The beginning of the year is the time to make new media plans. One opportunity for 2024 in doing so is the summer vacations. During the summer vacations, all of the Netherlands is on vacation. At least, that is what is often thought. Brands therefore typically advertise less during the summer vacations, while advertising can actually have a lot of effect.
How many people are on vacation at the same time?
A CBS survey shows that most people go on vacation in week 5 of the peak season. In the peak week, 3.7 million Dutch people are on vacation at the same time. In other words, even in peak week, there are still more than 13 million people in the Netherlands.
Throughout the vacation season, 80% of the Dutch go on vacation. Of these, half go on vacation in their own country. A large group (60% of Dutch people) is therefore also very well reachable through Dutch media during the summer months.
Are advertisers less active in the summer?
Besides the fact that a large group of Dutch people can therefore be reached just fine in the summer, competition is also less during this period. This is evident from the media spending. There is a clear trend in media spending over the past 3 years: spending peaks around April and May, while July and August, the summer months, show a decline. Starting in September, spending increases again.
In other words, with a similar media investment, you get a relatively larger market share here. There goes, "Share of voice = Share of market" you can grow over your competitor in this period.
We also see this trend in the months of July and August, which is partly why there is a large drop in the prices of media such as radio and TV. We also see this seasonality online (to a slightly lesser extent). So in these months it is relatively cheaper to advertise. Starting in October, prices rise again.
Do people use media even in the summer?
Many Dutch people find WiFi indispensable during the vacations and increasingly use mobile data abroad as well. Not surprisingly, media usage of some media even increases during the summer months. News sites are visited more often. Nu.nl, AD, Telegraaf and RTL News were compared based on the number of visitors to the sites. All see a small decrease in April with an increase toward the summer period. Social media are used about equally often compared to the months before the vacation period. Magazines are read much more during the summer vacations. During the vacations, media is also consumed with more attention. Thus, people take more often and more time to read a magazine.
On TV during the summer months, we increasingly see "range callers": TV summer hits. The program B&B Vol Liefde was shown every day from July 10 to August 18, 2023. On average, this program reached 1 million viewers per day and that in the middle of the summer period. The same was true for The Smartest. In the week from August 31 to September 7, an average of even 2 million viewers watched every day.
Conclusion: myth broken
Also in the summer months millions of Dutch people can be reached through Dutch media (TV & online) and also on vacations the media consumption of Dutch people is high (TV & magazines). Media is even consumed with more attention, because people have more time during the vacations. This means that the message of advertisements will also stick better.
Combine these positive factors with the absence of competition and lower prices to create an opportunity for growth. During the summer months, it is possible to achieve higher reach with the same budget. The advertiser also benefits from the higher consumer attention, and is distinctive by choosing a different campaign period than the competition. In short, plenty of factors why advertising in the summer is a good idea. Break the seasonality status quo and start with the summer vacations!
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