July 25, 2022
Celebrating the 2022 Holidays
by
Disney Advertising
The holiday season is a long-awaited time to unwind with family and friends, enjoy tasty treats and pick out special gifts. Consumers are eager to resume a sense of normalcy around the holidays and partake in family traditions. With that in mind, Disney Advertising sought to explore ways Disney viewers* plan to celebrate the holidays this year, specifically the time between Thanksgiving and the New Year. We also wanted to get a clearer picture of what holiday shopping will look like and the impact of advertisements on viewers’ shopping choices.
Here’s a closer look at what we learned:
Advertisements Bring Inspiration
The holidays and shopping sprees typically go hand in hand. With dozens of gift options at the tip of our fingers, Disney viewers are leaning into ads to help inspire their purchases. Over three-in-four Disney viewers mentioned that they are favorable toward holiday ads. Even more, 84% have positive opinions of brands creating holiday ads. These ads lead them to do research about a product or service seen in an ad (73%), guide them to visit a brand or company website to learn more information (68%) and help them find the best deals (32%).
They are also open to suggestions for gifts from family and friends, and often lean into holiday catalogs, deal days, word-of-mouth, and in-store ad displays when it comes to gifting inspiration.
Disney Viewers are Prepared Holiday Shoppers
In either case, Disney viewers are definitely prepared holiday shoppers. It’s no surprise that with supply chain issues and inflation concerns, Disney viewers are planning to be value-conscious and shop early. Over half plan to shop earlier than normal this year. The majority plan to spend upwards of $500 on holiday gifts.
Omnichannel Shopping is Key
With plans to make purchases for a range of people – and even their pets – Disney viewers will be shopping at a number of retailers and specialty stores. When it comes to purchasing gifts, 67% are planning to do a mix of in-store and online shopping to get what they need.
Gathering with Family and Friends
Viewers are optimistic that the 2022 holidays will resume with even more normalcy than last year. And they’re looking forward to sharing this time with the ones they love. 77% of Disney viewers are planning to gather in-person with family and friends to enjoy the holiday season together.
Our viewers are looking forward to continuing special family traditions and shared some of their most cherished moments with us:
“We spend time with family on Christmas Day, with food, gifts, and games. We usually have an Italian style dinner with chicken parmigiana, baked ziti, as well as a traditional feast with a ham.”
“We spend time with our kids and grandparents. Lots of yummy homemade food. We watch classic movies, drink cocoa, and go to light displays.”
Cozying Up with Holiday Content
Co-viewing holiday TV shows and movies is a favorite! Disney viewers shared that their holiday content watch partner is typically a significant other (76%), children (65%), friends (36%), or parents (34%). December is surely a special time for people to come together to watch this holiday content. In fact, we found that December 31 was the most watched day on ABC last year thanks to New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. December is also Freeform’s most watched month with 25 Days of Christmas programming, and Christmas Eve was the most watched day of 2021 on the network.
On Hulu specifically, top genres to watch around the holidays, based on time watched, are Dramas, Comedies, Adult Animation and Kids. When looking at the most popular holiday titles from last year we found that the movies Happiest Season, The Holiday, Jingle All the Way, No Sleep ‘Til Christmas, and Christmas Cupid rose to the top!
Inspire Holiday Shoppers this Season
Source: Disney Dialogue, Holidays 2022, May 2022
Source: Hulu Internal Data. November 1,2021 – December 31,2021
Source: Hulu Internal Data
Source: Nielsen (NNTV), 1/1/21-12/31/21 & 10/1/21-12/31/21, data is C7