Partner insights from YouTube Ads
Last year, holiday shopping videos on YouTube drew more than 300 million views in the U.S. in the fourth quarter alone, according to internal YouTube data.
These audiences aren’t just window shopping. According to an Ipsos survey, 94% of U.S. holiday shoppers who use YouTube say they took further steps toward a purchase after watching a related video. They’re finding inspiration that doesn’t come from a product page, reviews from creators they trust and, when it’s time, the confidence to buy.
“YouTube combines massive reach with high-intent decision-making,” said Celia Salsi, senior director of YouTube Ads Marketing. “People come to YouTube with the intention to research, compare and decide what to buy, and they trust creators to help them do it.”
In other words, consumers want to get their holiday shopping done with confidence, while also being entertained. For retailers, that means reach, interest and research intent in one place — plus a chance to show up in front of consumers while they’re deciding.
Holiday shopping has become entertainment
Whether they’re shopping for beauty, fashion or the home, holiday shoppers are after three things: They want to know a purchase is worth it before they commit, they’d rather watch something real than something polished and they want the season to feel like fun, not a list.
Creators are delivering on all three. For example, using their favorite stores as video backdrops, RemLife and VanessaTiiu walk viewers through items and shopping in real time. Others are opening advent calendars and beauty sets, item by item, to help viewers validate the quality and value of products they may be interested in purchasing or gifting.
“Proven formats like unboxings, deep-dive reviews and ‘shop with me’ videos naturally align with user intent,” Salsi said. “Blending brand messaging into these native formats leverages the trust the creator has already built with their audience, ultimately driving higher engagement and sales.”
Shoppers seem to agree. Sixty-six percent of U.S. viewers say YouTube creators help them make more confident purchase decisions than other platforms, according to Kantar.
Yet brands don’t need to produce this content outright to benefit from it. Using Affiliate Partnerships Boost, a brand can take an eligible creator video that already tags its products through the YouTube Shopping affiliate program and run it as an ad, putting a review that’s already working in front of more shoppers.
Brands can also use Demand Gen campaigns to ensure their own holiday ad creative reaches shoppers watching YouTube, at the moment they’re comparing and deciding. With in-ad features like product feeds and checkout links, YouTube is streamlining the path to purchase for viewers and creating more opportunities for brands to convert at scale.
How Away turned creator content into holiday sales
Away is a recent example of how brands can work with YouTube creators to build preference when demand is at its peak. Looking to reach beyond its core audience and drive immediate holiday sales, the premium luggage brand met travelers where they get inspired, on YouTube, and used Demand Gen and Creator Partnerships Boost to amplify creator storytelling through the season.
The result: a 78% lift in incremental sales and a 140% lift in add-to-carts over the holidays.
Brands can learn from Away’s successful strategy during the holiday season and beyond. Putting media behind creator content that’s already performing, running brand creative alongside what shoppers are watching and shortening the path to checkout is a baseline that works all year. The holidays are simply when it pays off fastest.
That payoff is significant. In marketing mix modeling run by TransUnion for U.S. retail advertisers, YouTube ranked No. 1 against TV, traditional video and paid social in the fourth quarter of 2025, with a return on ad spend for total sales 13% higher than that of the competitive set.
“A successful YouTube strategy entails meeting shoppers where they are most engaged, using the familiar formats they already trust,” Salsi said. “The campaigns that truly resonate are those that prioritize organic storytelling and clear utility. Combining the authenticity of creators with the precision of YouTube’s media solutions will be the blueprint for driving both immediate performance and long-term equity.”
Partner insights from YouTube Ads
