Black Friday Ad Schedule Template (Week-by-Week, 2025)

The difference between a five-figure Black Friday and a six-figure Black Friday often comes down to one thing: timing.

Most brands wait until mid-November to start thinking about holiday campaigns. They scramble to produce creative, rush campaign setup, launch everything Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and pray.

That's not a strategy. That's hoping the algorithm saves you.

Winners follow a timeline. They start warming audiences in late September. They produce creative in October. They launch conversion campaigns with two weeks of data before Black Friday hits. They know exactly when to scale budgets and when to pull back.

This is your complete Black Friday ad schedule for 2025. Week-by-week actions, daily budget pacing, creative rotation cadence, and campaign milestones from September through December.

The Complete Timeline Overview

Here's the full picture before we dive into details:

Key principle: Budget scaling isn't linear. You don't steadily increase from September to December. You warm slowly, test methodically, then spike hard on peak days before pulling back.

Phase 1: Warm-Up (Sept 23 - Oct 31, 2025)

Objective: Build Remarketing Audiences

This phase isn't about sales. It's about tagging people for retargeting later. When you launch conversion campaigns in November, you want warm audiences ready—not cold traffic.

Week of September 23-29

Platform: Meta (Facebook/Instagram)

Campaign type: Traffic or Engagement

Budget: $30-50/day (small brands), $100-150/day (larger brands)

Creative: 5-8 UGC-style videos showcasing product value (not selling hard)

Targeting: Broad (US, 25-65, gender as applicable) + 2-3 core interests

Action items:

• ☐ Launch Traffic campaign optimizing for Landing Page Views
• ☐ Upload 5-8 value-focused UGC videos (product demos, lifestyle integration)
• ☐ Verify Meta Pixel firing correctly (ViewContent, AddToCart events)
• ☐ Begin building website visitor audiences for retargeting

Success metrics: Cost per landing page view $0.50-$2.00, engagement rate >3%, 1,000+ site visitors accumulated

Week of September 30 - October 6

Platform: Meta + TikTok

Add TikTok to mix: Launch similar Traffic campaigns on TikTok

Budget: Meta $50-75/day, TikTok $30-50/day

Creative: Repurpose Meta UGC for TikTok (adjust pacing/hooks as needed)

Action items:

• ☐ Launch TikTok Traffic campaign with 5-7 hook variations
• ☐ Continue Meta warm-up campaign
• ☐ Monitor audience building (aim for 3,000-5,000 site visitors by end of week)
• ☐ Review engagement data to identify top-performing creative angles

Weeks of October 7-31 (Four Weeks)

Objective: Accelerate audience building, begin creative production for Phase 2

Budget progression:

• Week of Oct 7: Meta $75/day, TikTok $50/day
• Week of Oct 14: Meta $100/day, TikTok $60/day
• Week of Oct 21: Meta $100/day, TikTok $60/day
• Week of Oct 28: Meta $100/day, TikTok $60/day (wind down by Oct 31)

Creative rotation: Introduce 3-5 new videos every 10-14 days to combat fatigue

Action items:

• ☐ Hire 5-10 UGC creators for Black Friday conversion creative (production in October)
• ☐ Produce 30-50 creative assets for Phase 2 (videos, images, carousels)
• ☐ Continue audience building (target 10,000+ warm visitors by Oct 31)
• ☐ Set up Google Shopping feed optimization (covered later in timeline)
• ☐ Finalize Black Friday offers and discount structure

End-of-phase checklist:

• ☐ 10,000+ website visitors tagged in Meta Pixel
• ☐ 30-50 creative assets produced and ready
• ☐ Black Friday offers finalized
• ☐ Conversion campaigns structured (ready to launch Nov 1)

Phase 2: Pre-Launch (Nov 1-14, 2025)

Objective: Launch Conversion Campaigns, Let Algorithms Learn

This is critical. You need 2-3 weeks of conversion data before Black Friday for algorithms to optimize effectively. Launching conversion campaigns on November 15 means you're bidding blind during the most expensive week of the year.

Week of November 1-7

MAJOR MILESTONE: Switch to Conversion Campaigns

Platform: Google Ads

Campaign launches:

• Performance Max (PMax) campaign with 3-5 asset groups
• Standard Shopping campaign with product groups by margin/inventory
• Search campaign (BOFU keywords: brand, high-intent product terms)

Budget: 60-70% of planned Black Friday daily budget

Bidding: Target ROAS (if you have data) or Max Conversions with tCPA

Action items:

• ☐ Launch PMax with complete asset groups (headlines, descriptions, images, videos)
• ☐ Launch Shopping with optimized feed (titles, GTINs, custom labels)
• ☐ Launch BOFU Search campaigns
• ☐ Submit Merchant Promotions for Black Friday (needs 3-5 days approval)
• ☐ Set up conversion tracking verification

Platform: Meta (Facebook/Instagram)

Campaign structure:

• Campaign 1: Retargeting (site visitors, cart abandoners, engaged audiences)
• Campaign 2: Lookalike prospecting (1% LAL of purchasers)
• Campaign 3: Interest-based prospecting (optional, lower priority)

Budget: 60-70% of planned Black Friday daily budget, split 50% retargeting, 30% lookalikes, 20% prospecting

Creative: Launch 10-15 of your best creative assets per campaign

Bidding: Highest Volume with Cost Cap at 90-95% of allowable CPA

Action items:

• ☐ Launch retargeting campaign (CBO, 3-4 ad sets by audience warmth)
• ☐ Launch lookalike campaign (CBO, 2-3 ad sets by LAL percentage)
• ☐ Upload 10-15 creative variations per campaign
• ☐ Set up automated rules for CPA ceiling alerts

Platform: TikTok

Campaign type: Conversions (Purchase optimization)

Budget: 50-60% of planned Black Friday daily budget

Creative: 8-12 hook variations (fast-paced, native TikTok style)

Action items:

• ☐ Launch TikTok Conversions campaign
• ☐ Upload 8-12 creative variations with different hooks
• ☐ Target: Broad or interest-based (let TikTok find buyers)

Week of November 8-14

Objective: Monitor learning phase, optimize underperformers

Budget: Increase to 80-90% of Black Friday baseline

All platforms:

Daily monitoring:

• Check CPA vs. target (within 20%?)
• Review ROAS vs. goal (profitable or close?)
• Identify top-performing creative (CTR, CPA, ROAS)
• Monitor impression share (lost due to budget or rank?)

Action items:

• ☐ Pause underperforming creative (CPA >150% of target after $500 spend)
• ☐ Introduce 5-8 new creative variations to replace losers
• ☐ Adjust bids if CPA consistently above/below target
• ☐ Verify Merchant Promotions approved and displaying in Google Shopping
• ☐ Increase budgets to 90-100% of baseline by Nov 14

End-of-phase checklist:

• ☐ All campaigns have 50+ conversions (Google needs this for algorithm stability)
• ☐ CPA within 20% of target across platforms
• ☐ Top-performing creative identified for scaling
• ☐ Merchant Promotions approved and live
• ☐ Ready to scale to 100%+ budget for teaser week

For complete budget allocation by industry and platform, see our holiday ad budgets guide.

Phase 3: Teaser Week (Nov 15-27, 2025)

Objective: Build Anticipation, Final Testing Before Peak

Week of November 15-21

Messaging shift: From value content to "coming soon" teasers

Budget: 100-120% of baseline (full planned budget)

Creative updates:

• Add "Black Friday Preview" or "Early Access" language to headlines
• Introduce countdown messaging ("Starting November 28")
• Launch 5-10 teaser creative variations

Google Ads actions:

• ☐ Update PMax asset group headlines with Black Friday language
• ☐ Refresh Shopping feed titles if needed (no promo text, but ensure attributes are front-loaded)
• ☐ Increase bids by 10-15% on high-margin products
• ☐ Set up hourly budget pacing alerts for peak days

Meta actions:

• ☐ Launch "early access" offer for email subscribers or existing customers (15-20% off)
• ☐ Rotate in teaser creative (5-10 new assets)
• ☐ Pause lowest-performing 30% of creative from Phase 2
• ☐ Increase budget to 120% of baseline

TikTok actions:

• ☐ Test "Black Friday sneak peek" hooks
• ☐ Maintain budget at 100% of baseline

Week of November 22-27 (Thanksgiving Week)

CRITICAL WEEK: Final prep before launch

Budget: Monday-Wednesday 100% baseline, Thursday (Thanksgiving) 50-70%, Friday ramps to 150-200%

Monday-Wednesday (Nov 24-26):

Action items:

• ☐ Final creative review: 30-50 assets queued and ready for Black Friday rotation
• ☐ Update all ad copy from "Preview" to "Starts Tomorrow" or "Live Now"
• ☐ Verify inventory levels accurate in Google Shopping feed
• ☐ Set up inventory-based bid rules (reduce bids as stock depletes)
• ☐ Configure automated CPA alerts (every 4 hours during Friday-Monday)
• ☐ Prepare to scale budgets 150-200% on Black Friday morning

Thursday (Thanksgiving, Nov 27):

Reduce budgets to 50-70% of baseline. Consumer activity is low (family gatherings), but maintain presence.

Action items:

• ☐ Reduce daily budgets to 50-70% for Thanksgiving Day
• ☐ Final check: all campaigns active, tracking working, offers live
• ☐ Prepare for Black Friday morning launch (set alarms for 6-7 AM)

Phase 4: Peak Sale (Nov 28 - Dec 2, 2025)

Black Friday (Friday, November 28)

Budget: 150-200% of baseline daily budget

This is it. Maximum spending, maximum monitoring, maximum conversions.

Morning (6-9 AM):

Action items:

• ☐ Increase all campaign budgets to 150-200% of baseline
• ☐ Verify Merchant Promotions displaying in Google Shopping ads
• ☐ Spot-check top 10 products showing in Shopping (search for them manually)
• ☐ Confirm landing pages load fast and display offers correctly
• ☐ Check all tracking pixels firing (complete a test purchase)

Midday (9 AM - 3 PM):

Check every 3-4 hours:

• Actual spend vs. budget target (pacing correctly?)
• CPA trend (4-hour rolling average)
• ROAS vs. target (allow 10-15% dip due to CPC spikes)
• Conversion volume (hitting targets or leaving money on table?)
• Inventory levels on bestsellers (need to reduce bids?)

Action triggers:

If CPA exceeds allowable by 25%+ for 2 consecutive checks (6-8 hours): Reduce budget by 25-30% and investigate

If ROAS drops below break-even for 8+ hours: Reduce budget by 50% or pause campaign

If performing well and impression share lost due to budget: Increase budget by 20%

If bestseller inventory

Evening (3 PM - Midnight):

Peak shopping hours. Continue monitoring every 3-4 hours.

Creative management:

• ☐ Pause any creative with frequency >3.5 and declining CTR
• ☐ Launch fresh creative to combat fatigue (have 5-10 assets ready)
• ☐ Monitor for creative approval issues (disapprovals happen under heavy volume)

Saturday-Sunday (November 29-30)

Budget: 100-120% of baseline

Messaging update: Shift from "Black Friday" to "Black Friday Weekend" or "Sale Extended"

Action items:

• ☐ Scale back budgets to 100-120% (slight pullback from Friday peak)
• ☐ Update ad copy: "Black Friday Weekend—Sale Continues"
• ☐ Review Friday performance: Which products/creative won? Scale those.
• ☐ Pause underperforming campaigns (CPA never hit target, ROAS consistently bad)
• ☐ Rotate in 5-10 new creative variations for Monday

Monitoring: Every 6 hours (less frequent than Friday)

Monday (Cyber Monday, December 1)

Budget: 150-200% of baseline (back to Friday levels)

Cyber Monday rivals Black Friday for online sales. Treat it with same intensity.

Morning (6-9 AM):

Action items:

• ☐ Increase budgets back to 150-200%
• ☐ Update all ad copy from "Black Friday" to "Cyber Monday"
• ☐ Launch fresh creative (10-15 assets with Cyber Monday messaging)
• ☐ Verify offers still live and landing pages updated
• ☐ Check inventory levels—bestsellers may be low after Friday/weekend

All day (9 AM - Midnight):

Same monitoring cadence as Black Friday: every 3-4 hours

Same action triggers as Friday

Evening (6 PM - Midnight):

Add urgency language: "Final Hours," "Ends at Midnight," "Last Chance"

Tuesday (December 2)

Budget: 80-100% of baseline

Wind-down day. Some brands extend sales through Tuesday; others end Monday night.

If extending sale:

• ☐ Update messaging: "Extended—One More Day"
• ☐ Maintain 80-100% budget
• ☐ Monitor for diminishing returns (is CPA creeping up?)

If ending sale:

• ☐ Reduce budgets to 50-70%
• ☐ Prepare for Phase 5 (extension or wind-down)

For complete cross-platform strategy and Meta creative rotation, see our Meta ads strategy guide.

Phase 5: Extension (Dec 3-7, 2025)

Objective: Capture Late Shoppers, Clear Inventory

Budget: 60-80% of baseline

Messaging: "Last Chance," "Final Days," "Holiday Sale Ending"

Wednesday-Friday (December 3-5)

Action items:

• ☐ Reduce budgets to 60-80% of baseline
• ☐ Update creative with "last chance" messaging
• ☐ Focus budget on retargeting and lookalikes (highest efficiency)
• ☐ Pause or reduce cold prospecting (lowest ROAS, save budget)
• ☐ If inventory low, reduce bids further or pause sold-out products

Monitoring: Daily checks (less frequent than peak days)

Weekend (December 6-7)

Final wind-down or shift to regular holiday campaigns

Action items:

• ☐ End Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions by Sunday
• ☐ Reduce budgets to 50-60% or regular levels
• ☐ Shift messaging from "Black Friday" to "Holiday Sale" or "Gift Guide"
• ☐ Begin post-mortem analysis (what worked, what didn't)

Daily Budget Pacing Framework

Here's how to calculate exact daily spend targets based on your total Black Friday budget.

Budget Allocation by Phase

Assume total Black Friday campaign budget is $30,000 over 5 weeks (Nov 1 - Dec 7).

Peak-Day Multipliers

Within Peak Sale phase, apply multipliers to daily budget:

Black Friday (Nov 28): $2,400 × 2.0 = $4,800

Saturday (Nov 29): $2,400 × 1.0 = $2,400

Sunday (Nov 30): $2,400 × 0.8 = $1,920

Cyber Monday (Dec 1): $2,400 × 2.0 = $4,800

Tuesday (Dec 2): $2,400 × 0.8 = $1,920

Total: $15,840 planned (vs. $12,000 allocated = need to adjust or accept overspend)

Budget Pacing Tracker

Create a simple tracker:

Columns: Date | Planned Daily Spend | Actual Spend | Variance | Cumulative Variance

Check daily: If cumulative variance is >20% by midday, adjust remaining days' budgets.

Example: You're $2,000 underspent by November 20. You have 8 days left in Teaser + Peak phases. Add $250/day to budgets to catch up.

When to Pause vs. Scale

Real-time decision-making during Black Friday weekend.

Pause Triggers

Pause a campaign if:

• CPA exceeds allowable by 40%+ for 12+ hours (not just short-term spike)
• ROAS below break-even for 24+ hours with no recovery signs
• Frequency hits 4+ and engagement plummeting (audience burned out)
• Inventory for key products sold out (no point advertising what you can't sell)

How to pause: Reduce budget to 20% first (test if lower spend improves efficiency). If still bad after 4-6 hours, pause entirely.

Scale Triggers

Scale a campaign if:

• CPA at or below target consistently (6+ hours)
• ROAS exceeding target by 20%+ (room to accept higher CPA for more volume)
• Impression share loss due to budget >20% (you're leaving money on table)
• Conversion volume strong and inventory sufficient

How to scale: Increase budget by 20-30% increments every 4-6 hours if performance holds. Don't double overnight—gradual increases maintain algorithm stability.

Creative Rotation Schedule

Creative fatigue accelerates 2-3x in Q4. Rotate aggressively.

Rotation Cadence

Pre-Launch (Nov 1-14): Every 7 days. Pause bottom 30% by CPA, introduce 3-5 new assets.

Teaser (Nov 15-27): Every 5-7 days. Pause bottom 30%, introduce 5-8 new assets.

Peak Sale (Nov 28-Dec 2): Every 3 days. Aggressive rotation. Pause bottom 40%, introduce 10-15 new assets.

Extension (Dec 3-7): Every 5-7 days or as needed.

Fatigue Signals

Pause creative immediately if:

• CTR drops 25%+ from initial performance
• CPA increases 30%+ while spend constant
• Frequency >3.5
• Engagement rate drops 40%+

Don't try to "save" fatigued creative. Replace it with fresh assets from your library.

For complete creative libraries and UGC briefing templates, see our TikTok holiday ad ideas guide.

Post-Campaign Analysis

The week after Cyber Monday, analyze everything.

Performance Review Checklist

Overall metrics:

• ☐ Total spend vs. budget (overspend or underspend?)
• ☐ Total revenue generated
• ☐ Blended ROAS (all platforms combined)
• ☐ Total orders and average order value
• ☐ New customers vs. returning customers

By platform:

• ☐ Google: spend, conversions, CPA, ROAS by campaign type (PMax, Shopping, Search)
• ☐ Meta: spend, conversions, CPA, ROAS by campaign (retargeting, lookalikes, prospecting)
• ☐ TikTok: spend, conversions, CPA, ROAS

By product:

• ☐ Top 10 products by revenue
• ☐ Top 10 products by units sold
• ☐ Products that sold out (need more inventory next year)
• ☐ Products that didn't move (pricing issue? Wrong audience?)

By creative:

• ☐ Top 10 ads by ROAS
• ☐ Top 10 ads by conversions
• ☐ Creative angles that worked (testimonials, demos, urgency, etc.)
• ☐ Archive winning creative for next year

Document Learnings

Create a "Black Friday 2025 Post-Mortem" document:

What worked: Specific campaigns, creative, offers, timing

What didn't: Failed campaigns, poor creative, missed opportunities

What to change for 2026: Start earlier, produce more creative, adjust offers, etc.

Budget recommendations: Increase total budget? Reallocate between platforms?

This document is gold for next year's planning.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I start Black Friday ads?

Audience warming starts 4-6 weeks before Black Friday (late September to early October). Conversion campaigns launch 2-3 weeks before (November 1-7) to allow algorithm learning time. Don't wait until Thanksgiving week—you need data before peak days.

How do I pace budgets daily during BFCM?

Calculate daily target: Total Budget ÷ Days in Campaign. Apply peak-day multipliers: Black Friday and Cyber Monday get 1.5-2.0x average daily budget. Check spend every 4 hours during peak days. If underspending (below 80% of target by midday), increase bids or budgets by 15-20%. If overspending (above 120%), tighten CPA targets or reduce budgets.

Should I extend promos into Cyber Week?

Yes, for your best-performing offers. Consumer shopping patterns have extended beyond just Friday/Monday. Keep top 2-3 products/categories on promotion through Wednesday or Thursday with "extended sale" messaging. Monitor ROAS—if it holds, you're capturing additional revenue. End all promos by Friday (December 6) to reset pricing for December.

What if my budget runs out before Cyber Monday?

Prevention: Use the daily pacing tracker. Check actual vs. planned spend every morning. If burning through budget too fast, tighten CPA targets or reduce budgets before you hit zero.

If it happens: Decide if adding budget makes sense based on ROAS. If campaigns are profitable, find additional budget (shift from other channels, use credit lines). If underperforming, running out might save you from further losses—don't add bad money to bad campaigns.

How often should I check campaign performance during Black Friday?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Every 3-4 hours. Saturday/Sunday: Every 6 hours. Tuesday-Thursday (if extending): Daily checks.

Set phone alerts for CPA spikes above threshold and budget pacing issues. You can't monitor manually every hour, but automated alerts catch problems.

When should I pause underperforming campaigns?

After 12+ hours of consistent underperformance (CPA 30%+ above allowable, ROAS below break-even) with no recovery signs. Don't pause in first 4-6 hours—algorithms need time to optimize during high-traffic periods.

Before pausing entirely, try reducing budget by 50% for 4-6 hours. Sometimes lower spend improves efficiency. If still bad, then pause.

Can I launch new campaigns during Black Friday weekend?

Not recommended. New campaigns enter learning phase and won't optimize effectively during the chaos. Launch everything by November 15 at the latest.

Exception: If you see an opportunity (competitor runs out of stock, trending product), you can test with small budget. But main campaigns should already be running and optimized.

How do I handle inventory that's selling out?

Set up inventory-based bid rules. When stock hits 20 units, reduce bids by 30-50%. When stock hits 5 units, pause product group entirely.

Update inventory levels in Google Shopping feed hourly during Black Friday weekend. Use custom labels to segment by stock level (high/medium/low) and bid accordingly.

What's more important—budget size or timing?

Timing. A $10,000 budget spent with proper timeline (warm audiences, conversion campaigns launched early, peaked correctly) beats a $20,000 budget launched last-minute with cold traffic.

Algorithm learning matters. You need data before peak days. Start conversion campaigns November 1-7, not November 25.

Should I run different promotions for different platforms?

No, keep offers consistent across platforms for tracking simplicity. Use platform-specific creative and targeting, but maintain the same core offer (e.g., "30% off sitewide").

Exception: Platform-exclusive codes for attribution (e.g., TikTok gets "TT30", Meta gets "FB30") if you need granular source tracking.

Conclusion: Your Black Friday Timeline Action Plan

Most brands wing Black Friday. Winners follow a timeline.

The timeline you now have: six weeks of audience warming, two weeks of conversion campaign learning, aggressive budget scaling on peak days (150-200% of baseline), and disciplined wind-down through Cyber Week.

Every action is scheduled. Every budget level is calculated. Every milestone has a checklist.

Your action plan:

• Print or bookmark this timeline
• Set calendar reminders for each phase transition (Sept 23, Nov 1, Nov 15, Nov 28, Dec 3)
• Build your budget pacing tracker (date, planned spend, actual spend, variance)
• Produce 30-50 creative assets in October (don't wait until November)
• Launch conversion campaigns November 1-7 (algorithm needs learning time)
• Scale to 150-200% budget on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
• Monitor every 3-4 hours during peak days
• Wind down by December 7, analyze performance, document learnings for 2026

Execute this timeline and you'll separate yourself from ninety percent of competitors who are scrambling last-minute.

Continue Learning:

• Black Friday Google Ads Strategy 2025 (Complete Guide)
• Holiday Ad Budgets by Industry (2025 Benchmarks)
• Black Friday Meta Ads Strategy (Warm→Launch→Scale)
• Q4 Ecommerce ROAS Targets (Set by AOV & Margin)