tvScientific: Mastering the 2026 Holiday Season: A Strategic Playbook for Enterprise Marketers
tvScientific — 2026 — Marketing Strategy
tvScientific’s 2026 Holiday & Seasonal Shopping Trends Report shows the holiday shopping cycle has extended from Labor Day through year-end, creating multiple high-intent moments that require marketers to engage consumers earlier in the planning and consideration phases to shape purchase shortlists. The report emphasizes that Performance TV and CTV have shifted from supplemental channels to strategic, measurable investments and that AI is now an operational imperative to accelerate creative production, launch campaigns faster, generate more creative variations, and unify cross-channel measurement. To succeed, enterprises must map an extended seasonal calendar, integrate cross-functional media and data teams, set clear ROAS thresholds, and deploy AI-enabled workflows to personalize creative, optimize budgets in real time, and demonstrate incremental revenue across a multi-moment holiday calendar.
Key Statistics
- 54% of marketers’ seasonal media budgets are allocated to Performance TV and CTV collectively
- 68% of marketers allocate seasonal media budgets to social media, the largest channel share
- 81% of marketers plan to run ads on Performance TV during the 2026 holiday season
- 71% of marketers have increased their budgets for Performance TV for the 2026 holiday season
- 76% of marketers say it is extremely or very critical to reach shoppers before they actively search or compare products
Key Takeaways
- Map an extended seasonal calendar that includes moments beyond BFCM (Labor Day, October Prime Day, sports and cultural events) and plan tailored campaigns for each moment
- Prioritize early engagement by allocating budget and creative resources to influence shoppers during planning and consideration stages rather than concentrating spend only on late-season sales weekends
- Treat Performance TV as a core, measurable channel by integrating it into cross-channel plans, defining ROAS thresholds, and linking Performance TV audiences to search and social activations
- Deploy AI-driven tools to speed creative development, generate more creative variations, optimize live campaigns in real time, and unify cross-channel ROAS reporting for rapid budget reallocation
- Build integrated operating models and data infrastructure—cross-functional media teams, unified measurement frameworks, and API-driven data flows—to enable fast experimentation, governance, and attribution
Cite as: tvScientific. (2026). tvScientific: Mastering the 2026 Holiday Season: A Strategic Playbook for Enterprise Marketers. Retrieved from https://research.agilebrandguide.com/reports/tvscientific/tvscientific-mastering-the-2026-holiday-season-a-strategic-playbook-for-enterprise-marketers