2026 Holiday App Marketing: Ad Costs from Diwali to Christmas

In 2026, the holiday shopping season is shorter than ever. Big events like Diwali and Black Friday are packed into just a few weeks. For app marketers, this means ad costs will go up fast, and competition for new users will be fierce.

The new Festive Season Report 2026 from Singular looks at billions of app downloads to show how ad costs change from Diwali to Christmas. This article will break down the report’s key findings.

The festive season starts before the peak

Diwali, the vibrant Festival of Lights, is India’s biggest and most important cultural holiday of the year. As a massive gifting and shopping season, it drives a huge spike in mobile engagement.

In India, advertisers begin changing their creative several weeks before Diwali. In 2025, 15% of app ad spend went to creatives that had been live for less than a week four to five weeks before the festival. By Diwali week, 81% of spend ran on creatives that had been live for more than a month.

A second creative refresh followed about three weeks after Diwali. New creatives accounted for 19% of spend during that week, the highest weekly share from July to December in the period analyzed.

These findings suggest that brands should prepare festive assets well in advance and plan a second wave after the main event. 

In India, the busiest days come after Diwali

The cost of an install moved differently. On Android, installs cost 16% less from Diwali day through the following week than during the week before Diwali in 2025. The week before the festival was more competitive: cost per install rose by 9–10% compared with the preceding three weeks. Costs began climbing again about two weeks after Diwali.

This is a reminder that higher media activity does not always mean more expensive installs. Advertisers should track both CPM and installs per impression, and assess performance by campaign objective. Commerce apps may follow a different pattern: shoppers can begin buying before the festival, so an earlier launch may be necessary to capture demand.

In Asia, December matters more than the double-date sales

Across Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, Singular found that 11.11 and 12.12 did not significantly shift overall app ad spend in 2025. Install costs, however, rose during the period: they were 27% higher in Black Friday week and 26% higher in 12.12 week than in early November.

App ad spend continued to grow after 12.12 and peaked in the week after Christmas, when it was 24% above early-November levels. The report therefore recommends that most app advertisers plan around December’s competitive period, while shopping apps should have their creative, budgets and store listings ready for 11.11.

In the US, Black Friday starts a longer period of higher costs

In the US, installs cost 13% more during Black Friday week than in mid-October. The premium continued for the next three weeks, with installs costing 11–14% more than in mid-October.

The week after Christmas presented a different opportunity. Across the markets analyzed, it was the season’s biggest week for app ad spend: daily spend was 30% higher than in mid-November, while installs cost 6% less than during Christmas week. Install costs fell in 16 of 17 markets.

For advertisers, keeping campaigns active through the end of December and into early January may help capture continued demand at a lower cost than during Christmas week.

The post-Christmas week can bring higher spend and lower install costs

Christmas is not necessarily the end of the festive advertising season. In 2025, app ad spend reached its seasonal peak in the week after Christmas, averaging 30% more per day than in mid-November. At the same time, installs cost 6% less than during Christmas week.

This pattern appeared across most markets analyzed: cost per install fell in 16 of 17 markets and remained stable in the Philippines. In the US, post-Christmas spend was 33% above mid-November, while installs were 5% cheaper than in Christmas week. In eight Asian markets, spend also peaked in the week after Christmas, 24% above early-November levels.

The opportunity can extend into January. App ad spend remained 13–16% above mid-November levels into late January, according to the report. For 2026, advertisers should keep campaigns running from December 29 to January 4 and reserve some budget for January, when demand may remain elevated.

How mobile advertising supports holiday campaigns

Mobile advertising helps brands connect with consumers throughout the festive shopping journey: building awareness before major events, supporting consideration during the busiest weeks and re-engaging users afterwards. 

In-App formats such as video, full-screen ads and interactive Rich Media can adapt the message to each campaign stage, while audience targeting and frequency management help keep communication relevant.

For more than 11 years, BYYD has been helping companies with mobile advertising and continuously improving its tools to meet the evolving needs of the market. Check out our case studies and send us an email – let’s launch your next campaign together.

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