Benchmark Data: Black Friday CPM Trends for the Digital advertiser

As we move into the prime holiday shopping period of the year, Smartly’s Marketing Science team has been tracking spending trends and here we present a snapshot of 2023 Retail/eCommerce CPM trends in NORAM and EMEA: 

2023 Retail/eCommerce CPM Trends in NORAM

The NorAm Retail and eCommerce verticals saw elevated spend all through November, peaking on Black Friday (2.7x early October level) and again on Cyber Monday (2.5x early october). The CPM values followed a similar pattern, the average cpm on Black Friday was 1.7x higher than in early October. After Cyber Monday, the spend levels as well as the average CPM decrease back to October levels and below. 

The post Christmas period again saw highly elevated spend levels (peaking on 3rd of January (Wed) at 1.6x below October level), however the average CPMs remained below October level. 

(Note for the digital advertiser: These metrics may suggest a lot of opportunity in early January as the CPMs remain relatively low).

2023 Retail/eCommerce CPM Trends in EMEA 

In EMEA, similarly to NorAm, the Retail/eCommerce verticals started accelerating their media spend from the beginning of November onwards, peaking on Black Friday at 2.9x early October level. The following peak on Cyber Monday reached 2.1x the early October level.

After Cyber Monday, the overall spend quickly returned back to October level, and fell further from mid-December onwards. Post Christmas, the EMEA Retail/eCommerce verticals didn’t see any elevation in spend (as in the NorAm market), but the average CPMs remained somewhat similar to October.

(Note for the digital advertiser: This data may suggest there is plenty of untapped opportunity around and after Christmas).

Stay tuned to the Smartly blog for more trends across budgeting, spend, and opportunities for the digital advertiser. 

‍Happy Holidays from Your Friends at Smartly!