Media Doesn’t Take Vacations: Why Going Dark During the Holidays Costs You Opportunities
It's mid-December. Marketing teams across the country are shutting down their campaigns faster than mall stores on Christmas Eve. "Nobody's watching anyway," they rationalise, "everyone's checked out for the holidays."
But you know something they don’t. They're missing out on some of the most engaged audiences of the year by following a rule of thumb that’s long past its relevancy.
The stubborn myth that audiences disappear during holiday periods has been costing marketers real opportunities for decades. Sure, media behaviours shift during vacation times, but engagement with media doesn’t. When people have time to kill, they're not hiding from media — they're consuming it differently, often with more availability and receptivity than during their jam-packed work schedules.
But you know that, right? You’d never dream of shutting down your campaign when your audiences might be at their most receptive...
Right? Right.
Still. Maybe read on. Just for fun.
Legends of the Fall (schedule): Origins of the media-spending hiatus
This whole "go dark for the holidays" strategy is rooted in television's golden age, when the medium was the anchor for the entire advertising calendar. Back then, the TV season ran like clockwork from September through May, with a pause from mid-December through mid-January. Outside of those periods, networks would retreat to reruns, viewership would predictably drop, and advertisers would follow suit. Like lemmings.
But then Survivor happened. And CNN. And smartphones.
Cheap-to-produce reality TV exploded off-peak content deployment, proving that audiences were hungry for original programming year-round. The 24-hour news cycle (helped in no small part by a shift to news-as-opinion/entertainment) joined the party. Suddenly, the notion of an off-season for content began crumbling faster than a poorly-planned reality show alliance. The internet and social media explosion delivered the final blow to the old model, creating a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week continuous content machine.
But many marketers remain trapped in legacy thinking — still bowing out during holiday periods as if we're living in the era of rabbit ears and TV Guides.
And — they're amplifying this self-defeating behaviour by rushing into market in September or February. You know, when other marketers who believe the same schedule fallacy are doing the same, creating intense competition for production resources, broadcast inventory, and even agency bandwidth.
Meanwhile, the quiet months stay quiet. And become missed opportunities, rather than strategic advantages.
The cost of going dark while the (screen) lights are on
Here's what's actually happening during those supposedly "dead" holiday periods, per Neilson. People aren't consuming less media during summer and winter breaks — they're consuming it differently, with streaming usage up 71% since 2021. And streaming reached 44.8% of total TV usage in May 2025, surpassing combined broadcast and cable viewing for the first time.
+ 71% | Streaming usage since 2021
44.8% | Total TV usage (May '25)
And as any parent begging their kids to ‘just look at the Grand Canyon with your eyes, not your phone camera’ knows — audiences may leave their living rooms during vacation periods, but they're not abandoning their devices.
Multi-generational co-viewing increases during time off and family gatherings. Mobile streaming surges as people travel. On-demand content consumption rises as flexible schedules allow for binge-watching sessions that work schedules normally prevent.
And perhaps most importantly: the myth that purchasing decisions pause during holidays couldn't be further from reality. Major life decisions, research, and purchases often accelerate when people have more flexible schedules and mental bandwidth. Someone scrolling through their phone while avoiding awkward family conversations at holiday dinner might be the perfect moment to capture their attention — but only if you're there.
Timing isn't everything.
Targeting and messaging are.
Reaching your target audience when they're at home on their devices, temporarily freed from work pressures, is marketing gold. But many marketers voluntarily surrender this territory to competitors who understand that timing isn't everything — targeting and messaging are.
Ideas work year-round
The real issue isn't whether people are paying attention during holiday periods — it's whether you're reaching them with ideas resonant enough to break through between Mai Tais (or eggnogs).
If your content is insight-driven and resonant, it doesn't matter when you try to strike up a conversation with your audience. But building a strategy that doesn't rely on when others are in market requires courage. It demands confidence in your message and insights about your audience.
The most successful marketers don't follow the crowd — they lead it (often with help from a media-savvy agency partner). While your competitors are planning their big September spends, you could be building brand preference and capturing market share in the months before that.
Ready to revisit your assumptions about the ‘best months to be in market’? Contact the media planning team at Show and Tell for a FREE discovery call.
