Unlock the holiday season’s advertising potential by shifting focus from overcrowded channels to immersive mobile in-app experiences that captivate user attention and drive sales.
The holiday season is a crucial time for retailers and advertisers, with the 2024 season expected to see a 9.5% increase in online sales compared to 2023, reaching $271.58 billion. However, this period intensifies competition among advertisers, leading to overcrowding in traditional advertising channels and potentially diminishing returns on ad spend.
The key to success is creating great user experiences and capturing genuine user attention. Mobile gaming, for instance, presents a unique opportunity for advertisers to reach a broad audience across all demographics, ages and groups.
We spoke with Victoria Beyer, VP of West Coast Brand Business at Digital Turbine, about the risks of relying on saturated channels like social media and CTV during the holidays, the untapped potential of mobile in-app inventory, and the effectiveness of full-screen formats and interactive features for driving sales conversions.
Andrew Byrd: Why is the retail season so overcrowded, and how does it impact traditional advertising channels? 
Victoria Beyer: The holiday season is a prime example of supply and demand dynamics. Retail is the biggest vertical during this period, creating an incredibly competitive synergy, often leading to overcrowding in traditional advertising channels. I encourage brands to explore underutilized mediums, particularly mobile in-app inventory, which offers significant untapped potential this season.
AB: What are some common pitfalls advertisers face during the holiday season?
VB: One major pitfall is focusing too heavily on popular channels, such as social media. While these platforms attract a lot of consumer attention, they often become overcrowded during the holiday season, leading to a suboptimal user experience. Similarly, CTV is another trendy area, but its saturation can make it challenging to stand out.
Many agencies and brands prioritize what’s currently trending, like social and CTV. However, this can lead to missed opportunities in other effective channels, such as mobile in-app inventory, where consumers spend significant time.
Brands should focus on reaching consumers at the right time, in the right environment, and delivering a positive brand experience. The holiday season is highly competitive, with many products vying for the same audience. Advertisers must strategically identify less saturated mediums to stay at the top of consumers’ minds.
AB: How does ad saturation during the holiday season impact engagement rates, and what strategies can brands use to address this challenge?
VB: Oversaturation, which on mobile web browsers and social media, often leads to poor user experiences. Consumers are bombarded with overlapping ads from different brands, such as retail, pharma, and entertainment, competing for attention in the same space. This clutter diminishes engagement and fails to deliver a cohesive brand message.
The mobile in-app environment offers a different ad experience.Consumers spend 92% of their mobile time in apps, where ads can take full advantage of 100% of the screen real estate. This creates a focused, immersive experience, allowing brands to capture up to 22 seconds of consumer attention—far more than the 1-2 seconds typical in mobile web or social media ads. This extended interaction improves storytelling and enhances the likelihood of driving purchases and building brand loyalty. These advantages make mobile in-app inventory a critical yet underutilized channel for effective holiday advertising.
AB: There is much to unpack here, but the major takeaways are creating a great user experience and capturing genuine user attention. Knowing Digital Turbine works heavily on mobile, especially in gaming, how do you see advertisers missing out on this channel? And how can they better leverage mobile, particularly gaming, where casual players dominate the audience?
VB: Mobile gaming is a highly untapped channel that offers unique opportunities for advertisers. Many brands get stuck thinking “gamers” and assume they’re targeting hardcore gamers, but mobile gaming is very different—it’s casual. A wide variety of audience segments enjoy the many game genres out there, ensuring every brand can find their audience.
It also differs in the way people consume it. People often play on their mobile devices while multitasking, like watching TV. This is critical because while many brands invest heavily in CTV, they may not realize that consumers often tune out CTV commercials and pick up their mobile devices instead. Mobile games provide full-screen engagement opportunities with features like gamification and post-ad interactive experiences that encourage interaction. These unique ad formats drive attention and engagement in large numbers, delivering strong campaign results.
As more brands recognize this untapped medium, they’re developing focused strategies, unlocking mobile gaming’s full potential.
AB: What final advice would you give brands to effectively reach their audience, especially during peak seasons when brands oversaturate consumers with ads?
VB: Focus on utilizing full-screen formats. This allows you to capture the consumer’s undivided attention, making it easier to deliver a message that sticks. Even short video ads—like 15 or 30 seconds—can effectively persuade consumers to buy your product when there are fewer distractions. From this approach, we’ve seen strong results in attention, view-through rates, and sales conversions.