Back-to-school season is one of the most high-intent retail moments of the year. Parents are actively looking for brands to help them check off their lists, and they're planning to spend more to do it. But with shoppers starting earlier each year and making purchasing decisions faster, getting your back-to-school advertising strategy in place before August is critical.
We surveyed more than 1,000 back-to-school shoppers to find out what's driving their decisions this year: what they're spending, where they're looking, and what actually moves them to buy.
The infographic below breaks it all down, followed by a step-by-step guide to launching a back-to-school CTV campaign on Paramount Ads Manager. Read on for the full picture.
Why Back-to-School Is a Critical Sales Moment
Back-to-school advertising is one of the biggest and most concentrated retail windows of the year, and shoppers treat it that way.
According to our latest research, 83% of back-to-school shoppers view the season as its own distinct shopping moment, separate from general summer spending. They're coming in with intent, actively searching for products, comparing brands, and making decisions with a checklist in hand.
And they're planning to spend more than ever. 57% of parents say they'll do more back-to-school shopping this year than last, and 82% say they're willing to spend extra to get their kids what they need.
Timing matters too. Most back-to-school shopping happens in August, with 39% of parents saying that's when they start buying. Brands that wait until school supply displays show up in stores are already behind. The advertisers who show up in early-to-mid July (i.e. now) are the ones getting discovered first.
Why CTV Is the Right Channel to Reach Them
Back-to-school shoppers are spending more time in front of the TV than you might expect, and they're paying attention to what they see there. When it comes to back-to-school advertising, streaming ads on TV outperform every other format in terms of trust, purchase influence, and brand recall.
Here's what the data shows.
- Half of back-to-school shoppers say they trust TV advertising more than any other type of back-to-school advertising. That's a significant edge over social, display, and search for a season where brand credibility matters.
- That trust translates directly to action. Nearly half of shoppers have researched a brand online after seeing a back-to-school ad on TV, and nearly 3 in 5 have made a purchase after seeing one. For advertisers still treating CTV as a pure awareness play, these back-to-school advertising statistics make a strong case for thinking about it differently.
- The impact also lasts beyond the shopping season. 68% of shoppers say they'll remember brands whose back-to-school ads they saw on TV, even after their lists are checked off. That kind of recall carries real value heading into Q4.
If you're weighing where streaming ads for back-to-school fit in your media mix, the data points to TV and CTV as the channel with the clearest line from exposure to purchase.
Extra Credit: The Paramount Viewer Advantage
CTV already drives back-to-school action on its own. But Paramount viewers show even stronger results across every stage of the purchase journey.
Every behavior that makes CTV effective for back-to-school advertising is more pronounced among Paramount viewers than among CTV audiences overall. Here's how it breaks down, connected directly to the stats above:
Paramount viewers are:
- +69% more likely to research a brand online after seeing a back-to-school ad on TV
- +94% more likely to trust TV advertising over other types of back-to-school advertising
- +50% more likely to make a purchase after seeing a back-to-school ad
- +44% more likely to remember the brand after their shopping is done.
For advertisers evaluating the best CTV platform for back-to-school advertising, that lift traces back to where those viewers are watching: Paramount viewers are spending real time with premium content, not scrolling past it.
Paramount content accounts for 1 in 5 streaming minutes in the US (Source: Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings, National Sample. Persons 2-99, 1Q25-3Q'25. Top 500 Shows per Quarter), and ads on Paramount+ drive 21% higher ad attention rates than other streaming services (Source: TVision, 4Q'25).
When your ad runs in an environment where viewers are genuinely engaged, the downstream effects on trust, purchase intent, and brand recall follow.
Geography Class: How to Reach the Right Back-to-School Audience on Paramount Ads Manager
Paramount Ads Manager gives you several ways to zero in on the parents and households most likely to buy what you're selling, without needing a big budget or a dedicated media team.
Here's how to approach back-to-school audience targeting.
1. Start with demographics.
The most direct way to reach back-to-school shoppers is to target parents with school-age children. On Paramount Ads Manager, you can filter by age, gender, and household income to build an audience that matches your customer profile. If your product skews toward college students rather than K-12, you can adjust accordingly.
2. Add location targeting for local reach.
For businesses that serve a specific market, whether that's a regional retailer, a local service, or a brick-and-mortar store, location targeting lets you focus your back-to-school CTV campaign on the neighborhoods and regions where your customers actually are. Targeting parents with ads in the right geography makes every impression work harder.
3. Use Interests & Behaviors to reach high-intent shoppers.
Paramount Ads Manager's Interests & Behaviors tool lets you reach audiences based on real-world purchase signals and lifestyle indicators. For back-to-school, the Parents audience category is the most direct path to the shoppers you want. You can also layer in additional signals like Online Shoppers or specific retail behaviors to sharpen your targeting further.
4. Retarget visitors who've already shown interest.
If someone has visited your site but hasn't purchased yet, back-to-school season is a good time to bring them back. Paramount Ads Manager's retargeting capability lets you reconnect with past visitors and serve them a more specific offer, like a back-to-school deal or limited-time promotion, to close the loop during the peak buying window.
Art Class: What Makes a Great Back-to-School CTV Ad
Running a back-to-school CTV campaign is only half the equation. The other half is making sure your ad actually works once it's in front of shoppers. Here's what back-to-school shoppers told us about back-to-school ad creative best practices.
1. Lead with your offer.
66% of shoppers say back-to-school ads help them find deals, which makes a clear, visible promotion the single most important element of your creative. If you have a back-to-school sale, bundle, or limited-time discount, lead with it. Don't bury the deal at the end of your ad.
2. Keep your tone informational and inspiring.
57% of shoppers prefer back-to-school ads that are informational, and 53% prefer ads that are inspiring. Serious (23%) and urgent (17%) tones trail significantly. Walk shoppers through what you offer and why it matters for the season. Give them a reason to feel good about the purchase.
3. Skip the celebrity cameos.
Only 18% of shoppers find back-to-school ads featuring celebrities or influencers useful. Put your creative budget toward product, messaging, and offer rather than name recognition.
4. Be helpful and educational.
53% of shoppers say brands should help make the back-to-school experience less stressful, and 45% want brands to educate them on new products. Use your ad to do both: show how your product solves a real back-to-school challenge, and introduce what's new this season. Shoppers who learn something from your ad are more likely to remember your brand when they're ready to buy.
Don't have a TV-ready ad yet?
Paramount Ads Manager's Creative Express tool lets you build, upload, or generate a CTV ad directly in the platform, no production team required. You can also work with the Paramount team through Creative Plus to turn your brand materials into a polished, TV-ready spot. Learn more about Paramount Ads Manager’s TV ad creative solutions >
Math Class: How to Measure Your Back-to-School CTV Campaign
Back-to-school is a high-intent window, which makes it one of the best seasons to see what your CTV advertising is actually driving. Measuring CTV campaign performance has come a long way, and you no longer have to rely on impressions alone to evaluate whether your back-to-school campaign is working.
Here's what to track and how to do it on Paramount Ads Manager.
Set up your Pixel before you launch.
The Paramount Ads Manager Pixel is a small piece of code you install on your website before your campaign goes live. Once it's in place, you can track the actions shoppers take after seeing your ad, including site visits, leads, and purchases. Installing your Pixel before your campaign starts is the most important step for connecting your back-to-school CTV campaign to real business outcomes.
Know what you're measuring.
Paramount Ads Manager tracks a range of outcomes depending on your campaign goal: impressions and reach for awareness, site visits and click-through rates for consideration, and purchases, leads, and foot traffic for conversion.
Before you launch, make sure your campaign goal matches the metric that matters most to your business. If you have a physical store, foot traffic measurement is available without any additional setup.
Check your dashboard regularly.
Your Paramount Ads Manager dashboard gives you real-time performance data throughout your campaign. Check it at least weekly during the back-to-school window. If one creative is outperforming another, you can shift budget toward what's working without waiting until the campaign ends.
Run multiple creatives and A/B test.
The back-to-school shopping window is short, but it's long enough to learn something useful. Running two or three creative variations, with different offers, visual treatments, or calls to action, gives you data you can use to optimize mid-flight and carry into your Q4 and holiday planning.
Graduation: Your Path to Getting Started on Paramount Ads Manager
Did all your homework? Here's your back-to-school workback calendar from now until launch:
Due Date: Today
- Enroll: Sign up for Paramount Ads Manager, install your Pixel, and set your campaign goal and budget. Getting your Pixel in place now is critical. It's what connects your TV ads to real performance data, and you'll want it running from day one.
- Pick Your Electives: Set up your targeting. Start with the Parents audience category in Interests & Behaviors, then layer in demographics, location, or additional behavioral signals to reach the shoppers most relevant to your business.
Due Date: August–September
- Show Up to Class: Get your ads live. Lead with your back-to-school deals, keep your tone informational and helpful, and make sure your creative is following the best practices from Art Class above.
- Review Your Report Card: Check your real-time dashboard regularly. See which creative and audience combinations are driving the most site visits, purchases, or foot traffic, and optimize toward what's working before the window closes.
Due Date: September 4
- Apply Your Lessons to Q4: Back-to-school season ends, but the data you've collected carries forward. Take your top-performing creative, best-performing audiences, and strongest offers into your next campaign. The biggest shopping season of the year is right around the corner, and what you learn now gives you a head start.
Ready to get started? Launch your back-to-school campaign, on Paramount Ads Manager today, and get your brand on TV tomorrow.
Sources:
- YPulse 2025 Back to School Shopping Report, June 2025, North America, P13-39, N= 1500
- Paramount Advertising, June 2026. N=1033 Back to School Shoppers
- MRI Simmons 2026 Q2 Trending Topics Study
