Dive Brief:

• Seasonal retailer Spirit Halloween was the most clicked-on advertiser for Halloween-centric keywords from Sept. 1 to Oct. 9, with a 21.6% share of all desktop product listing ad (PLA) clicks and 18.2% of mobile PLA clicks, according to a Kantar Media analysis provided to Marketing Dive. The analysis ranked top paid advertisers based on 10 festive keywords like "Halloween decorations," "Halloween inflatables" and "Halloween lights."
• For text ads, home décor retailer Kirkland's led in desktop clicks, with a 20.1% click share, and ranked No. 4 in mobile text clicks with a 7.6% click share. Lowe's led in mobile text ad clicks with a click share of 20.6%, but failed to rank in the top 10 for other search formats. Rival Home Depot ranked third in desktop PLA clicks with a 13.2% click share and second in mobile PLA clicks at 17.4%. Amazon made the top 10 advertisers for PLA and text formats, but ranked third in desktop clicks, with a 15.1% click share, and second in mobile with a 17.1% click share. 
• Home décor brand Grandin Road was the only advertiser in the top three for both search ad formats and both devices. It ranked second in desktop PLAs with a 17.4% click share and third in mobile PLAs with 12%. It ranked second in desktop text ads with a 17.5% click share and third in desktop PLAs with 13.4%.

Dive Insight:

Spirit Halloween being the most-clicked advertiser isn't much of a surprise this time of year. The company is often a go-to for Halloween shoppers, drumming up excitement through seasonal pop-up shops that drive sales. Even though Spirit Halloween has an e-commerce site year-round, the retailer opened 1,300 seasonal locations in North America last year, according to CNBC.

Marketers continue to invest in search campaigns, especially around holidays and other seasonal events. Search revenues reached nearly $40.6 billion in 2017, an increase over $34.6 billion in 2016, according to Interactive Advertising Bureau research. Consumers are expected to spend more on Halloween this year than past years, and retailers are competing to snap up shares of those shopping budgets through creative marketing campaigns. Halloween shoppers are projected to spend is an average of $86.79, up from $86.13 last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Sixty-eight percent plan to buy costumes, totaling $3.2 billion, and 74% on decorations, totaling $2.7 billion.

Amazon continues to dominate around holiday-related shopping, including Father's Day and back-to-school season, as most consumers begin their shopping sessions on the site. Amazon is also steadily building its advertising business with a focus on search. Some marketers are reportedly moving 50% to 60% of their search budgets, usually allocated to Google, to Amazon, CNBC reported last week. Brands are attracted to Amazon because campaigns can more likely translate to a sale and users have a more seamless shopping experience.