Top 6 Audience Segments for Your Halloween Campaign 2025

Halloween has grown into one of the most exciting opportunities for marketers to capture audience attention. In 2025, Halloween campaign spending is projected to break records once again, fueled by eager shoppers preparing for costumes, candy, home décor, and spooky entertainment.

For programmatic teams, the season offers a unique window to engage target audiences with data-driven personalization, and build high-performing audience segments. In this article, we’ll walk through why Halloween is such a prime opportunity, what makes a great Halloween segment, and the top 6 audience segments from OnAudience that can boost your campaign performance.

Why Halloween is a Prime Opportunity for Marketers

According to GrabOn, Halloween spending in the United States is projected to reach approximately $15 billion in 2025.This projection continues the trend of recovery and growth in Halloween spending.

The average per-person spending for Halloween in 2025 is estimated to be around $110. Consumers are maintaining their enthusiasm for Halloween celebrations and are willing to invest in costumes, decorations, and candy. Families, millennials, and Gen Z continue to invest in:

• Costumes – from children’s characters to group costumes.
• Candy – still the #1 purchase for the season.
• Home decorations – from pumpkins to full-blown spooky setups.
• Greeting cards – spooky or funny cards to send memorable greetings this Halloween season.
• Entertainment – horror movies, parties, and gaming events.

Build Your Custom Halloween Segment with AI

Why CTV and Digital Are Key in 2025

The shift to connected TV (CTV) campaigns and digital advertising is reshaping seasonal marketing. Horror movie marathons, streaming specials, and influencer-driven content are attracting Halloween shoppers across screens.

For marketing specialists, this means:

• Reaching target audiences across devices in a spooky season context.
• Running CTV campaigns with measurable outcomes.
• Combining seasonal audiences with purchase intent data to increase ROI.

What Makes a Great Halloween Segment?

Not all audiences are created equal. The best Halloween marketing strategies focus on segments that align with seasonal intent, demographics, and shopping behaviors. Marketers can mix audience data to build perfect segments for the upcoming season. Check out a few examples below:

Personas to Target

• Millennials and Gen Z – highly engaged in social and streaming-driven Halloween trends.
• Parents with children – leading costume buyers.
• Halloween enthusiasts – early decorators, horror fans, and event attendees.

Shopping Triggers

• Costumes: Shopping peaks 2–3 weeks before Halloween.
• Candy: Sales surge in the final week of October.
• Home décor & entertainment: Purchases start as early as September.

Data Attributes

To maximize campaign performance, successful marketers select segments built from various types of data, e.g.:

• Behavioral data – past visits to costume or décor sites.
• Purchase intent – signals of candy and seasonal shopping.
• Recency & frequency – ensuring ads reach active shoppers.

When paired with the right creative, these segments ensure campaigns engage your target audience at the perfect moment.

Top 6 Audience Segments from OnAudience for Halloween Campaigns

OnAudience provides ready-to-activate audience segments specifically designed for Halloween campaigns. Here are six top picks for 2025:

1. Events > Halloween
   Users actively interested in Halloween content and celebrations. Perfect for reaching broad seasonal enthusiasts.
2. Halloween > Shopping
   Consumers actively browsing or purchasing Halloween products, from candy to decorations. Ideal for retailers and e-commerce advertisers.
3. Halloween > Costumes for Babies Bought by Parents
   Parents looking for themed costumes for infants and toddlers, a high-intent niche audience for family-oriented brands.
4. Halloween > Home & Garden Decorations
   Shoppers exploring seasonal decoration trends, from pumpkins to full-scale spooky home setups. Perfect for home & garden retailers.
5. Halloween > Event & Parties
   Socially active consumers engaging in Halloween parties and themed events, ideal for beverage, food, and entertainment brands.
6. Halloween > Horror & Scary Movies
   Audiences streaming horror and thriller films across CTV platforms. Perfect for immersive CTV campaigns and entertainment tie-ins during spooky season.

These segments capture both broad seasonal interest and specific purchase intent, helping marketers design campaigns that engage their target audience with precision targeting across display and CTV.

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How to Build Custom Segments with AI in Seconds

While ready-made segments provide a strong foundation, many campaigns require tailor-made segments for specific briefs. OnAudience’s AI-powered platform makes this process simple and fast:

1. Upload a campaign brief (e.g., “Reach parents buying costumes and candy”).
2. AI generates a custom audience segment within seconds.
3. Run pre-campaign planning with reach and frequency forecasts.
4. Activate segments directly in OnAudience DSP partners.

This workflow enables media planners, retail marketers, and performance managers to move from strategy to activation without delays, ensuring campaigns stay relevant during the short Halloween window.

Build Your Custom Halloween Segment in Seconds

Final Thoughts: Don’t Miss the Halloween Window

Halloween is more than just costumes and candy, it’s a seasonal marketing goldmine. With precision targeting, AI-powered custom audiences, and CTV-ready segments, marketers can deliver high-performing Halloween campaigns that resonate with younger audiences, families, and shoppers alike.

Explore Halloween segments in OnAudience DSP partners today and take advantage of one of the most powerful seasonal opportunities of 2025. Our segments are available on leading platforms including theTradeDesk, LiveRamp, Adobe, PubMatic.