TV is the showcase for the fixings for Thanksgiving feasts. Marketers of everything from turkey and stuffing to juices and pumpkin pie make TV the first choice for Thanksgiving advertising. TV grabbed 51.4% to 64.8% of category spending 2001 through 2004. The landscape really changed for the other media during that time. Dailies gained each year to take second spot in 2004 with 21.1% of the spending. Out-of-home had slight increases while magazine and radio both experienced steady declines in this category each year.
Annual National Advertising Spend – Q4 – Thanksgiving
| Q4 2001 | Q4 2002 | Q4 2003 | Q4 2004 | |
| Carnivals, festivals, exhibits, fairs, farm shows | $158,874 | 65,096 | 93,011 | 119,612 |
| Fruit juices: liquid (cranberry) | $528,755 | 2,161,336 | 1,219,315 | 1,441,751 |
| Fruit: canned (cranberry) | $- – | – – | – – | 14,904 |
| Fruit: fresh | $14,125 | 121,051 | 227,436 | 81,722 |
| Meat marketing boards, fresh meat | $359,042 | 466,3960 | 462,987 | 591,818 |
| Pie fillings | $- – | – – | – – | 1,897 |
| Pies, tarts, snack cakes – frozen & unfrozen | $- – | 215,210 | 154,187 | 56,684 |
| Poultry marketing boards & fresh poultry | $28,443 | 21,098 | 934,175 | 665,783 |
| Stuffing mixes, side dish mixes | $- – | 140 | – – | – – |
| Vegetables: fresh | $40,813 | 407 | 116,465 | 347,020 |
| Wines: domestic | $1,449,144 | 3,554,860 | 1,488,659 | 1,522,177 |
| Wines: imported | $3,678,575 | 2,963,076 | 2,364,428 | 2,429,149 |
| Total | $6,257,771 | $9,568,670 | $7,110,663 | $7,272,517 |
National Q4 Total Spend by Medium
2001
| Dailies | $388,218 | (6.2%) |
| Magazines: | $1,272,494 | (20.3%) |
| Out of Home: | $285,441 | (4.6%) |
| Radio: | $1,097,183 | (17.5%) |
| Total TV: | $3,214,435 | (51.4%) |
2002
| Dailies | $1,717,573 | (17.9%) |
| Magazines: | $1,092,260 | (11.4%) |
| Out of Home: | $426,543 | (4.5%) |
| Radio: | $643,202 | (6.7%) |
| Total TV: | $5,689,092 | (59.5%) |
2003
| Dailies | $695,262 | (9.8%) |
| Magazines: | $758,501 | (10.7%) |
| Out of Home: | $427,587 | (6.0%) |
| Radio: | $621,806 | (8.7%) |
| Total TV: | $4,607,507 | (64.8%) |
2004
| Dailies | $1,536,072 | (21.1%) |
| Magazines: | $718,574 | (9.9%) |
| Out of Home: | $527,403 | (7.3%) |
| Radio: | $454,553 | (6.3%) |
| Total TV: | $4,035,915 | (55.5%) |
National Q4 2004 – Top 5 Spenders, Thanksgiving
1) Ocean Spray International (Fruit juices)
2) Wine Council of Canada (Wines: domestic)
3) Conagra Foods (Poultry marketing boards & fresh poultry)
4) Government of France (Wines: imported)
5) Maple Leaf Foods (Meat marketing boards & fresh meats)
The preceding data is from the Nielsen Media Research, AdExpenditures. For more information, please contact Andrea Beach, business manager, andrea.beach@nielsenmedia.com.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
