Advertising Research: Five Distinct Holiday Shopper Audiences for 2026 – AdMall AudienceSCAN

AdMall sales intelligence shows where Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Super Saturday and Christmas Eve shoppers are most responsive to advertising

Key Takeaways:

• Black Friday shoppers are highly reachable through streaming TV and social media, with 49% responding to streaming TV ads and 48% to social network advertising.
• Cyber Monday is a digital shopping event, but the path to purchase is increasingly omnichannel: 51% of these shoppers recently purchased online for in-store or curbside pickup, while 41% respond to both social advertising and ads on search results pages.
• Super Saturday and Small Business Saturday offer important local and promotional opportunities: 21% of Super Saturday shoppers say coupons influence their purchase decisions, while 23% of Small Business Saturday shoppers say local media helps them discover newly opened businesses.
• Christmas Eve shoppers are last-minute but highly reachable: 51% respond to streaming TV ads and 50% respond to social network advertising.
  
  

WESTERVILLE, Ohio, Nov. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Holiday shoppers are heading into the 2026 season looking for value, but they are not all shopping or responding to advertising in the same way. New AdMall^® AudienceSCAN^® research and sales intelligence gives advertising sales professionals a closer look at the consumers behind five of the season’s biggest shopping occasions, revealing distinct opportunities to reach Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Eve, and Super Saturday shoppers. The time is now to plan and sell for these major retail Q4 promotional days.

AudienceSCAN data gives media sellers specific ways to translate those trends into advertising conversations.

Among Black Friday shoppers, 22% identify as in-store Black Friday shoppers, and 24% shop at retail stores twice a week.

For Small Business Saturday, 17% of U.S. adults say they patronize local businesses or restaurants on the day, while 23% shop at retail stores twice a week. The opportunity extends beyond traditional retail: the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council notes that Small Business Saturday is important to retailers, restaurants, cafes, salons, spas, and other service businesses, with more than half of small business owners previously estimating the day can contribute up to 15% of annual revenue.

The five audiences also reveal meaningful differences in media response. Black Friday and Small Business Saturday shoppers are particularly responsive to streaming TV and social advertising, with nearly half responding to each. Cyber Monday shoppers show equal response to social networks and search results pages at 41%, and 16% say advertising on mobile apps is useful to them. Super Saturday shoppers are especially responsive to streaming TV and social networks, with 52% responding to each. They also provide a strong promotional selling opportunity: 21% say coupons influence their purchase decisions, while 31% make an effort to buy American whenever possible.

“There’s no such thing as ‘the holiday shopper,’” said C. Lee Smith, CEO of SalesFuel. “Some are buying for themselves, some are hunting for bargains at secondhand shops and others are committed to shopping local. They research in different places and respond to different messages. That creates a real opening for small and midsize businesses that can’t outspend national brands on Black Friday or Cyber Monday but can outsmart them the rest of the season. AudienceSCAN gives media sellers and marketing agencies the intelligence to show advertisers exactly who their best holiday prospects are, what motivates them and how they consume media so they can build a campaign on real behavior instead of guesswork.”

Five Shopping Occasions, Five Selling Opportunities

• Black Friday: AudienceSCAN finds 22% of U.S. adults identify as in-store Black Friday shoppers. They are highly responsive to streaming TV (49%) and social network advertising (48%). Eighteen percent say local media helps them discover businesses that have just opened. This audience also has significant buying power, with 29% reporting household incomes above $150,000.
  
  
• Small Business Saturday: Seventeen percent of U.S. adults patronize local businesses or restaurants on Small Business Saturday. Streaming TV and social again lead advertising response at 48% each, while 23% say local media helps them discover newly opened businesses. Thirty-two-and-a-half percent report household incomes above $150,000, creating an opportunity for media sellers to position local advertising as a way for businesses to capture high-value holiday shoppers.
  
  
• Cyber Monday: Twenty-five percent of U.S. adults shop on Cyber Monday. Forty-one percent respond to social advertising, and another 41% respond to ads on search results pages. The audience is also firmly omnichannel: 51% purchased online in the past month for an in-store or curbside pickup. With AI increasingly becoming part of consumers' shopping journeys, the 2025 Cyber Monday experience also demonstrated how shoppers are using AI-powered tools to find products and deals.
  
  
• Super Saturday: Twelve percent of U.S. adults say they will shop on Super Saturday, making the Dec. 19 event particularly relevant for last-minute retail and promotional campaigns. Fifty-two percent respond to both social network and streaming TV advertising, while 21% say coupons influence their purchase decisions. Thirty-one percent make an effort to buy American whenever possible. Sensormatic ranks Super Saturday as the second-busiest U.S. in-store shopping day of the 2026 holiday season, behind Black Friday.
  
  
• Christmas Eve: 17% of U.S. adults will shop on Christmas Eve. These procrastinators move quickly. 51% respond to streaming TV ads, while 50% react to ads on a social network. Just under half, 46%, visit the website or use the app of a local TV station. And about ¼ of them buy something for themselves!
  
  

The 2026 holiday season therefore presents media sellers with a clear opportunity: Sell the shopping occasion, not just the holiday. Black Friday calls for broad, high-impact reach; Small Business Saturday creates a natural opening for local-media and community-focused campaigns; Cyber Monday favors digital, search and social strategies; and Super Saturday and Christmas Eve create urgency around promotions, coupons and last-minute purchases.

AudienceSCAN data can help sales professionals match those consumer behaviors with the media channels and messages most likely to move shoppers.

About SalesFuel and AdMall
SalesFuel provides sales intelligence, research and sales enablement tools that help media and advertising professionals identify prospects, understand consumers and sell more effectively. AdMall® combines proprietary consumer research, local market intelligence and sales tools to help media sales professionals build smarter advertising strategies. AudienceSCAN provides insights into consumer behaviors, purchase intentions and media preferences across thousands of audience segments.

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Media Contact:
Audrey Strong 
SalesFuel 
1-614-318-3771
astrong@salesfuel.com