By Jason Fairchild, Co-Founder and CEO, tvScientific by Pinterest
Retailers still tend to talk about the holiday season as though it begins in November, but new data reveals that consumers no longer shop that way.
The 2026 Holiday & Seasonal Shopping Trends Report from tvScientific by Pinterest surveyed over 400 marketers and 600 consumers across the US. It revealed that holiday-related research and purchasing now begin much earlier, often well before Black Friday Cyber Monday. Leading up to the year-end holidays, shoppers move through a series of connected moments, including Labor Day, fall football, October Prime Day, Black Friday Cyber Monday, and the final December rush.
That creates a clear problem for retailers still treating each moment as a standalone campaign. By the time their biggest holiday push begins, many consumers have already formed preferences, narrowed their options, and decided which brands they are considering.
In order to win the 2026 holiday shopping season, retailers need to start shaping those decisions earlier.
By Black Friday Cyber Monday, many shoppers have already made up their minds
While Black Friday Cyber Monday remains an important sales events, consumers increasingly treat it as the end of a decision process that began much earlier. However, most advertisers still wait until November to launch Black Friday Cyber Monday advertising campaigns.
According to the hundreds of consumers surveyed, 53% start researching gifts in October or earlier.1 Purchasing begins early, too: 21% start buying before October, and another 19% begin in October. Only 15% wait until Black Friday Cyber Monday to start purchasing.1
This should change what retailers expect from their November campaigns. If a shopper reaches Black Friday Cyber Monday with a shortlist already in place, the brands on that list have an enormous advantage. At that point, the shopper may be looking for the best price, the right promotion, or confirmation that they are making the right choice. They are less likely to be discovering an entirely new category of options.
The earlier stages of the season matter more than many holiday plans acknowledge. The opportunity is to influence which products shoppers research, which brands they remember, and which options make the shortlist before the promotional noise reaches its peak.
Treat every seasonal moment as part of one connected journey
You might be thinking, “I just need to launch the same holiday campaign a couple months earlier.”
However, while consumers do start shopping earlier, they are also increasingly experiencing advertising as a continuous journey. As such, retailers need to think about the season as a sequence of connected moments, each with a different role.
For example, Labor Day can introduce the brand or begin shaping awareness. Fall football can keep the brand present during a period of sustained attention. October Prime Day can reveal which audiences, messages, and offers are gaining traction. Finally, Black Friday Cyber Monday can then convert the demand built across the preceding weeks and months.
The strongest strategies allow each moment to inform the next. Half of marketers say they intentionally carry a campaign theme from one shopping moment into another. Forty-nine percent carry forward audience strategies or audience learnings, while 45% adapt an existing messaging framework for the next moment.2
These numbers suggest marketers are beginning to move away from the old habit of rebuilding every campaign from scratch.
This is a step in the right direction. Seasonal marketing becomes more effective when earlier campaigns create useful signals. Which audiences responded? Which products generated interest? Which creative ideas held attention? Which offers drove action? Those learnings should shape what happens next.
A connected approach also creates a more coherent experience for the consumer. The messaging does not need to remain identical across the season, but it should feel related. Creative, offers, audience strategy, and timing can evolve while still reinforcing the same broader idea.
The goal is momentum. Each campaign should leave the retailer better positioned for the next one.
Year over year, Performance TV is becoming a core holiday growth channel
The way marketers are investing in Performance TV reflects this broader change.
In 2026, 81% of marketers plan to run Performance TV advertising during the holiday season and other peak shopping moments. That figure is up from 52% in 2025, and 35% in 2024.2
This significant year-over-year rise shows just how quickly Performance TV’s role is changing. It is increasingly being treated as a measurable growth channel that can support the entire seasonal journey, rather than as an awareness tactic reserved for the biggest weeks of the year.
Marketers also expect it to deliver concrete business value. 94% expect Performance TV to help them achieve revenue growth during the 2026 holiday and seasonal shopping season. And 76% say it is very or extremely important to reach shoppers before they begin actively searching or comparing products.2
TV can reach consumers before they enter the most crowded part of the buying process, when they are still open to inspiration and forming preferences. It can also support the other channels shoppers use as they research, validate, and purchase.
Most importantly, its influence can now be measured against business outcomes. Retailers no longer have to evaluate TV solely through reach and frequency or give all the credit to the final click. They can look at how exposure contributes to traffic, conversion, incremental sales, and revenue across a longer customer journey.
The holiday calendar has expanded, and the opportunity to win holiday shoppers has expanded with it. Retailers should stop treating Black Friday Cyber Monday as the starting line. By then, many shoppers are already well into the race. The brands that succeed will be the ones that build familiarity, learn from each seasonal moment, and shape purchase intent long before the final promotion appears.
Sources:
- tvScientific by Pinterest, 2026 Consumer Trends Report, US, February 2026, n=600 people that watch tv
- tvScientific by Pinterest, 2026 Holiday & Seasonal Shopping Trends Report, (N=487) United States, July 2026.
