Why Now Is the Time to Prep for Holiday Season Ad Success

With September coming to a close, advertisers and media planners are facing the final stretch before Q4 officially kicks off. The holiday season has become a months-long sprint where demand spikes, costs surge, and consumer attention fragments across screens. Brands that wait until mid-October to act risk losing ground to competitors who already secured inventory, tested creative, and locked in measurement frameworks earlier in the season.

If you’re reading this, you’re already ahead of the curve. This guide will help you map out your holiday advertising strategy across mobile, CTV, and DOOH — so you can maximize reach, performance, and ROI when it matters most.

The Q4 Holiday Landscape: Why Early Planning Wins

Every year, advertisers face the same pressures: rising CPMs, scarce premium inventory, and tighter creative timelines. But today’s Q4 environment is even more complex:

• Shoppers spread their spending earlier. According to the National Retail Federation, nearly 40% of holiday shoppers begin buying before Halloween. Holiday shopping no longer peaks in December — it ramps up as early as September.

• Screen time diversifies. Consumers are simultaneously streaming, scrolling, searching, and shopping, demanding omnichannel consistency.

• Measurement expectations are higher. Impressions aren’t enough — brands must prove lift in awareness, sales, and visitation.

With Q4 just around the corner, planning isn’t just smart. It’s the only way to secure placements, manage costs, and deliver measurable outcomes.

Strategies That Match Today’s Trends

The holiday season amplifies industry shifts already underway. Here’s how to align your strategy with the trends reshaping Q4:

• Mobile dominates attention → Optimize for in-app. With 89% of mobile time spent in apps, this is where audiences browse, shop, and engage. Prioritize in-app creative and ensure attribution is built for app environments.

• CTV is maturing → Secure premium inventory now. CTV viewership is projected to grow year-over-year in 2025. Shoppable formats are driving not just awareness but conversion. Inventory goes fast — locking it in before October ensures your brand isn’t shut out when demand peaks. 

• DOOH is accelerating → Pair contextual triggers with mobile. Programmatic DOOH is expected to account for more than 40% of OOH spend by 2025. Holiday travel and shopping make DOOH placements in transit hubs and retail centers especially valuable. Programmatic DOOH enables creatives to dynamically adjust in real-time (e.g., based on weather or time of day) and retarget audiences on mobile devices afterward.

• Measurement matters → Have frameworks ready before launch. Advertisers are expected to prove ROI, not just reach. MobileFuse campaigns average 29% lift in awareness, 12% in sales, and 77% in store visits — the kind of outcomes planners should be benchmarking against.

By anchoring strategy in these trends, you’re not just reacting to the market — you’re staying ahead of it.

How MobileFuse Helps Brands and Planners Win

At MobileFuse, we help brands and media planners deliver campaigns that stand out during the most competitive season of the year.

• Creative built for every screen. Holiday shoppers move fluidly between devices, and our cross-screen creative capabilities ensure your message moves with them. As we’ve shared in our cross-screen creative deep dive, consistency across mobile, CTV, and DOOH strengthens recall and maximizes impact.

• Turning ads into experiences. During the holidays, it’s not enough to be seen — you need to be remembered. Our work with interactive formats proves that shoppable, playable, and dynamic ads foster stronger connections and higher engagement. We’ve detailed this in our piece on how interactive ads build stronger connections.

• Proven outcomes that matter. Results are what matter most in Q4. Our campaigns consistently deliver lifts in awareness, sales, and visitation. These aren’t just industry benchmarks — they’re performance outcomes brands can expect when working with us, as highlighted in our results showcase.

And with real-time reporting and optimization, planners have the agility to pivot when competition intensifies, ensuring campaigns not only run smoothly but also deliver ROI throughout the season.

The holidays don’t wait — and neither should your campaigns. Brands and planners that finalize preparations now will be the ones capturing attention, driving conversions, and finishing the year strong.

With MobileFuse, you’ll have the cross-screen reach, creative expertise, and measurement clarity needed to win the holiday season — and carry that momentum into the new year.

Q4 success isn’t about spending more. It’s about preparing smarter. And the time to act is right now.