Reaching Audiences Where It Matters Most: Connected Video & Audio Strategies for Holiday 2025

As the holiday season of 2025 approaches, convergent video and audio (CVA) presents an outsized opportunity to shape consumer perception and intent. This year’s calendar is packed with premium live events, new programming cycles, and culturally relevant moments—yet access to these environments is more competitive and dynamic than ever. Fragmented attention, changing viewership habits, and increased media inflation have made it crucial for brands to adopt a more responsive, scenario-based planning model.

While much of the most valuable linear TV inventory was secured during the 2025–2026 Upfronts, the pathway to holiday success depends on your starting point: If you participated in Upfronts, we recommend focusing on optimizing existing commitments with targeted creative, cultural alignment, and strategic amplification. If you didn’t, scatter opportunities in linear TV and high-impact connected TV (CTV) activations remain. In both cases, the key is to balance long-lead planning with short-term responsiveness, ensuring media dollars align with moments that deliver reach, impact, and performance.

The dynamic nature of the marketplace means last-minute opportunities will continue to emerge, often with compressed timelines and premium CPMs. Marketers should enter the season with pre-approved budgets, campaign briefs, and multiple creative variations ready to activate. With media guardrails in place, marketers can then activate quickly when opportunistic inventory becomes available. This readiness enables brands to capitalize on both guaranteed and variable placements, ensuring flexibility without compromising quality. 

Strategic Consideration: Establish cross-functional alignment with procurement, finance, and creative teams to pre-authorize agile investment, particularly for scatter inventory during high-value weeks in November and December.

Q4 2025 is rich with entertainment, seasonal, and sports events that drive collective attention. From the NFL kick-off on September 4 to the MLB Playoffs and World Series, to the return of NBA and College Football, live sports offer advertisers access to highly engaged audiences watching in real-time. Likewise, seasonal entertainment—from holiday specials to award shows—creates opportunities to reach audiences in emotionally resonant, brand-safe environments.

Streaming platforms and networks will also debut new scripted and non-scripted content during this period, making the weeks between Halloween and New Year’s a uniquely influential window for media investment.

Strategic Consideration: Prioritize placements during high-profile cultural and sporting events using a robust Q4 cultural calendar as a planning guide. Ensure creative aligns with the thematic relevance of each moment—whether through season storytelling, context-driven messaging, or format-specific executions.

The rise of streaming continues, but traditional TV still commands significant attention. Nielsen’s latest figures show that nearly half of all viewing time is still on broadcast and cable, with streaming capturing a substantial share. The implication for holiday planning is clear: brands must pursue a cross-screen strategy that maximizes reach while allowing for precision targeting. CTV enables this dual objective. Not only does it offer scale, but it also unlocks targeting and measurement capabilities that complement traditional TV. CTV ads are increasingly shoppable and interactive, and over one-third of consumers report using TV ads—including CTV—to build their holiday gift lists. This creates a dual imperative: reach audiences everywhere they watch, and connect with them in ways that drive conversion. 

Strategic Consideration: Develop a dual-screen investment plan that spans broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms. Activate shoppable and direct-response formats where possible, and ensure creative variations are optimized for each screen and interaction type.

Media inflation remains a consideration in Q4 planning. Scatter and performance TV placements can deliver incremental reach if executed correctly. Agile advertisers who are prepared to activate short-lead direct response (DR) and performance-based video will be best positioned to capitalize on pockets of undervalued or opportunistic inventory.

At the same time, CVA remains one of the most effective channels for sustaining brand salience. In an environment where consumers are making fewer, more deliberate purchases, maintaining brand visibility in high-attention environments is essential.

Strategic Consideration: Designate a portion of your media budget for high-impact performance video activations, and ensure your creative library includes adaptable assets for different formats and inventory types. Account for creative clearance timelines by building in at least a one-week buffer before on-air dates. 

Live viewing is only the beginning of the consumer journey. Retargeting capabilities on platforms like Amazon allow brands to extend the impact of a major tentpole placement through follow-up ads within 24 hours, keeping the brand top of mind when consumers begin their shopping journey. This type of post-exposure strategy is particularly valuable during high-traffic holiday weeks, enabling advertisers to bridge the gap between brand awareness and purchase consideration.

Strategic Consideration: Coordinate live-event media buys with post-viewing retargeting strategies, particularly for Amazon Live Sports, NBA, and WNBA placements, with creative assets tailored to the follow-up touchpoint.