats You Need To Tap Onto
Among all game ad formats, banner ads saw the highest demand growth, with impressions growing by 24% in the holiday season.
Video ads are another format tipping right behind banner ads, with a strong 23% eCPM growth. Video ads have typically been a very high eCPM-yielding format, even in previous years, and this holiday season is no exception.
App interstitials ads that take over the entire screen, also saw a 9% growth in demand and growth in both the web and app space.
Devices To Focus For The Holiday Season
In this mobile-first world, it is not surprising that mobile devices are widely used during the shopping season. It is also good to note that APAC is the most mobile-concentrated geography compared to other regions worldwide.
A striking 83% of holiday season impressions came from mobile devices. A strong mobile strategy is key to capturing seasonal growth this year-end, and exploring Google AdMob’s strategies for monetizing mobile apps can provide additional insights. Mobile leaderboard ads (320 x 50 pixels) drive the highest viewability.
Mobile and tablet devices continue to drive yield growth, with eCPMs increasing by 20%. While users are increasingly browsing on mobile devices, eCPMs of apps rendered on mobile devices also increased by 20% due to the holiday seasonality.
Ad Sizes To Leverage
There are a few specific ad sizes that perform well compared to others. The skyscraper (160×600 pixels) ad size had the highest eCPM growth across platforms, driving the highest growth by 45% in APAC.
As mentioned above, mobile devices see the maximum ad impressions. It is advisable to review mobile viewability, as advertisers are keen to pay for viewable ads. For mobile viewability, the mobile leaderboard (320×50) ad unit is observed to be the best performing. The 320X50 ad size is what you should implement.
Different Publisher Verticles
As we learned earlier, video is the driving force in the APAC region. Among publisher verticals, the video vertical saw the largest eCPM growth in the holiday season, with 57% growth.
Content publishers had the most significant growth in impressions and demand, growing 34%.
These advertiser categories saw the highest impressions growth in the holiday season. They noticed five particular categories that drove growth impressions-
- Occasions and gifts
- Mobile apps
- Beauty and personal care
- Arts and Entertainment
- Family and Community
For eCPM, these are the ones driving the growth
- Internet and telecom
- Health
- Occasions and gifts
- Family and Community
- Business and Industrial
Advertisers in the occasions and gifts vertical saw 57% growth in impressions and 23% in eCPM. This was also true for previous years, making it something you can focus on in the coming years. Make the best of these insights and capture all the holiday season’s growth opportunities.
