Latest Nielsen data reveals a surge in advertising investment during key festive periods, with digital and social channels gaining momentum as brands look to better understand changing consumer behaviour
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, November 3, 2026 – Malaysia’s major festive celebrations are driving significant shifts in advertising investment, with brands adjusting spending across categories and media channels to capture consumer attention during key cultural and shopping occasions, according to the latest insights from Nielsen.
Nielsen Ad Intel data reveals that tracked media investment reached RM604.4 million in March 2026 – an increase of more than 20% compared with February, as advertisers capitalised on the festive period surrounding Chinese New Year, Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
The findings highlight how Malaysia’s festive calendar influences advertising strategies, with investment patterns varying significantly across categories and media platforms. They also reveal opportunities for advertisers to make more informed decisions by better understanding when competitors are investing, where audiences can be reached and how consumers engage with brands throughout the festive shopping cycle.
As competition for consumer attention intensifies, Nielsen’s analysis demonstrates the importance of combining advertising expenditure intelligence with audience and consumer insights to develop more relevant communications and inform future campaign strategies.
Nielsen’s analysis reveals distinct advertising patterns across Malaysia’s major festive occasions, with categories adjusting their investment ahead of, during and immediately following celebrations.
Retail and food-related advertising were particularly prominent during the Chinese New Year and Ramadan periods. Retail advertising expenditure increased 15.6% between January and February, reaching RM70.5 million, remaining elevated at RM69.1 million in March.
Foodstuff advertising followed a similar trajectory, increasing almost 19% from RM25.4 million in January to RM30.2 million in February, before rising further to RM31.8 million in March.
However, Nielsen’s data also reveals that festive advertising doesn’t necessarily peak at the same time across all categories.
Information Technology advertising increased substantially from RM6.3 million in February to RM39.9 million in March, before reaching RM51.6 million in April.
Similarly, Media category advertising rose from RM9.1 million in February to RM28.5 million in March, peaking at RM34.7 million in April.
Following Hari Raya Aidilfitri, retail expenditure declined 53.5% in April, while foodstuff advertising fell 30%, illustrating how investment patterns change as major festive campaigns conclude.
A second wave of spending emerged around Hari Raya Haji in May, when foodstuff advertising increased 41.4% compared with April, while retail investment rose 32.9%.
Nielsen’s APAC Commercial Leader, Matty Lin said: “These variations highlight the importance of understanding category-specific advertising patterns rather than relying on a single festive campaign window. Malaysia’s festive calendar presents significant opportunities for advertisers, but our data shows that different categories compete for consumer attention at different stages of the celebrations.
“For brands and agencies, understanding when competitors are increasing their investment, which channels they are prioritising and how consumer needs change throughout these periods is critical.
“The opportunity isn’t simply to spend more during festive seasons. It’s to make smarter decisions about when to advertise, where to invest and how to develop communications that are relevant to the audiences brands want to reach.”
Nielsen’s data also highlights significant differences in how advertising expenditure is distributed across media channels during festive periods.
Free-to-Air (FTA) TV remained the largest advertising channel during March, attracting RM271.0 million, or 44.8% of tracked media expenditure.
However, social media and digital advertising experienced some of the strongest month-on-month growth.
Between February and March, social media advertising increased 40%, from RM132.9 million to RM186 million, while digital advertising increased 55.9%, from RM33.4 million to RM52.1 million.
FTA TV advertising increased 11.%, from RM243.8 million to RM271 million, while radio advertising rose 8.4%, from RM33.9 million to RM36.7 million.
Across January to September 2026, FTA TV accounted for approximately 47.7% of tracked advertising expenditure, followed by social media at 29.1%.
These figures demonstrate the continued importance of television within Malaysia’s advertising landscape, while highlighting growing opportunities for brands to incorporate digital and social platforms into their festive campaigns.
Television audience measurement also reinforces the continued relevance of broadcast programming during festive occasions.
Nielsen’s television ratings recorded an audience of approximately 3.37 million for TV3’s Buletin Utama on March 19, 2026, during Ramadan. The programme also recorded approximately 2.83 million viewers on Chinese New Year, February 17.
For advertisers, these findings underline the opportunity to combine broad-reach broadcast channels with digital platforms to connect with audiences at different points throughout the festive period.
While advertising expenditure reveals where brands are investing, Nielsen’s audience insights provide another important perspective on the channels available to engage Malaysian consumers.
The findings reveal that digital and physical touchpoints both have extensive reach among the measured audience.
Internet has the highest reach at 96%, representing approximately 19.1 million people, closely followed by in-store touchpoints at 95.5% and Out-of-Home (OOH) and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) at 90.7%.
Radio and digital radio collectively reach 80.9% of the measured audience, while FTA television reaches 72%, or approximately 14.3 million people. Magazines and their digital editions reach 45.6%, newspapers and their digital editions reach 45.2%, while Pay TV reaches 36.2% of the audience, while cinema reaches 24.5%.
The results highlight the diversity of opportunities for brands to connect with consumers across digital, broadcast, audio, print and physical environments. They also demonstrate why advertising expenditure alone does not provide a complete picture of the media landscape.
Although television commands the largest share of tracked advertising investment, the internet has broader audience reach, while in-store and OOH touchpoints also provide substantial opportunities to engage consumers.
However, reach does not necessarily equate to time spent or advertising effectiveness. Understanding audience profiles, media consumption and cross-platform behaviour is therefore essential when evaluating whether advertising investment is aligned with the audiences brands are trying to reach.
Malaysia’s extensive digital and physical media reach highlights the importance of understanding how consumers encounter brands throughout their shopping journey, particularly during major festive celebrations.
With internet reaching more than 96% of the measured audience and in-store touchpoints reaching 95.5%, advertisers have opportunities to engage consumers across both digital and physical environments, from early inspiration and product discovery through to retail visits and purchasing occasions.
This is particularly relevant during Chinese New Year, Ramadan and Hari Raya, when celebrations create different shopping occasions and category needs.
Food and beverage purchases, festive gifting, fashion, personal care and household preparations each present opportunities for advertisers to tailor their communications to specific audiences and purchasing occasions.
The timing of these activities is equally important. Nielsen’s advertising expenditure analysis reveals that retail and foodstuff advertisers increased investment ahead of and during key festive periods, demonstrating how brands adjust their communications around anticipated consumer demand.
However, different consumer groups may have different purchasing priorities, shopping preferences and responses to advertising.
For advertisers, the challenge is understanding not only where consumers can be reached, but what motivates their purchasing decisions, which categories they are considering and how their media consumption relates to their shopping preferences.
Digital advertising can support product discovery and consideration, while television and radio provide opportunities to build broader awareness. In-store and outdoor advertising can reinforce brand messages closer to potential purchase occasions.
Rather than treating these channels in isolation, brands can benefit from understanding how different media environments contribute to reaching their intended audiences throughout the festive period.
By combining Nielsen Ad Intel with Consumer & Media Insights (CMI), advertisers can develop a more comprehensive understanding of their categories, competitors and target audiences, including consumer attitudes, purchasing preferences, category engagement and media consumption.
These insights can help brands identify relevant audiences, refine their messaging and plan campaigns around the needs and behaviours of the consumers they want to influence.
Adrienne Wong, Nielsen Managing Director, Platform & Digital Asia, added: “Festive shopping isn’t a single event. Consumers have different needs, priorities and purchasing considerations in the lead-up to celebrations, during the festivities themselves and afterwards.
“For advertisers, understanding these behaviours is just as important as knowing where competitors are spending. A campaign might reach millions of people, but its relevance depends on whether the message connects with the right audience at the right moment.
“By bringing together advertising intelligence and consumer insights, Nielsen helps brands better understand their categories, identify what matters to their audiences and develop more relevant campaigns that inform smarter marketing decisions.”
As advertisers prepare for future festive periods, Nielsen’s findings reinforce the importance of using independent data to inform media strategies throughout the planning process.
By analysing historical advertising investment alongside audience and consumer behaviour, brands and agencies can identify category spending patterns, understand competitor activity, evaluate media opportunities and develop communications that are more relevant to their intended audiences.
Nielsen Ad Intel provides advertisers with visibility into competitive advertising activity across categories, brands and media channels, helping marketers understand where and when investment is occurring.
Combined with Nielsen’s audience measurement and Consumer & Media Insights, these capabilities provide a more comprehensive picture of Malaysia’s media and consumer landscape.
For advertisers, this means moving beyond broad assumptions about festive shopping and media consumption towards strategies informed by a clearer understanding of their competitive environment and the consumers they want to reach.
As Malaysia’s media landscape continues to evolve, these insights can help brands plan with greater confidence, make more informed investment decisions and create campaigns that connect more meaningfully with audiences during the country’s major festive celebrations.
About Nielsen
Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their global audiences – now and into the future. Learn more at www.nielsen.com and connect with us on social media (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram).
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Dan Chapman
Assoc. Director, Communications, Nielsen APAC
dan.chapman@nielsen.com
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