• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 31, 2021

Back-to-school TV advertising is up sharply this year as the pandemic has eased — variant not withstanding — and more kids are headed back to the classroom.

Advertising tracker AdImpact reported year-to-date BTS TV and cable spots are up about 60%, with a total of 336,361 market level occurrences (i.e., unique airings at the local DMA level).

According to the AdImpact data, the top-five retail BTS advertisers this year are: Kohls, JCPenney, Amazon, Target and Staples respectively.

The top-five non-retail BTS advertisers are: Crest, Finish Your Diploma (part of the Dollar General Literacy Foundation), Independence University, an on-line university that reportedly closed in early August, CVS and Stanton Optical.