Response Magazine – SEATTLE – Amazon increased spending in linear TV ads by 76 percent and digital by 224 percent – the biggest increases in each area year-over-year, according to The MediaRadar Trend Report, which examined holiday advertising spend among major retailers between October and November 2016.
Walmart decreased ad spending across TV by 10 percent. That drop in TV spend was the third largest among retailers behind Sears (53 percent) and Nordstrom (45 percent). The company spent considerably on digital advertising, though, upping its investment by nearly 170 percent. The increase was second only to Amazon’s.
Todd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder of MediaRadar, says most retailers reduced print spend while focusing on other channels, like linear TV and digital. But he adds online ad spend saw some of the biggest increases percentage-wise – driven by shifting consumption and shopping patterns among holiday consumers.
Among the findings:
- Target was the only retailer to increase ad spend across every key marketing channel: print, TV, and online. Investment in print rose 4 percent, while TV grew 54 percent. The increase in print was the second highest following Kohl’s (59 percent). Target was also the runner-up for its TV increase, losing only to Amazon. Target also spent more on digital ads compared to 2015, raising spend by 161 percent.
- Macy’s decline in print ad spend was the biggest across all eight retailers. The company cut investments by a quarter (24 percent). It did boost TV (20 percent) and digital (34 percent) spend considerably, however.
- Sears saw pronounced cuts across the board. Though print spend declined just 5 percent, TV was more than halved (53 percent) while online decreased by almost three-quarters. The cuts in TV and digital were the biggest among the eight retailers.
- Nordstrom also cut holiday ad spend across every channel, but to lesser degrees in most areas. Print spend dropped nearly a quarter (23 percent). Only Macy’s saw print investments decline more. Similarly, TV (45 percent) and digital (28 percent) spend dipped.
- Kohl’s put forward the biggest print investment year-over-year, increasing it by 59 percent. The rise in budget seemed to be taken from TV (down 7 percent) and digital (off 58 percent). Kohl’s nearly 60-percent drop in online ad spend was beaten only by Sears.
- J.C. Penney’s print spend declined 17 percent in 2016, the third-biggest drop on the year behind Macy’s and Nordstrom. Digital spend was also down by a modest 7 percent. TV, however, was up 49 percent, the third-largest growth among the eight retailers.
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