Three ways to help ‘gifters’ and ‘giftees’ during the Christmas season on YouTube
In recent years, shopping habits have transformed on YouTube year-round but especially in the holiday season – and data suggests that this effect will grow stronger still. We explore how ‘gifters’ and ‘giftees’ are using YouTube throughout the holiday season and how advertisers can leverage this trend.
Trends to help advertisers make the most of the holiday season
1. YouTube is a source of inspiration for holiday shopping
Video helps inform shopping over Christmas. 29% of shoppers watched a video related to their Christmas shopping last year. Among these shoppers, YouTube has become a key resource; 88% of those that watched video turned to YouTube at some point in the season, and 12% of shoppers watched YouTube videos while in-store during Christmas shopping.
The most commonly viewed content themes around Christmas shopping are clothing and footwear (29%), home electronics (24%), toys and games (21%) and food and groceries (20%).
2. It brings people the power of personal recommendation
Users are increasingly looking to personal recommendations from trusted sources to help with their purchase decisions, with younger audiences in particular using YouTube to find some festive inspiration. Millennials and Gen Zers are over twice as likely to have watched online video relating to their Christmas shopping as older generations (Gen Z 46%, millennials 45%, Gen X 28% and baby boomers 12% respectively).
Millennials and Gen Zers look to videos from retailers and brands, YouTube creators, how-to, tips and hacks experts, unboxers, shopping haulers, holiday fashion advisors and celebrities/public figures for information on their potential Christmas purchases.
3. It helps ‘giftees’ get the most out of their presents
More shoppers watch online videos related to their shopping after Christmas than at any other time during the holiday shopping season. The top content types watched in this period are reviews, product demos and how-tos, and tips and hacks videos, suggesting that this behaviour comes from people wanting to learn about how to use their new presents.
Marketers can support this ‘long-tail’ behaviour with post-Christmas campaigns around relevant Search terms and by creating content that informs and answers common queries.
Download Think with Google’s Marketing Cheat Sheet to plan your Christmas shopping campaigns.
Sources
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Study”, November 2018 – January 2019, Online survey, UK, n=2,999 online 18+ who shopped in the past two days. [Q3 – Tab 7]
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Study”, November 2018 – January 2019, Online survey, UK, n=2,999 online 18+ who shopped in the past two days. [Reduced base: Online video users (n=858). Q30B – Tab 84]
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Study”, November 2018 – January 2019, Online survey, UK, n=2,999 online 18+ who shopped in the past two days. [Reduced base: In-store Smartphone Users (n=971). Q29B – Tab 79]
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Study”, November 2018 – January 2019, Online survey, UK, n=2,999 online 18+ who shopped in the past two days. [Reduced base: Online video users (n=858). Q9A – Tab 29]
Google Data, U.D., July 2017-2018
Google/Ipsos, “Holiday Study”, November 2018 – January 2019, Online survey, UK, n=2,999 online 18+ who shopped in the past two days. [Reduced base: Gen Z (n=465); Millennials (n=875); Gen X (n=960); Boomers (n=847). Q3 – Tab
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