PMG Digital Made for Humans

Holiday Insights Report: Cyber Five 2025 Fueled by Record Consumer Participation

December 3, 2025 | 3 min read

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PMG

PMG is a global independent marketing services and technology company that seeks to inspire people and brands that anything is possible. Driven by shared success, PMG brings together business strategy and transformation, creative, media, and insights, all powered by our proprietary marketing operating system, Alli. With offices in New York, London, Dallas & Fort Worth, Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Brighton, Costa Rica, and Cleveland, our team is made up of 1,000 employees globally, and our work for brands like Apple, CKE Restaurants, Dropbox, Experian, Intuit, Kimberly-Clark, Kohler, Sephora, Travelex, and Whole Foods has received top industry recognitions including Cannes Lions and Adweek Media Plan of the Year.

Cyber Five 2025 delivered one of the strongest holiday performance periods in recent years, propelled by record consumer participation and increasingly value-driven shopping behaviors. Across Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, 203 million consumers shopped—an all-time high since tracking began—and online spend reached $44.2 billion, reflecting a 7.7% year-over-year increase. Despite mixed economic sentiment, retail remained a protected category as shoppers prioritized holiday budgets and responded decisively to peak promotional moments.

Drawing on real-time consumer behavior, cross-channel media performance, and marketplace trends, this report distills the key forces that shaped Cyber Five 2025, including:

  • The promotional strategies that defined the holiday period: Learn how retailers set stronger value baselines earlier, why Black Friday remained the promotional peak, and which tactics helped brands maintain margin while sustaining demand.

  • The media trends that separated outperformers from the rest: See how paid social, programmatic, search, and affiliate programs outpaced industry benchmarks—particularly when powered by ASC, AI-Max, and mobile-first formats—to drive traffic and revenue across PMG's portfolio.

  • Where marketplace dynamics signaled the next frontier: Dive into Amazon’s category-level discounting behavior, the shifting role of large retail ecosystems, and how convergent video and live tentpoles unlocked massive, high-intent reach.

Download the report to learn more.