Parents were the warmest audience for holiday advertising in 2025. They were also the least likely to remember which brand ran the ad.
Holiday advertising effectiveness looks different depending on which of those two facts a brand measures. MarketCast analyzed holiday ads that ran on linear TV and CTV between November 1 and December 31, 2025. Parents indexed 14 points above the holiday norm on Likeability. Non-parents indexed four points below it.
But the story changes on Ad Breakthrough, the share of viewers who both recalled an ad and attributed it to the right brand. Parents sat 40 points below the norm on linear and 26 points below on CTV. A brand that tracked Likeability alone would have scored its parent audience as a win. The Breakthrough data shows parents are an audience that left the season fond of the ads but unable to attribute them to the right brand.
What holiday advertising effectiveness looks like by segment
The first question brands will ask is whether this is an age effect. Parents skew toward middle age, and holiday Ad Breakthrough varies sharply by age. On linear, viewers 55 and older indexed at 126 on Ad Breakthrough while viewers 18 to 34 indexed at 61.
So we cross-tabbed. On linear, the parent gap appeared in every age group and widened as age increased:
- 18 to 34: non-parents indexed 65, parents 59
- 35 to 54: non-parents indexed 91, parents 75
- 55 and older: non-parents indexed 129, parents 102
Parental status behaved as an independent factor. Across the full linear sample, non-parents indexed 111 on Ad Breakthrough and parents indexed 71.
Falling into the parent holiday trap
Parents entered the busiest, most logistically demanding stretch of their year while every brand with a family-oriented message targeted them at the same time. The most probable explanation is that the noise worked against all creative, including the creative they genuinely liked.
The wider holiday environment adds to the pressure. Holiday ads beat the all-ads norm on Likeability, indexing 109 on linear and 103 on CTV. Brand Linkage came in at 92 on both platforms, and Ad Breakthrough at 93 on linear and 89 on CTV. Brands pay for premium, emotionally resonant creative in a window where that creative is harder to connect to a name.
Why topline numbers hide it
A blended Breakthrough score folds parents into the total. A blended Likeability score flatters the whole campaign. Neither shows a brand that its most emotionally engaged segment is the one losing the brand name.
The gap only becomes visible when Breakthrough is read by audience segment, and it only becomes useful when that read arrives while the season is still running. Post-campaign holiday advertising measurement can describe the parent gap in January. By then the budget is spent and the creative can’t be changed.
The decisions that matter sit inside the flight: how early and how prominently the brand appears in the spot, how media weight is distributed, and whether a creative variant deserves more or less support. Each depends on knowing which segments are breaking through now.
Three things to monitor this holiday season
Holiday 2026 campaigns are starting to go live. Three steps will show you where your own gap sits.
- Name your priority segments and benchmark them separately. If parents, younger viewers, or men sit at the center of your objectives, give each its own Breakthrough target. The 2025 data shows these groups run below the platform norm, so the platform norm is the wrong bar for them.
- Pair Likeability with Brand Linkage and Ad Breakthrough in every read. An ad that wins on warmth and trails on attribution deserves investigation before it earns a celebration.
- Set a measurement cadence that allows you to catch winners and losers before the season is over. Weekly or biweekly reads at the segment level give you time to act on what they show.
Holiday advertising remains the highest potential window of the year for retail and auto brands. The brands that make the most of it will know early which audiences connect the ad to the brand.
Download the Holiday Advertising Report
Get the full 2025 benchmarks by platform, category, genre, and audience segment, plus the Top 10 linear and CTV holiday ads ranked by Breakthrough.
