And neither does Mariah Carey (not that we would argue with her).

And as we can see over the last few years, when November 1 arrives shares of Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” YouTube videos spike and then grow up until the big day itself.

Over in the UK, a big sign that Christmas is on its way is the release of the department store John Lewis’s Christmas ad. There’s been one every year since 2007, and it’s now a huge event that sees national news coverage for days.

Interestingly its effects are now felt in the US too, thanks to a man called John Lewis. Back in 2007 he registered the Twitter handle @johnlewis, which means he is often tagged mistakenly instead of the UK company. When the Christmas ad comes out, his mentions skyrocket.

He’s taken it in very good humor over the years, often replying to people with a witty quip and sending them on to their correct destination. He’s become an internet celebrity in his own right and we recommend giving him a follow if you’re looking for some wholesome festive entertainment.

We all have our personal signifiers for the start of Christmas, but that’s no reason to stop us creating another one.

Using mentions of Christmas on Twitter and Reddit between 2018 and 2021, we’ve pinpointed the beginning and end of Christmas Season based on post volume.

Officially (according to us) it’s ‘Christmas’ from November 1, which means Mariah Carey is right on the money. That or she’s so influential she’s setting the date herself. Interestingly we’re still talking about Christmas up to Jan 10, so if you’re wondering when to take down your decorations, this date seems like a good one.

Festive feelings

That’s the long-term view covered. Now let’s turn to 2022 and see how Christmassy we’re feeling so far. To do that, we’ve compared this year’s volume of Christmas posts with the previous four years to see how things compare.

This year got off to a middling start in October with 2022 either sat in 3rd place or about matched to the rest of the pack, while 2020 was way off ahead. This continued until November 10 when 2022 fell to the bottom of the group for a few days, before a strong mid-month resurgence.

Despite a sluggish start, interest in Christmas this year looks to at least match last year’s with a good chance of exceeding it. Although, unless there’s any significant change, we can’t see it matching 2020’s bumper Christmas interest. It seems that the worse the year is, the more people turn to the festive season for hope.

All in all, despite ongoing world distractions and disasters, people still care about Christmas this year.

Next let’s zoom out again and see how the data pans out across a broader time period.

The Christmas conversation has a more complicated trend than simply increasing day-by-day at a steady rate. The first bump comes, as we know on Nov 1, and then we get another on Dec 1. But from there numbers barely rise at all as Christmas fever stays steady.

It’s not until Dec 15th that things pick up and that’s no surprise. Christmas is less than two weeks away, presents must be bought, people start to take time off, and travel plans all over the world are put into motion.

This means while Christmas Season starts in November, most of the excitement and stress is concentrated into about ten days of shopping, eating, drinking, and carolling.

Our advice? Get everything sorted by Dec 15 to really enjoy Christmas. Easier said than done, we know.

Join our Grow With Social Facebook community

Have some thoughts on today’s bulletin? Or maybe some questions about the data? Why not share them over at our Grow With Social community. We’re very friendly, we promise.

What should we cover next?

Is there a topic, trend, or industry you’d like us to feature in the Brandwatch Bulletin? We want to hear your ideas to ensure our readers get what they want. We may even ask to interview you if you’re involved with the topic.

Send any and all ideas to [email protected] and let’s talk.

Thanks for reading

If you were forwarded today’s bulletin and want to get them yourself, you can subscribe to the Brandwatch Bulletin here.

See you next time,

The Brandwatch Bulletin team