December Giveaway Statistics From 117,206 Campaigns

We looked at 117,206 giveaway campaigns run by 17,720 businesses on Gleam, started between 1 January 2020 and 13 August 2026, to answer one planning question. December is the most crowded month of the year for giveaways, so what happens to a campaign that launches into it? The answer turns less on the month than on when the campaign started. Every result below is a campaign-level median, and every table names its sample.

1. Seven findings in one table
2. 10.4 percent of the year's launches
3. A 10-day median run
4. Started in December or carried in from November
5. $300, the same prize as any other month
6. Six actions, down from eight
7. From 1 December to 31 December
8. 11 industries, 4 weaker in December
9. Invalid entries at 12.9 percent
10. Five December decisions
11. How we did this
12. Cite this research

The common worry about a December giveaway is competition. Every brand runs a promotion, inboxes fill up, and a giveaway has to fight for the same attention. The launch counts support the first half of that worry. December holds 12,176 of the 117,206 campaign starts, 10.4 percent. An even month would hold 8.3 percent, and the other eleven months range from 6.8 to 9.1 percent. 4,003 businesses launched at least one campaign in December.

n = 117,206 campaigns from 17,720 businesses, started 1 January 2020 to 13 August 2026.

Crowding would predict weaker results for December campaigns. The raw Conversion Rate points the other way, 30.7 percent for December starts against 26.6 percent for starts in the other months. Before reading that as a December advantage, look at how long December campaigns run.

December starts run a median 10 days against 15 days for starts in the other months. The difference sits at the short end. 17.6 percent of December starts run 0 to 1 days, against 7.0 percent in the other months, 2.5 times the share. Those 2,149 one-day campaigns came from only 237 businesses, the pattern a daily advent drop would leave, and the largest of those businesses holds 5.3 percent of them.

Short campaigns always read higher on this Conversion Rate, so a month full of short campaigns will look strong even if nothing about the month helps. The fair test compares December with the other months one run length at a time.

Table 1 · December starts against starts in other months, by run length. Every figure is a median.

n = 12,176 December starts and 105,030 starts in other months. Shares are of each column's own total.

From 4 days upward, December's Conversion Rate sits between 1.3 points below and 1.9 points above the other months at the same run length. The 4.1-point raw gap comes mostly from the length mix. Entrants tell a steadier story. December starts had more Entrants at every run length up to 30 days, 480 against 399 at 4 to 7 days (about 20 percent more) and 531 against 434 at 8 to 14 days (about 22 percent more). At 31 days or more the two are level, 614 against 608.

That leaves a smaller December effect than the raw rate suggests, and it raises a sharper question. Not every campaign that finishes in December started there.

7,777 campaigns started and ended in December. Another 5,553 started earlier and ended in December, and 4,711 of those started in November, 635 in October and 207 before that. Overall, both groups reach the same median of about 520 Entrants. The campaigns carried in from earlier take a median 29 days to get there, while the campaigns started inside December take 7.

Table 2 · The four December groups. Every figure is a median.

Arrows compare the first row with the second. Groups follow the definitions in How We Did This.

Hold the run length at 4 to 14 days and the two groups separate. Campaigns started inside December had a median 518 Entrants against 433 for campaigns carried in from earlier, about 20 percent more. Their Conversion Rate was 30.8 percent against 26.8 percent, 4.0 points higher, or about 15 percent in relative terms.

The carried-in campaigns look like ordinary campaigns from the rest of the year, 433 Entrants and 26.8 percent against 418 and 28.8 percent. What looked like a December effect in section 2 belongs mostly to the campaigns that launched inside the month.

Table 3 · Entrants and Conversion Rate by run length, three groups. Every figure is a median.

Arrows compare Entrants in the first column with the second.

The advantage holds up to 14 days. At 15 to 30 days, campaigns started inside December had fewer Entrants than campaigns carried in, 489 against 533, so a long campaign started in December showed no edge on this comparison.

A start date is rarely the only thing that differs between two campaigns, and three other explanations fit the same pattern.

The first is campaign type. Advent and daily-drop campaigns sit almost entirely in the started-in-December group. The 2,149 December campaigns that ran 0 to 1 days came from 237 businesses, and a business that runs a daily calendar posts a fresh campaign each day, which may reach an audience it has already warmed up. We have not tested that. Table 3 starts at 4 days to keep most of those out, but advent-style campaigns that run a week remain in the comparison.

The second is the businesses themselves. The businesses that launch inside December may differ from the ones that launch in November, in audience size, list size or how hard they promote. 776 businesses ran campaigns in both groups, which gives a partial check. Within those businesses, the December-only campaigns had a Conversion Rate 2.8 points higher than their carried-in campaigns, and 0.88 times the Entrants, because the December-only runs were much shorter. That check does not hold run length constant, so it narrows the question without settling it.

The third is holiday wording. Christmas themes cluster in the weeks before Christmas, and section 7 shows how far. In the 116,283-campaign base, up to 36 percent of a week's starts carried holiday wording in the run-up to Christmas.

If the start date is doing some of the work, the obvious next suspect is money. December businesses might simply buy bigger prizes.

They do not. The median stated prize pool is $300 for December starts and $300 for starts in the other months. The middle 50 percent runs from $99 to $950 in December and from $95 to $1,000 in the other months. November is the highest month, at a median $350.

Four-group definitions from How We Did This. Prize value is US dollars, campaign-level total.

The structure of the prize shifts a little. 20.2 percent of December starts offer more than one prize tier, ▲ against 16.9 percent in the other months. The share with more than one winner is level, 39.3 percent against 40.0 percent.

We could not split prize value by industry and month, so this page does not say whether any one industry spends more in December.

The prize stays flat. What December campaigns ask of entrants changes.

Campaigns that started and ended in December asked for a median 6 entry Actions. Campaigns carried in from earlier asked for 8, and the rest of the year asked for 7.

Share of each group's campaigns using each action. Arrows compare the first row with the rest of the year.

Across all December starts, the biggest drop is in email capture. 28.4 percent of December starts used an email signup against 33.5 percent of starts in the other months.

Share of 12,176 December starts and 105,030 starts in other months using each action.

December campaigns asked for less email capture and sharing, and more TikTok and YouTube Actions.

Secret Code is the one action that asks entrants to find something outside the widget, so it can only be completed by someone who saw the code elsewhere. Within the same business, campaigns with a Secret Code action had about 9 percent more Entrants and a Conversion Rate 3.4 points lower. Plan for both halves of that trade.

With the prize and the actions set, the last choice is the date.

December launches bunch at the front of the month. 1 December is the most common start date, with 968 campaigns.

n = 12,176 December starts.

Campaigns starting on 25 or 26 December had the lowest median Entrants of any December window, 447. The most common end dates were 1 December (1,074 campaigns), 31 December (756), 16 December (647) and 15 December (568). 480 campaigns ended on 24 December and 463 on 25 December, and 2,457 campaigns were live over Christmas Day itself, with a median 492 Entrants and a median run of 17 days.

December also leans toward the weekend. 19.0 percent of December starts launched on a Saturday or Sunday, against 16.8 percent in the other months, and Saturday alone took 9.0 percent against 7.0 percent.

The figures in this subsection come from the 116,283-campaign base described in How We Did This.

A Christmas theme sets its own calendar, and most Christmas campaigns close early.

Most Christmas giveaways are finished before Christmas Day arrives. Christmas giveaways ran 10 days and started 17 days before the holiday. Three quarters of them closed before the day itself. They got 587 people. From 4,895 giveaways run by 1,559 businesses, all with at least 100 people entering.

Close at least three days before Christmas.

The median start, 17 days out, falls on about 8 December, and the middle half of Christmas campaigns started between 9 and 26 days before. 68 percent started in December and 19 percent in November. On runs of 14 days or fewer with no repeatable actions, Christmas-worded campaigns had a median 587 Entrants and a 39.1 percent Conversion Rate, against 492 and 34.5 percent for every campaign in that base on the same basis. The share of each week's starts carrying holiday wording climbed from 28 percent in week 48 to 32 percent in week 49, 34 percent in week 50 and 36 percent in week 51, then fell to 26 percent in week 52.

Advent and daily-calendar campaigns are the most concentrated form of the theme. 2,814 of them came from 589 businesses, with a median 602.5 Entrants, a 44.5 percent Conversion Rate on the same restricted basis, a median run of 6 days and a median stated prize of $250.

A New Year theme is looser with its dates than Christmas.

A holiday in the title does not always mean the giveaway runs near that holiday. Thanksgiving giveaways ran near Thanksgiving 89.8 percent of the time, from 266 giveaways run by 184 businesses. New Year giveaways ran near New Year only 39.2 percent of the time, from 955 giveaways run by 638 businesses, all with at least 100 people entering.

If your title names a date, set your close date before it.

The figures in this section come from the 116,283-campaign base, where an industry label exists.

The December pattern is uneven by industry. For seven of the eleven industries with enough campaigns to report, December campaigns had more Entrants than the same industry's median for its other eleven months. For four, December was weaker.

Table 4 · December median Entrants against each industry's median for its other eleven months.

n = 116,283 campaigns from 17,603 businesses, where an industry label exists. Every row clears 300 campaigns and 75 businesses. The smallest are health and fitness (305 campaigns, 110 businesses), creator and influencer (329, 179) and travel and events (337, 119).

December is the top month for Entrants in home and garden, travel and events, gaming and esports, and media and entertainment. It is the lowest month in sports and outdoors, food and drink, and toys and collectibles. Toys, food and drink, apparel and health all peak in November by launch count, so a business in those industries that waits for December is launching after its own busiest month.

Media and entertainment gives the cleanest read, because its December run length barely changes, 14 days against 16 to 21 in its other months. Most other industries shorten their runs sharply in December, which is why this table compares Entrants and leaves Conversion Rate out.

One cost comes with the December audience. Invalid entries were 12.9 percent of all entries for campaigns that started and ended in December, 11.1 percent for campaigns started before December, and 8.0 percent for the rest of the year. Gleam removes invalid entries before counting Entrants, so every Entrant figure on this page is already net of them, but a December campaign should expect more cleanup before the draw.

Pooled share of all entries in each group. Four-group definitions from How We Did This.

At 4 to 14 days, campaigns started inside December had a median 518 Entrants against 433 for campaigns carried in from November. The comparison is observational, and past 14 days it reverses. If your campaign is short, launch it inside December. If it needs a month, a November start looked like any other month's campaign, 433 Entrants against 418 at 4 to 14 days.

December starts ran a median 10 days, and campaigns that started and ended in December ran 7. Compare your December Conversion Rate only against campaigns of the same length. A 3-day advent drop and a 30-day November campaign will never report comparable rates.

The median stated prize was $300 in December and $300 in the other months, from the 36 percent of December starts that stated a value. The typical December business did not raise its prize, so matching the typical December campaign needs no bigger budget.

28.4 percent of December starts asked for an email signup, against 33.5 percent in the other months. If list growth is the goal, keep the Subscribe action in the widget and cut elsewhere, because campaigns started and ended in December ran a median 6 Actions.

Three quarters of Christmas giveaways in the 116,283-campaign base closed before Christmas Day, and starts on 25 or 26 December had the lowest median Entrants of any December window, 447. Set the Start/End Date so the draw and the prize shipping both land before the holiday.

Everything above rests on the decisions in this section. It sits at the end so the findings come first, and it is written to be checked.

Every figure covers campaigns by start date, from 1 January 2020 to 13 August 2026, the last campaign start date in the data. We compiled the figures on 23 September 2026. The window covers six Decembers, 2020 to 2025, and every December figure pools them.

We defined a December campaign by its dates, which gives four groups.

• Started and ended in December
• Started before December and ended in December
• Started in December and ended after it
• Everything else, which the tables call the rest of the year

Sections 2, 3, 5 and 6 also compare all 12,176 December starts against the 105,030 campaigns that started in any other month. Where a table uses the four groups instead, its caption says so. [VERIFY: the four groups sum to 116,968 of 117,206 campaigns, and the two December-start groups sum to 12,144 of 12,176 December starts. Confirm which campaigns fall outside the groups, for example campaigns that started before December and ran past it, and name them here.]

The industry table in section 8 and the holiday-wording figures in section 7 come from a matching Gleam giveaway base of 116,283 campaigns from 17,603 businesses, built on the same rules, where industry labels and campaign wording exist. Those figures carry their own sample line and never share a chart or a sentence with the 117,206-campaign figures.

• Every campaign had at least 100 valid contestants.
• Crypto and Web3 campaigns are excluded by rule. A campaign is out if it uses a wallet-address action or crypto prize wording, or if its business ran 20 percent or more crypto-flagged campaigns or 50 percent or more Telegram-join campaigns.
• Campaigns that required a purchase to enter are excluded.
• Prize value appears only where the business stated one, which is 36 percent of December starts and 38 percent of starts in the other months. 99.8 percent of valued prize records are in US dollars.
• Industry cells need at least 300 campaigns and 75 businesses to be shown. Every row in table 4 clears that bar.
• No single business dominates a reported cell. The largest holds 2.0 percent of December starts and the top three hold 4.9 percent. In the 0 to 1 day cell, where 237 businesses ran 2,149 campaigns, the largest holds 5.3 percent.

Giveaway results are heavily skewed. A few very large campaigns sit far above the rest, and an average built on them describes no campaign a reader is likely to run. Every result on this page is a campaign-level median, with the middle 50 percent where it helps, and every table carries its campaign count.

Every Conversion Rate comparison holds run length constant, inside the bands of table 1. The start-date comparison in section 4 was run at the full sample, at 4 to 14 days, and inside three separate length bands, and the advantage is reported only where it held (up to 14 days). A partial within-business check covered the 776 businesses that ran campaigns in both December groups, and section 4 reports it with its limit. The industry table compares Entrants and leaves Conversion Rate out, because most industries shorten their December runs sharply.

• Coverage: Gleam campaigns only, run by businesses that chose Gleam
• Design: observational. Every comparison is between campaigns that already differed, so no figure here measures the effect of a launch date
• Outcomes: Entrants and Conversion Rate only. Revenue, sales and list quality sit outside the data
• Prize values: nominal US dollars, with no inflation adjustment
• Industry and holiday wording: only campaigns in the second base with a label or matching wording

No customer is named on this page, and no single campaign is described in a way that would identify the business behind it.

Edition 1, published 23 September 2026. No prior edition. Corrections to this page will be published as a new version with the change named. Numbers are never altered silently.

According to Gleam's December Giveaway Statistics, giveaways started inside December and run for 4 to 14 days had a median 518 Entrants against 433 for giveaways started earlier and ended in December, based on 117,206 campaigns run by 17,720 businesses that started between 1 January 2020 and 13 August 2026.

We did not benchmark these figures against published seasonal giveaway studies. The ones we found do not state their denominator or measure a different one, so a comparison would put two unlike rates side by side.

About this series. Gleam publishes studies on competitions, lead capture, user generated content and rewards, built on first-party platform data. Every edition ships a methodology section, a changelog and the comparisons that did not hold. Published numbers are never changed silently; corrections create a new version.

Known data limits. Prize value is stated on 36 percent of December starts, so every prize figure describes that subset. Industry and holiday-wording figures come from a second base and cover only campaigns with a label or matching wording.