With bargain hunters looking for fast meals amidst holiday shopping sprees, Wendy’s leaps 28-9 for the week of Nov. 15-21 with 29,660 occurrences to pull ahead of McDonald’s in the fast/casual category. Wendy’s hasn’t charted this high since Memorial Day weekend. The Golden Arches, almost always radio’s top fast food advertiser, ranks No. 17 this time around with 22,467 spots, according to Media Monitors.
Meanwhile, Kohl’s maintains its lead as radio’s biggest department store advertiser. During the prior week Kohl’s sprinted 34-6 with 41,181 airings for its highest ranking in years. In the latest tally it drops to No. 14 but stays out front of JC Penney at No. 25, Macy's at No. 34 and Burlington at No. 98.
Promoting early Black Friday sales, the Home Depot and Lowe’s remain in the top 10 with the former locking up a second consecutive week at the summit with 61,751 spots while the latter finishes as No. 8 with 30,489.
The holiday season is typically one of brisk business for mattress retailers as consumers get ready for visiting relatives with fresh bedding in the guest room. Taking advantage of the seasonal spike, Mattress Firm jumps 21-10 with 29,036 spot detections. The Furniture & Mattresses category is a significant one for radio. According to Kantar, the sector spent $9.9 million on radio advertising in pre-COVID 2019. Despite the pandemic, Furniture & Mattress retailers still invested $7.1 million in radio in 2020. The category allocated $1.5 million for radio in first quarter 2021, down slightly from $1.6 million the year before.
Elsewhere on the spot count list, Procter & Gamble’s Swiffer is back in the top 10 for the first time since the week of Oct. 25-31. P&G has 11 brands in the top 100, including three in the top 30. After Swiffer it’s P&G’s Dawn at No. 16 and Vicks at No. 30.
With booster shots now available for more age groups, BioNTech-Pfizer movesup to No. 19 with 22,322 spots, making it the week’s top pharma advertiser. Bristol Myers Squibb-Pfizer clocks in at No. 31 and AbbVie at No. 90. In addition, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention is No. 11 with 24,880 spots.
For the week of Nov. 15-21, 2021, the top 10 on the weekly spot tally are The Home Depot at 1, Indeed at 2, iHeartRadio at 3, the “Crazy In Love” podcast at 4, State Farm at 5, DuckDuckGo at 6, Swiffer at 7, Lowe’s at 8, Wendy’s at 9 andMattress Firm at 10.