With Earlier Holiday Shopping Season, Retailers Ramp Up Spot Counts.

After a brief absence, the Home Depot is back on the airwaves in a big way. The home improvement chain rockets 7-1 on the latest spot count tally from Media Monitors after two weeks of being MIA on the list. The retailer aired 59,398 spots the week of Nov. 8-14 in the 110 markets tracked by the service. That’s 55% more than rival Lowe’s, whose 38,385 spot detections put it at No. 7. While still in the top 10, Lowe’s dialed its allocation back from the 50,175 spots aired the week of Oct. 25-31, which put it back in the top five. Both home improvement giants are in the top 10 together for the first time since the week of June 28-July 4.

Among home improvement retailers, the Home Depot typically towers in the category, often roosting in radio’s top five based on spot volume. Both chains have swung the doors open to Black Friday specials and seasonal savings. Elsewhere in the category, Menard’s is No. 77 with 9,319 airings.

With product shortages and delivery delays, Americans started their holiday shopping earlier this year, well before next week’s traditional Thanksgiving week “door buster” sales. That has department stores ratcheting up their advertising, led by Kohl’s which leaps 34-6 with 41,181 spot occurrences, its highest ranking in years. It’s closely followed by Macy’s at No.11 with 26,863 airings. All told there are four department stores on the Top 100, including JC Penney at No. 24 and Burlington at No. 75.

Other retailers found in the latest spot compilation include Mattress Firm at No. 21, Diamond’s Direct at No. 29, Total Wine at No. 61, Old Navy at No. 85 and Sleep Number at No. 98.

To lure holiday shoppers in to refuel between retailer visits, half a dozen fast casual restaurants are on the air. McDonald’s is once again out front at No. 16 with 22,625 spots, followed by Wendy’s at 28 (17,802), Panera Bread at No. 46 (14,184), Taco Bell at No. 55 (12,495), Chick fil-A at No. 69 (10,050) and Dunkin’ at No. 78 (8,739).

For the week of Nov. 8-14, 2021, the top 10 on the Media Monitors spot tally are the Home Depot at 1, iHeartRadio at 2, Indeed at 3, DuckDuck Go at 4, State Farm at 5, Kohl’s at 6, Lowe’s at 7, the “Haileywood” podcast at 8, Vicks at 9 and Get Upside at 10.