Advertisers Expected to Hold Steady on Holiday Budgets for Year-End
French advertisers are taking a cautious approach to this holiday season: "2026 budgets remain the same as in 2025, which itself is an increase over 2024," explains Emmanuel Crego, CEO of the Values group. He oversees media buying for 65 advertisers across banking and insurance, personal services, travel, and consumer goods, among other sectors.
"But there are more advertisers cutting their budgets than brands increasing them, so we're seeing a slight downward trend," adds Eric Boyer, CEO of CoSpirit Groupe, which works with major retail and consumer goods brands. "Advertisers are waiting for more clarity and are favoring short-term tactics. As for 2027, they have no visibility at this point."
The context of a French economy that is "falling behind" compared to its neighbors, to use the words of Insee, France's national statistics agency, has not caused panic or led to budget cuts. "Our clients need to communicate because competition is fierce in their sectors," says Emmanuel Crego. "Advertisers have been managing uncertainty and crises for several years now—they've gotten used to it. Instead of committing for the whole year, they're managing their investments quarter by quarter," summarizes Eric Boyer.
Performance at All Costs, at the Expense of Brand Awareness
French companies are still under pressure from the return of inflation and declining household purchasing power, all in an international environment that remains uncertain. INSEE has even revised its 2026 GDP growth forecast downward to 0.4%, despite a slight recovery in the second half of the year. This reality is reflected in brand strategies: "Brands aren't cutting their Q4 budgets, which remain crucial for many of them, but they are focusing on the short term with a demand for direct ROI," says Benjamin Poly, co-founder of AllMatik (Ceetadel group), a multi-channel media buying agency working with around fifty SME retailers, pure players, food industry players, and B2B companies, among others.
"Marketing managers are struggling to convince their leadership to free up more budget for brand awareness campaigns. As a result, they're forced to focus on performance, which alone isn't sustainable in the long run. A brand that doesn't allocate at least 25% of its budget to awareness simply doesn't exist," reminds Eric Boyer.
At Webloom, a search agency that brings together around fifty SMEs, two trends are emerging. On one hand, e-commerce players are increasing their budgets for the holiday season compared to the same period in 2025, especially to integrate AI engines into their media mix. On the other hand, companies focused on lead generation are holding back. "There's a seasonal effect that explains why lead generation is less dynamic at the end of the year, but that's not the whole story. This sector first wants to better understand how to adapt to new customer journeys, which have been disrupted by the rise of conversational engines. They're shifting more of their budgets toward tracking and analytics tools, at the expense of pure media buying," explains Clément Bourdon, co-founder of Webloom.
The holiday season—and more broadly, the second half of the year—traditionally marks the peak period for advertising. The fourth quarter alone can account for as much as 40% of annual ad spend, depending on the sector.
This article was automatically translated from French. Read the original version: https://www.journaldunet.com/adtech/1556887-pour-ces-fetes-de-fin-d-annee-les-annonceurs-marquent-le-pas/