BFCM (Black Friday – Cyber Monday)
BFCM is the sales period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, at the end of November or the very start of December, when retailers concentrate their discounts.
How it works
Black Friday is the Friday after US Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November. Cyber Monday is the Monday after. The US National Retail Federation counts Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday as one five-day holiday weekend. In 2026 that makes BFCM 27–30 November.
For ad campaigns, BFCM can be a few days when the conversion rate jumps and then drops back. A seasonality adjustment tells Smart Bidding about such a jump in advance. Google calls it ideal for short events of 1–7 days.
A retail event is not automatically your peak season. In GetProfit data on 96 stores (July 2025 – June 2026), November was among a store’s three best months by ad revenue in 53 of them, and December in 50. For the other 43, November did not make the top three. So first check whether Black Friday is worth it for your store.
Where you see it
- Google Ads: a seasonality adjustment with the BFCM dates and the conversion rate change you expect.
- GetProfit portal: Assortment and seasonality shows revenue by month over two years, so you can see whether November is your peak.
How GetProfit reads it
For a peak like this, the portal’s methodology says: two weeks ahead, raise the budget by 20–30% and lower target ROAS by 10–15%. Keep a seasonality adjustment to 14 days at most, and don’t raise target ROAS during the peak. The portal’s change log then judges the budget edit and the target ROAS edit separately, after 14 days.
Right and wrong readings
- Wrong: “Raise target ROAS for BFCM so the discounts don’t eat the return.” Right: a higher target ROAS narrows bidding to the safest auctions, so the campaign takes less of the extra demand just when it peaks.
- Wrong: “ROAS dropped in the three days after the sale, so the BFCM changes failed.” Right: three days is too short to judge: the portal gives no conclusion on a change in its first 7 days.
Sources
- Create seasonality adjustments (Google Ads API) — ideal for short events of 1–7 days, may not work as well over more than 14 days. Checked 2 October 2026.
- 5 U.S. Code § 6103 — Holidays — Thanksgiving Day is the fourth Thursday in November. Checked 2 October 2026.
- Winter Holidays Data and Trends (National Retail Federation) — the five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. Checked 2 October 2026.
- GetProfit data: 96 online stores, July 2025 – June 2026 — months in each store’s top three by ad revenue.