TV Ad Spend Weekly: Holiday retail advertising heats up
Brands continue to invest heavily in above-the-line content, and television is still seen as the place brands want to be. Each week, in partnership with Kantar Media, The Drum looks at which brands have been investing the most on newly-launched creative on US national broadcast and cable TV.
Randy Jackson for Geico
Advertisers pulled back a bit on new national TV ad spending during the week of November 6. Spend for new ads reach $142 million – a decrease of 15% from the previous week. NFL programming continues to be the most popular destination for new ad placements. Indeed, professional football games accounted for approximately one-third of all new spend for the week.
The race for winter holiday is beginning to heat up and advertising from top retailers has been rolling in. Kohl’s is regularly a top spending advertiser for the holiday season and this year the retailer was one of the first out of the gate. Kohl’s first holiday ads were seen on October 31st, and this week a new spot was released with national TV spend for the creative totaling $2.8 million. This particular week, spend focused on The Voice on NBC.
In what at first looks like a Game of Thrones-style fight scene, two packs of people dressed in green and red look as though they are about to go to battle. However as soon as gifts begin to appear, everyone comes together in excitement and a woman ensures the crowd that “Everyone wins. Presents for them Kohl’s cash for you.”
The remainder of Kohl’s new ad spending for the week went to general holiday sales commercials, announcing deals and savings on products like homewares, clothing and toys.
Working up from Kohl’s at number 5, Macy’s, sitting fourth, focused on their Veteran’s Day sale, Google, at number three, was all about Chromebooks and The Walking Dead on AMC, Geico, spinning a hookup with Randy Jackson, went to the dogs (in a good way) at the second spot, mainly in NFL programming and leading the charge, Verizon got out front with the new Google Pixel 2, also in NFL programming.
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This data is part of ongoing reporting released on a weekly basis with Kantar Media's using their AdScope tool.