Display ad costs fall ahead of the holiday shopping rush

Display advertising costs have fallen sharply heading into the 2026 holiday season, potentially giving marketers a cheaper window to reach shoppers before competition intensifies around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

By the numbers. From July 1 through Sept. 8, display prospecting CPMs were 45% lower year over year and 25.5% below comparable Q2 levels, according to AdRoll’s Q3 data.

Display retargeting CPMs fell 29.1% year over year and 40.2% from the comparable Q2 period.

Account-based marketing bucked the annual trend, with CPMs rising 4.4% year over year, although they were still down 15.1% from Q2. Because ABM targets narrower groups of named accounts, its pricing is less representative of the broader advertising market.

Why we care. Lower CPMs mean advertisers can buy more reach for the same budget at a time when consumers are still spending even as weaker sentiment suggests shoppers are becoming more selective about where their money goes.

The big picture: Cheaper advertising is arriving against a mixed economic backdrop. U.S. inflation held at 3.4% in August, while the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 47.8 in September, down 13.2% from a year earlier.

Yet consumers haven’t stopped spending. Bank of America card data showed spending per household increased 4.5% year over year in August, with shoppers continuing to gravitate toward value-focused and big-box retailers.

Between the lines. Cheaper media doesn’t necessarily mean easier conversions. Advertisers may be able to reach more people for less, but weaker consumer confidence could raise the bar for convincing those shoppers to buy.

That puts greater emphasis on pricing, promotions and messaging that clearly communicates value.

What advertisers can do. The lower prospecting costs could provide an opportunity to build awareness before holiday advertising demand typically ramps up.

Brands can use cheaper reach to introduce themselves to potential customers, test which messages resonate and build audiences that can later be retargeted with more relevant offers as shoppers move closer to purchasing.

The bottom line. Holiday marketers are entering peak season with an unusual combination: cheaper access to audiences that are still spending, but are increasingly conscious of value. That could make Q3 an important testing and awareness-building period before competition for holiday shoppers heats up.

Dig deeper. 2026 Q3 Report Highlights for the Holiday Season