Ready or not, tax season is here again. While this time of year may not be well-received by most consumers, taxes must be done and advertisers are eager to showcase how they can make them a little easier on us. The Most Viewed Video Ads for the 2022 Tax Season provides a strong lesson in how to broach a topic that many people would rather avoid.
What can advertisers learn from tax season in 2022?
Both Americans and Canadians can look forward to some new incentives this year, like the increase to the Child Tax Credit for Americans and the increase to the flat-rate income tax reduction for those working from home for Canadians—but for advertisers, this simply isn’t enough to make people want to talk about tax time.
To overcome this challenge, tax season advertisers stuck to the basics, reaffirming their value proposition and reassuring consumers that taxes don’t have to be confusing or a lot of work, thanks to the help of their tax solutions and services. The fact that tax season ads garnered a good amount of attention this year shows that sticking to the basics and honing in on the client benefit works.
Now let’s take a closer look at our list of the Most Viewed Video Ads for the 2022 Tax Season.
Most Viewed Video Ads: Tax Season
| Rank | Brand | Campaign | Release date | Total views |
| 1 | TaxAct | Cloudy with a Chance of TaxAct | Jan 3, 2022 | 61,549,884 |
| 2 | TurboTax | Matchmaker | Feb 7, 2022 | 17,945,729 |
| 3 | H&R Block | Get Expert Tax Help | Fe 14, 2022 | 6,408,503 |
| 4 | TurboTax Canada | TurboTax Break with Dalano Banton | Mar 9, 2022 | 959,034 |
| 5 | H&R Block | A Fair Shot | Mar 1, 2022 | 674,700 |
| 6 | ATC Income Tax | ATC Tax Pros | Jan 19, 2022 | 319,431 |
| 7 | H&R Block | Oddly Satisfying | Feb 9, 2022 | 292,700 |
| 8 | TurboTax Canada | Everything | Jan 31, 2022 | 260,068 |
| 9 | TurboTax Canada | TurboTax Break | Apr 8, 2022 | 253,922 |
| 10 | H&R Block | Relaxation | Jan 18, 2022 | 249,000 |
*Data collected by AcuityAds’ True Reach™ insights platform from January 3rd – April 14th, 2022
Key Insights
1. Focus on the client benefit: Make it easy
Brands know that taxes are a pain point for many people, and so they’ve made sure to broadcast that they can make taxes easy. TaxAct’s first place video ad is a great example of this, although other ads on our list also found interesting ways to showcase how they can make tax season more bearable. For any advertisers looking to create a tax season ad of their own, demonstrating that you can make things easy is essential.
2. Educate your audience: Navigating the ever-changing tax environment
Almost two years of lockdowns have disrupted the lives of many people, and forced them to adapt and diversify their income streams, meaning that for many people, tax season is more complicated than it used to be. TurboTax does a great job of highlighting the different needs of the 21st century citizen in their second place ad, while also coming off as a trusted authority.
3. Meet consumers where they are: Online tax help as a valid alternative
Now that people have been normalized to the idea of video calls, there is an opportunity to cater to a new market segment: People who want hands-on tax help but don’t want to go anywhere. H&R block does a good job of exploring this opportunity, potentially throwing open the doors for more tax season advertisers to follow suit next year.
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