Key insights:
- Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas are peak shopping moments in the retail calendar. To help cut through, brands can identify and reach relevant audiences based on consumer data from YouGov.
- Seasonal audiences are more nuanced than “deal seekers” or “Christmas shoppers.” Targeting more specific personas can help brands align their marketing message with shopper motivations.
- Understanding holiday shoppers is only the first step. Through the YouGov and Ogury partnership, advertisers can seamlessly activate YouGov audiences within Ogury One, turning consumer insights into actionable campaigns.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas are some of the most competitive moments in the retail advertising calendar. When countless brands are competing for shoppers’ attention at the same time, boosting ad spend doesn’t always mean guaranteed results. The bigger challenge is identifying which audiences are most valuable for your campaign – and reaching them with relevant messaging.
With YouGov’s audience activation tools, advertisers can make use of YouGov’s research-backed, pre-built audience segments to reach the right audience, at the right place and with the right message.
Three Black Friday and Cyber Monday audiences to activate this holiday season
Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers might share an appetite for a good deal, but what drives them towards a purchase can be very different.
Getting more precise about who you are targeting helps your campaign cut through the noise with an offer that speaks to what really motivates them.
To get a clear picture of your potential audience, YouGov gathers daily responses from our high-quality panel of 30+ million consumers, sharing insights into their attitudes, interests and online behaviors.
The following audience segments have been identified using the collected data, looking specifically at real Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers, their demographic features and actual shopping habits.
Audience #1: Shoppers who plan ahead of time
Black Friday shoppers who plan ahead represent a significant audience, researching, comparing and waiting for the right deals. YouGov Profiles data shows that 65% of German shoppers, 62% of U.S. shoppers, and 62% of British shoppers who participated in sales events in the past 12 months plan their shopping needs ahead of time.
These aren't necessarily consumers browsing until something catches their eye. Many already know what they want and are waiting for the right opportunity to buy.
Audience #2: Gen Z and Millennial shoppers
The Black Friday shopper also skews notably younger; across the U.S., UK and Germany, more than half of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers are Gen Z or Millennials (YouGov Profiles).
Their strong interest in the sales period makes them an important audience for brands competing for attention.
Audience #3: AI-savvy deal seekers
AI-savvy deal seekers are a growing consumer segment during mega sale seasons. These shoppers combine an appetite for value with digital know-how. They use digital tools and online channels to research products, compare prices and seek out the offers that work for them.
AI is already part of their everyday digital behavior. Across key markets, 67% of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers in the U.S., 61% in the UK and 58% in Germany use AI tools at least once a week (YouGov Profiles).
And their digital habits extend beyond AI. Across the U.S., UK and Germany, at least 33% of shoppers cited social media as a top information source for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (YouGov Profiles).
Christmas shopping trends to watch this holiday season
Christmas gifting is one of the biggest reasons shoppers are taking part in Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In both the U.S. and Great Britain, 41% of consumers use the sales period to shop for Christmas, compared with 34% in Germany (YouGov Profiles). With festive shopping beginning well before December, understanding how consumers will approach Christmas can help brands reach them at the right moment.
To understand clearly how consumers are doing Christmas shopping in 2026, YouGov has analyzed data from real Christmas shoppers to gather expected behaviors marketers should consider when planning their holiday campaigns.
Online shopping
Retailer apps and online shopping platforms continue to play an important role in how Christmas shoppers research and buy gifts. 82% of UK Christmas shoppers, 77% of U.S. shoppers and 60% of German shoppers used a mobile phone, tablet or computer for a recent Christmas gift (YouGov Profiles).
As consumers continue to blend online research and purchasing into their holiday shopping journeys, digital advertising remains a key channel for brands to drive discovery, consideration and conversion.
Luxury shoppers
Holiday spending isn't just about buying more; for some, it’s about buying premium.
YouGov Profiles data finds that 22% of U.S. Christmas gift shoppers spend at least $500, including 8% who spend $1,000 or more.
This same premium mindset appears in holiday entertaining, with Christmas dinner hosts proving more likely to shop at specialty food stores and favor luxury grocery products (YouGov Profiles). For luxury and premium brands, these consumers represent an audience that is willing to invest in elevated products and experiences across multiple holiday purchase occasions.
Experience seeking
Looking beyond traditional gift buying can reveal more specific Christmas shopping behaviors, such as experience gifting. From travel and dining to entertainment and events, some consumers are looking to give people something to do, see or share. That makes experience gifting a potentially valuable opportunity for brands whose Christmas opportunity sits outside traditional physical gifting.
How to activate high-value holiday audiences with YouGov
YouGov makes it simple to activate specific target audiences around peak season moments, with pre-modelled segments available for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the Christmas season.
Here are four steps to activating YouGov’s holiday audiences:
Step 1: Explore potential audience segments
Start by opening YouGov Profiles.
You can build a custom audience segment by combining relevant characteristics, such as online shopping habits, interests and age.
Alternatively, you can explore YouGov’s pre-built personas developed specifically for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas campaigns within your DSP of choice.
Step 2: Choose the audience that fits the objective
Next, you can confirm your custom YouGov segment, or identify the pre-existing seasonal YouGov audience segment that matches your campaign objective best.
If you would like to proceed with a custom audience, simply press the ‘Activate’ button within YouGov Profiles and select your desired destination (such as Ogury One). From there, a member of YouGov’s Audience Data Team will reach out to you for any additional information, and can make this audience available via Ogury in as little as 1-2 weeks.
In addition to custom activation capabilities, the YouGov and Ogury partnership offers more than 200 pre-built personas across 33 countries. Some of YouGov’s ready-to-activate Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas audience personas include:
- Shoppers who plan ahead of time
- Gen Z and Millennial shoppers
- AI savvy deal-seekers
- Online shoppers
- Luxury shoppers interested in premium gifts
- Experience seekers
These audiences are all readily available within Ogury One, allowing advertisers to immediately activate them through their preferred DSP.
Step 3: Tailor your campaign to your audience
The next step is to tailor your messaging and creatives to align with your defined audience and select the best channels to activate across.
Step 4: Activate your audience
The final step is to activate your audience. Advertisers can select the segment in their DSP and use it to reach their target audience across available digital advertising inventory.
Through our collaboration with Ogury, YouGov's precise audience segments allow you to build campaigns designed to make a greater impact with the audiences that matter.
Campaigns built on quality audience data work harder. With 170,000+ surveys conducted every day across our proprietary panel of 30+ million members in 49 markets, YouGov helps you get specific about exactly who to reach and what matters to them.