Are you still feeling the love from Valentine’s Day? Our top February advertisers sure are. It’s usually the one time a year that flowers and diamond rings dominate ads, attacking that key, sports viewing, demographic...ESPN anyone? But let's not forget we're on the heels of tax season, as you may have even seen creatives for TurboTax or H&R Block next to those chocolate hearts, both landing heavily on our report.

Read below to see how February’s top 500 advertisers were buying during the month of love, along with highlights from our recently released February Top Advertisers Report. Download the report in its entirety here, to view the top digital advertisers across devices by impression volume. Included are the top ten direct buyers across devices, and top advertising categories, in addition to a purchase channel breakdown of how advertisers were buying.

Valentine's Day advertisers are back!

No surprise that a huge Valentine’s Day advertiser made it’s way into the top ten advertisers by impression volume. FTD Companies, Inc. was the 3rd top direct buyer on desktop and claimed the 9th top direct buyer spot on mobile. The floral and gifts company released 460 unique desktop creatives during the month, most featuring an array of lush, gorgeous bouquets, prompting you to order now while they're still fresh! Looking to change it up a bit, their creatives even varied, depending on the sites they targeted. ‘Valentine’s Day Well Made’ was the tag-line for the creative below on the left, which appeared on att.yahoo.com through primarily direct buys. The creative on the right showcases the tagline, ‘Valentine’s Day Well Played,’ and appeared on 247sports.com indirectly through ad network Advertising.com. 

Source: Pathmatics US Desktop Data.

 

With 94% of their desktop impressions purchased directly, yahoo.com was the top site for the brand taking in 80% of FTD's total desktop spend. The graph below shows FTD ramping up their spend on February 9th, peaking on the 12th and starting to wind down on the 13th. Spending over $9M during the month of February, 96% of their desktop spend for the month was executed during those days. This is a drastic increase from the brand's monthly spend in January of $135,000.

Source: Pathmatics US Desktop Data.

We can expect to see the same type of trend for this advertiser when Mother's Day rolls around!

 

Auto returns to top category spot

After slipping down the advertising category list across devices during January, auto makers have reclaimed the top spot on desktop and mobile, led by Toyota and Honda. Honda’s mobile impressions were purchased primarily via Google AdX + AdSense, accounting for 73% of mobile impressions served.

 

Tax brands continue to ramp up efforts across channels

TurboTax continued to dominate on desktop and video, coming in as the top desktop & video advertiser by impression volume, and also the top direct buyer on both desktop and video. H&R Block wasn't far behind, also ranking on video, and offering up some friendly competition to the leader.  

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