At A Glance
Santa may have a sleigh, but marketers have something better: Experian Audiences, delivering accuracy, scale, and 25 new holiday-ready segments to help brands connect with the right shoppers at the right time.In this article…
If Santa used data to plan his holiday campaign, he’d call Experian. After all, how else could he deliver the right gifts to the right household?
From sleigh bells to savings alerts, the holiday season isn’t just about Christmas. Whether you’re celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Lunar New Year, or simply the season of giving, brands have one thing in common: a need to reach the right audience at the right time, with messaging that resonates.
Retail sales for 2025 are expected to grow 2.7–3.7% YoY, reaching nearly $5.48 trillion, with mobile commerce driving 75% of e-commerce growth. With so many brands vying for attention, delivering the right message to the right audience can be the difference between a one-time click and a lifelong customer.
In this article, we’ll unwrap Experian’s holiday shopping audiences, including 25 new audiences, designed to help you reach the most relevant shoppers for your holiday campaigns. These audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of most major platforms, including TV, social, and programmatic. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix.
2025 Holiday spending trends and insights report
Download our latest report, in collaboration with GroundTruth, for data-driven insights you can use to refine your messaging and reach the right audience in their preferred channels this holiday season.
Deck the data halls: What separates Experian’s syndicated audiences?
Utilize Experian’s syndicated audiences to ensure your marketing messages resonate with shoppers.
- Experian’s 3,200+ syndicated audiences can be sent to 200+ leading social platforms, such as Meta and Pinterest, TV, programmatic advertising platforms, and directly within Audigent for activation within private marketplaces (PMPs).
- Reach consumers based on who they are, where they live, and their household makeup. Experian ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes.
- Access to unique audiences through Experian’s Partner Audiences available on Experian’s data marketplace, within Audigent for activation in PMPs, and directly on platforms like DirectTV, Dish, Magnite, OpenAP, and The Trade Desk.
Four audience categories to target this holiday season
Even Santa needs help organizing his list these days, especially with so many kinds of households to deliver holiday magic to. With the U.S. population growing by roughly 21.7 million people in the last decade, there are more holiday tables to set, more last-minute carts to fill, and more families hitting the road than ever before. Experian Audiences and Partner Audiences help Santa (and your brand) get the message just right.
New this season!
Experian now offers Consumer Packaged Goods audiences to help you reach consumers ready to get into the holiday spirit with seasonal baking, cooking, and other goods.
Here are four households on Santa’s sleigh route and how you can reach them with Experian:
- The merry makers
- The list-checkers
- The holiday hoppers
- The entertainers
Let’s unwrap the segments within each category.
This group isn’t just celebrating; they’re setting the stage. Whether they’re prepping for Friendsgiving or a cozy Diwali dinner, they’re fueling the season with food, décor, and hospitality. Holiday hosts and entertainers allocated more than $260 on food, candy, and decor alone in 2024, and according to GroundTruth, Saturday, December 7, 2024, was the busiest in-store shopping day across nearly every major category. Grocery store sales climbed 2.1% during the 2024 holiday season, and hosting Thanksgiving cost an average of $431.
Here are 10 holiday host audiences to target this holiday season and how you can reach them with Experian:
- NEW! Bakeries High Spend
- NEW! Caterers High Spend
- NEW! Chocolate Candy Box Bag Bar Shoppers 3.5oz Plus
- NEW! Chocolate Shoppers
- NEW! Cocktail Mix Shoppers
- NEW! Frosting and Frosting Mix Shoppers
- NEW! Marshmallow Shoppers
- NEW! Ready-to-Use Pie Crust Shoppers
- NEW! Sugar Shoppers
- Holiday Shoppers: High Spenders
How to use these audiences
Santa knows this household is hosting the holiday magic, so he loads his sleigh with gourmet cocoa, festive napkins, and extra marshmallows to make sure the party is stocked with seasonal favorites.
A consumer-packaged goods brand launching a new holiday baking product can reach Chocolate Shoppers, Holiday Shopping High Spenders, and Ready-to-Use Pie Crust audiences to connect with high-intent hosts prepping festive desserts.
This household isn’t just shopping; they’re creating the perfect gifts. In 2024, U.S. shoppers planned to spend more than $1,000 on holiday gifts as online purchases surged, totaling $241 billion between November 1 and December 31. Looking to 2025, according to our latest holiday insights, just 22% of consumers expect to spend more, while 27% anticipate cutting back. With consumer confidence still on an uneven footing and inflation having climbed up to 2.9%, shoppers are approaching holiday lists with greater caution. Experian’s purchase-based data shows mass retail remains a bright spot, with value-driven spending holding strong amid recent dips and rebounds, as shoppers cautiously resume purchases. That makes gift-focused households more deliberate with their choices and reinforces that brands emphasizing value and trust will earn lasting loyalty.
Here are 10 list-checker audiences to consider this holiday season:
- NEW! Precious Stones Metals Watches Jewelry High Spend
- Big Box/Club Stores Holiday Shoppers
- Black Friday Holiday Shoppers
- Cyber Monday Holiday Shoppers
- Heavy Buyer/Spenders Holiday Shoppers: In-Store or Online
- High Spend Gift Shoppers
- Holiday Shoppers: Apparel (Clothing)
- Luxury Gift Shoppers
- Online Coupon Users
- Post Holiday Shoppers
How to use these audiences
Santa knows this household goes big when it comes to gifting, so he makes sure their stockings are filled with trinkets, timeless watches, and the kind of treasures that twinkle under the tree.
A luxury jewelry brand launching a limited-edition holiday collection can activate Precious Stones Metals Watches Jewelry High Spend and Luxury Gift Shoppers audiences to reach buyers who believe in gifts that sparkle.
This household is on the move. From planes and trains to jam-packed highways, travel is back in full force. In 2024, a record 119.3 million Americans traveled during the holiday period, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Road trips remained the most popular mode, while air travel hit a new high with 7.85 million flyers.
Here are 10 holiday travel audiences to target:
- NEW! Bridge and Road Fees Tolls High Spend
- NEW! Hotel High Spend
- NEW! Lodging Hotels Motels Resorts High Spend
- NEW! Passenger Railways High Spend
- NEW! Timeshares High Spend
- NEW! Tourist Attractions and Exhibits High Spend
- NEW! Travel Agencies and Tour Operators High Spend
- Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers
- Holiday Travel – Airline
- Holiday Travel – Train
How to use these audiences
For this household, Santa swaps his sleigh for the train car – booking them on a magical Polar Express journey complete with cocoa, carols, and a golden ticket to holiday wonder.
When brands want to deliver the same magic, a travel package could bundle tickets to a railway’s Polar Express immersive experience with air travel and lodging, activating the Hotel High Spend, Travel Agencies High Spend, and Passenger Railways High Spend audiences to reach travelers seeking an unforgettable holiday adventure.
This household knows how to celebrate from the couch. Whether it’s football, holiday movies, or once-a-year specials, the screen is their gathering place. On December 25, 2024, Americans streamed more than 50 billion minutes of content, making it the most-streamed day in U.S. television history. From dazzling halftime shows to nostalgic holiday classics, entertainment is the heartbeat of the season.
Here are 10 entertainer audiences to target:
- Cable and Streaming TV Service Subscribers
- Cable Satellite or Streaming Network Subscribers
- Co-Watchers
- Cord Cutters
- Holiday TV
- NFL Enthusiasts
- Paid TV High Spenders
- Screen Size – Large
- Sports Enthusiasts
- Streaming Video: High Spenders
How to use these audiences
Santa knows this audience loves flipping between a holiday classic and the big game. That’s why he delivers gifts for households craving the latest binge-worthy content. It could be a subscription or a big-screen update wrapped with a bow.
These audiences represent a golden opportunity to pair campaigns with highly engaged moments. A beverage brand can target NFL Enthusiasts during a holiday football broadcast with ads for limited-edition game-day packs.
Sleigh your campaign goals this holiday season with Experian Audiences
The holiday season is the busiest time of year for brands – and for Santa. That’s why he relies on Experian to make his list, check it twice, and be sure every sleigh stop is spot-on. Experian’s data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, allows brands to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes (e.g., websites visited and purchase history). By using Experian Audiences in your holiday advertising campaigns, you can reach holiday hosts, gift-givers, entertainers, holiday travelers, and many more.
Where can you activate Experian Audiences?
Find our audiences available directly on over 30 platforms including:
Just as shoppers seek the perfect gifts, with the right strategy, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers. Need a custom audience? Reach out to our audience team and we can help you build and activate an Experian audience on the platform of your choice.
Want to activate an Experian syndicated audience on Meta, Pinterest, Snap, TikTok or on a platform not listed above? Contact us today.
Additionally, work with Experian’s network of data providers to build audiences and send to an Audigent PMP for activation.
You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide.
Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today.
Activate holiday audiences today with Audigent
Planning a performance-driven push this holiday season? Audigent will build customized deals that combine premium Experian syndicated or Partner Audiences and inventory into a single, streamlined deal ID – tailored to your campaign needs. Plus, our powerful supply-side optimization ensures your campaigns deliver top marks in performance.
Connect with the Audigent team today at AudigentAgency_Brands@experian.com to get your holiday campaign wrapped and ready to go.
Let’s make your holiday campaigns magical
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Appendix
Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post.
The merry makers
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Bakeries High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Caterers High Spend
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Chocolate Candy Box Bag Bar Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Chocolate Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Cocktail Mix Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Frosting and Frosting Mix Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: High Spenders
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Marshmallow Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Ready To Use Pie Crust Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > CPG Engagement > Sugar Shoppers
The list-checkers
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Precious Stones Metals Watches Jewelry High
- Retail Shopper: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Big Box/Club Stores Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Cyber Monday
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: In Store
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: Online
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Shopping Behavior > Gift Shoppers High Spend Spenders
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Apparel (Clothing)
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Luxury Gift Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Online Coupon Users
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Post holiday
The holiday hoppers
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Bridge and Road Fees Tolls High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Hotels High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Lodging Hotels Motels Resorts High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Passenger Railways High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Timeshares High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Tourist Attractions and Exhibits High Spend
- Purchase Predictors > Shoppers All Channels > Travel Agencies and Tour Operators High Spend
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Travel – Airline
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal> Holiday Travel – Train
The entertainers
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable and Streaming Service Subscribers
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cable Satellite or Streaming Network
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Co-Watchers
- Television (TV) > Household/Family Viewing > Cord Cutters
- Publisher Derived > IAB Television > Holiday TV
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Activities and Entertainment > NFL Enthusiasts
- Television (TV) > TV Enthusiasts > Paid TV High Spenders
- Television (TV) > Viewing Device Type > Screen Size – Large
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Sports and Recreation > Sports Enthusiast
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Entertainment > Streaming/Video/Audio/CTV/Cable TV: Streaming Video: High Spenders
Experian syndicated holiday audiences FAQs
Experian Audiences can be activated on 200+ leading platforms, including social media (Meta, Pinterest, Snap, TikTok), TV and streaming (DirectTV, Dish, OpenAP), programmatic platforms (The Trade Desk, Magnite, Nexxen), and directly within Audigent PMPs.
Experian offers over 3,200 syndicated audiences, ranging from demographic and geographic segments to purchase-based and lifestyle categories. These are ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset for key demographic attributes.
This year, Experian has introduced 25 new holiday-ready audiences, including consumer packaged goods (CPG) segments like Chocolate Shoppers, Ready-to-Use Pie Crust Shoppers, and Cocktail Mix Shoppers, plus new travel audiences.
Yes. If you need something beyond syndicated segments, Experian’s team can help you build and activate custom audiences tailored to your campaign goals on the platform of your choice.
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Buyers can now put Experian’s audience and contextual intelligence to work in Google Ad Manager Curation in two ways: through off-the-shelf solutions available directly in Google Ad Manager, or through Custom Curation packages that Experian builds using Google Ad Manager’s inventory supply. Together, these options bring Experian’s consumer data foundation closer to the Google supply agencies already buy, with the flexibility to choose between a ready-to-use solution and an Experian package tailored to specific campaign goals. Why targeting at the source matters Many audience strategies still apply targeting on the buy side, which means signals pass through multiple systems before an impression is evaluated. Each step can shrink the pool of requests where the audience is still recognizable, so a carefully built strategy can reach the auction at a fraction of the scale it started with. Google Ad Manager Curation moves segment evaluation closer to the ad request. When a request matches the selected Experian segment, Ad Manager sends the bid request with the associated Deal ID to the buyer’s DSP. This more direct path can support stronger match and deal-transaction rates, more accurate forecasting, and better access to the audience defined in the strategy. As AI shapes more media decisions, the quality and provenance of the data feeding those systems matter more. Evaluating audience or contextual criteria closer to the source helps preserve the connection between the strategy and the impression being considered. Two ways to get started The right entry point depends on how much customization the campaign requires. Buyers can access Experian solutions off-the-shelf directly in Google Ad Manager or work with Experian to build a Custom Curation package using Google Ad Manager inventory supply. Start off-the-shelf For buyers who want direct, self-service access to Experian audience and contextual solutions. Experian solutions are available off-the-shelf in Google Ad Manager, giving buyers a straightforward way to select the data or contextual strategy that fits their campaign and create packages through Google Ad Manager’s Curation capabilities. Experian Audiences Experian Audiences draw on a deterministic offline identity foundation that represents more than 250 million U.S. consumers and 126 million U.S. households. Buyers can choose from Experian’s Audiences spanning demographics, lifestyle, financial signals, media habits, and household characteristics. That depth adds real-world consumer context beyond digital behavior alone. Contextual Experian contextual solutions give buyers a way to reach relevant environments without relying on identity. Buyers can select contextual audiences aligned to specific interests, categories, and content to inform where media appears. Experian also offers Predictive Indexed, which uses Experian audiences to predict the contextual categories and pages to target based on the likelihood that consumers visiting those environments fall within the selected audience. This gives buyers an audience-informed way to approach contextual activation without requiring identity at the point of activation. Build a Custom Curation package For buyers who need a strategy tailored to specific audience, contextual, and inventory requirements. Experian can build Custom Curation packages using Google Ad Manager’s inventory supply based on the targeting criteria that matter for a campaign. Where off-the-shelf solutions draw on Experian data, custom packages can also incorporate partner audiences and a brand’s own first-party audiences. Packages can combine Experian audiences, partner audiences, a brand’s own first-party audiences, contextual signals, and inventory or site criteria. Experian applies those criteria against Google Ad Manager inventory supply and brings the data, targeting, and inventory together into a single curated deal. This gives buyers a way to combine audience and supply decisions rather than managing each component separately. The approach can be tailored to the campaign. A buyer might start with a defined audience and add contextual or inventory criteria, bring a brand’s established first-party audience into the strategy, or build around specific supply and audience-quality requirements. Choose the path that fits the campaign Both paths do the same underlying thing: they move the audience or contextual decision closer to the ad request, before signal loss builds across the path. Whether a campaign calls for something ready to use or a package built to spec, the result is a more direct line from strategy to impression. Ready to get started? Explore Experian solutions available off-the-shelf in Google Ad Manager or contact your Experian representative to request a Custom Curation package. Latest posts
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