mediamaster

32% of U.S. adults had started or planned to start holiday shopping before November began, and 59% by the end of the month.

More than 90% of shoppers plan to hit Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or another major sale this year. That's not a niche behavior. It's the default. The comparison that decides the sale often happens before it starts, on an app or through an AI assistant. Brand awareness has to be built ahead of that moment, not during the promotion itself. At Media Manager, we build holiday plans to win the comparison before the sale starts, not compete on price once it does.

US retail media spend is on pace for $71.09 billion this year, per eMarketer, and CTV is where the ad and the purchase are merging fastest. Advertiser adoption of shoppable CTV is already ahead of consumer adoption, and that gap is the opportunity, not a ceiling.

YouTube viewers. Paid subscribers. FAST app users. Three different streaming habits, one thing in common: all three rank linear TV highest when asked what shapes their awareness, per TVB's 2026 data.

9 in 10 people say linear TV ads influence what they search for next, per TVB's 2026 Purchase Funnel Study. It's a TV impression steering the exact digital action most teams are already measuring. At Media Manager, we tie TV flight dates to search and site data so this shows up in the report, not just the research.

US podcast ad revenue grew 17.6% to $2.86 billion in 2025, outpacing digital advertising overall by 27%. And 2026 is bringing in new advertisers: 1,318 brands advertised on podcasts for the first time in Q1, and 1,297 more in Q2. At Media Manager, we're telling clients H2 2026 is a window to move, not a moment to wait out.

Q3 2026 doesn't have one defining channel. It has a defining pattern: everything merging into everything else. Commerce, CTV outcomes, and linear reach used to be three separate stories. They're now one story, told from three different departments.

The right CTV shift is smaller than most 2026 plans assume. The Efficiency Curve study from iSpot and LG Ad Solutions found real gains come from reallocating just 6.3% of TV impressions from linear to CTV, and the best-performing brands still keep the clear majority in linear. Nielsen's Q1 2026 Ad Supported Gauge backs it up: linear and cable still hold 53.4% of ad-supported TV viewing, ahead of streaming's 46.6%. At Media Manager, we let incrementality testing set the split, not sentiment.

Podcast CPMs aren't moving in one direction in 2026. Programmatic is loosening as mid-tier inventory expands. Host-read in business, tech, and finance shows is tightening as demand outpaces supply. Buyers pricing podcast as a single average are leaving performance on the table.

Nearly seven in ten CTV advertisers, expect to increase spending this year by an average of 17%. Forty percent cited the ability to pair traditional TV's branding power with digital-grade precision, and four in five agreed that combining linear TV and CTV drives stronger results across both brand and outcome metrics.