Payday for UK retail: was this the biggest ever Black Friday?
Unpacking the weekend’s performance with Meta data
What’s behind this bumper Black Friday?
The most important weekend of the ecommerce calendar is now over. This Black Friday came later in November than usual. Correspondingly, ad performance took some time to peak. Despite this, record results from over the weekend shows that there was a lot of pent up demand. Meanwhile , coinciding with UK payday put even more onus on brands to capture the higher demand during this most competitive of weekends.
With the dust just settling on the weekend, we will unpack BFCM performance with just-in Nest advertising data.
From a slow start to a bumper Black Friday
Q4 spend
This BFCM weekend fell much later in the month than it has in recent years.
IMRG has been highly vocal about the negative impact this shift is having on market sentiment.
As a result, most brands launched sales later in November, making this peak narrower and more competitive.
BFCM weekend spend
We saw a significant increase in spend year-on-year this BFCM weekend.
Spend was up 26% YoY on Black Friday and 20% YoY on Cyber Monday, as well as by an average of 22% across the weekend as a whole.
+83% WoW
YoY
Meta - Black Friday YoY trends
CPM: Competition peaked on Friday and then fell.
A sluggish start to peak, combined with a payday boost on Friday, made competition particularly aggressive this BFCM weekend.
Correspondingly, CPM was up by 21% YoY on Black Friday itself. However, it dropped sharply in the following days, while performance remained stable.
CTR: Higher ad engagement driven by offer messaging.
Friday and Saturday saw a significant year-on-year increase in CTR, which led to reduced traffic and acquisition costs.
We attribute this to several factors: a greater focus on sales-proposition ads, higher-quality offers, better creative signals to Meta's algorithm, and the proximity of this weekend to Christmas.
CVR: Average conversion rate remained largely flat YoY.
2023 saw dramatic increase in average CVR year-on-year as Meta improved its targeting and attribution tech.
This year, while CVR was generally flat YoY, this was at a far larger scale, driven by increased investment in full-funnel strategies in the lead up to Black Friday.
UK vs US
How did performance compare this Black Friday on both sides of the Atlantic?
UK vs US - Growth
Spend for the UK market
UK ad spend increased by an average of 16% YoY across BFCM weekend.
Interestingly, it peaked on Sunday as the UK market delivered consistent performance throughout the period.
Meanwhile, average ROAS up by 27% YoY over the weekend, highlighting the strong efficiency in the market.
Spend for the US market
US spend saw a dramatic increase of 140% YoY, reflecting the significant growth of many of our clients in the US this year.
Our strategy focused on a full-funnel approach in the lead up to peak, transitioning to conversion-focused efforts during the BFCM weekend.
This led to stable performance at far higher levels of spend.
+16% YoY
+140% YoY
UK vs US - Advertising costs
CPM for the UK market
The UK market demonstrated strong efficiency throughout the weekend, with an average CPM that was 14% lower YoY.
The combination of cheaper CPM and robust performance led to average traffic costs that were 22% lower YoY and acquisition costs that were 21% lower YoY.
The UK continues to present an efficient growth opportunity.
CPM for the US market
The US market was more challenging, with average CPM up by 6% YoY in the US.
The strength of the US economy means it remains more competitive than the UK market.
Competition dipped below 2023 on Sunday before increasing sharply again on Cyber Monday.
-14% YoY
YoY
Can you opt out?
Just under a quarter of our clients didn’t partake in Black Friday. Did they still benefit from peak performance?
Sales vs non-sales - Performance trends
CTR for brands running sales
Brands running sales experienced a significant increase in average click-through rate, up 36% on Black Friday itself and an average of 20% across the weekend.
This surge in engagement was clearly linked to Black Friday, with audiences showing strong responsiveness to offers.
CTR for brands not participating
Engagement was notably lower for brands not running sales, down by 31% YoY, as their ads struggled to capture similar attention.
Despite this, conversion rate was far higher, likely due to a halo effect from the holiday period or the impact of this Black Friday coinciding with UK payday.
+20% YoY
YoY
Sales vs non-sales - Advertising costs
CPM for brands running sales
Brands participating in BFCM weekend experienced higher CPMs compared to last year, with the sharpest increase on Black Friday itself, up 33% year-on-year.
However, this pressure eased as the weekend progressed, resulting in an overall rise of just 11% YoY across the entire period.
CPM for brands not participating
Interestingly, these brands actually saw a YoY decline in CPM, both on Black Friday and across the weekend.
One contributing factor is that brands not participating in sales were typically less likely to refresh their ads during the week, preventing them from reentering the learning phase. These brands may also have been bidding for less competitive inventory.
+11% YoY -29% YoY
Cashing in on brand
For many of our clients, full-funnel strategies were the focus in the lead up to Black Friday, with strategies shifting to performance over the weekend. How did this impact results?
FF vs BOF - Growth
Spend for full-funnel brands
Brands that leveraged full-funnel strategies had 41% higher spend YoY.
By effectively generating demand ahead of the peak, these brands were better positioned to scale and capture the heightened demand during the weekend.
Brands running full-funnel strategies
Spend for BOF-only brands
Brands relying solely on BOF strategies achieved decent efficiency overall on Black Friday itself.
However, spend was largely flat YoY - and on Saturday, dipped beneath 2023 - as these brands lacked the headroom to reach new audiences.
Brands running BOF-only strategies
YoY
FF vs BOF - Performance trends
CVR for full-funnel brands
Brands that implemented a full-funnel strategy throughout 2024 experienced a higher CVR YoY, by an average of 5%, despite far higher spend.
Additionally, while BOF-only brands saw a bigger YoY decline in CVR later in the weekend, full-funnel brands performance improved on Sunday and Cyber Monday.
CVR for BOF-only brands
Brands with a BOF-only strategy experienced a YoY decline in CVR, with the metric down by 16%, although performance on Black Friday itself was solid.
However, as the weekend progressed, full-funnel brands saw improved CVR YoY, whilst BOF-only brands saw the gap between 2023 and 2024 widen due to an over-focus on demand capture.
Brands running full-funnel strategies
+5% YoY -16% YoY
Brands running BOF-only strategies
FF vs BOF - Advertising costs
CPM for full-funnel brands
Brands leveraging a full-funnel strategy maintained stable CPM YoY, despite a significant YoY increase in spend. One factor influencing this is their extensive retargeting audiences, which help to lower CPM.
With us making a strategic shift towards demand capture during the weekend for these clients, this highlights the impact that full-funnel has on driving efficiency.
Brands running full-funnel strategies
CPM for BOF-only brands
Brands leveraging BOF-only strategies saw a huge increase in CPM YoY on Black Friday itself, up by 47% YoY, although competition eased as the weekend progressed.
These brands were more vulnerable to spikes in CPM compared to full-funnel brands, having invested less in building demand ahead of peak.
Brands running BOF-only strategies
-5% YoY +19% YoY
How did your peak compare?
Our data show that Meta shows strong performance under the right strategy. How did your peak perform? If you would like to discuss 2025 strategy send us an email and we can chat.
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