By Adrian Huber, CEO of Corient, a B2B marketing agency.
Should you pause ads over Christmas? Every December, founders face the same question. The office is closing, the team is heading to the beach, and paying for clicks while nobody is answering the phone feels like wasted money.
Sometimes it is. Often it is not. For many B2B and service businesses, the Christmas break is when buyers finally have time to research next year's projects. This guide shows which campaigns to keep running, which to stop, and how to make the changes without undoing months of work in your ad accounts.
Key takeaways
- Keep running campaigns for planned work, where buyers research over the break and enquire in January.
- Pause or cut campaigns for same-day or urgent work you cannot deliver while closed.
- Avoid switching campaigns off and on again where you can. In Meta, pausing an ad set for seven days or longer sends it back into the learning phase.
- In Google Ads, lowering budgets is usually safer than pausing, because budget changes do not trigger the Smart Bidding learning period.
- Plan your January restart now, so you are first in front of buyers when they return.
When is the Christmas shutdown in 2026?
The 2026 break falls neatly for a long shutdown. Christmas Day is Friday 25 December and Boxing Day is Saturday 26 December, so most states and territories observe an additional public holiday on Monday 28 December, according to timeanddate's Boxing Day 2026 listing. New Year's Day is Friday 1 January 2027. Check the Fair Work Ombudsman public holidays page for the dates that apply in your state.
For many businesses, that means a break running from around 24 December to 4 January. The question is what your ads should do during it.
Should you pause ads over Christmas?
It depends on the kind of work your ads bring in. A simple test: can the buyer wait until you are back?
Keep running: planned-work campaigns
If your service is something buyers plan for, keep your campaigns live. Examples include:
- Consulting, software and professional services.
- Website builds, fit-outs, renovations and installations.
- Training, events and recruitment for the new year.
- Any B2B service with a sales cycle longer than a few days.
Many decision-makers use the quiet weeks to research, compare providers and shortlist options for January. An enquiry that lands on 29 December is just as valuable when you reply on 4 January, as long as the buyer knows when to expect you.
Stop or cut: same-day campaigns
If your ads promise an immediate response and you cannot deliver one, pause or cut them. Examples include:
- Emergency trades and call-outs.
- Same-day appointments and bookings.
- Campaigns built around calls to a phone nobody will answer.
Paying for clicks from people who need help today, when you cannot help until next year, wastes budget and can leave a poor impression.
The middle ground: reduce, do not switch off
For everything in between, lower budgets rather than turning campaigns off completely. You keep your visibility and learning, and spend less while demand is softer.
Why does pausing ads hurt your January restart?
Ad platforms learn from your results. Every time you make a significant change, they need time to relearn what works, and performance can be less stable while they do.
Meta's learning phase
Meta's guide to the learning phase explains that ad sets need to go through a learning phase, which usually ends after around 50 optimisation events within seven days of the last significant edit. Meta's advice on the importance of the learning phase lists pausing an ad set for seven days or longer as a significant edit, meaning it re-enters learning once it is switched back on. Changes to targeting, creative, optimisation event or bid strategy also count.
A full Christmas shutdown is usually longer than seven days. If you pause Meta ad sets on 23 December and restart on 4 January, expect them to relearn just as you want them performing at their best.
Google's Smart Bidding learning
Google is more forgiving here, as long as you know which levers to pull. Its guide to Smart Bidding learning says the learning status can last up to seven days and is triggered by things like a new or reactivated bid strategy, a change in campaign composition, or a change of conversion goal. Changes to budgets, targets, creative and targeting do not trigger it.
That makes budget changes the safer tool in Google Ads. Lowering a budget over the break, then raising it again in January, keeps the bid strategy's learning in place.
How do you set up ads for the Christmas break?
Here is a simple plan you can run before the office closes.
1. Sort campaigns into keep, cut and reduce
List every live campaign and decide which group it belongs in, using the "can the buyer wait?" test above.
2. Lower budgets instead of pausing where you can
For campaigns you want to keep but scale back, reduce the daily budget. In Google Ads this does not restart learning. In Meta, keeping an ad set live at a lower budget avoids the seven-day pause that would send it back into learning.
3. Do not rebuild anything in late December
Hold off on new bid strategies, new conversion goals and new campaign structures until January. Every one of these can restart learning, and the holiday period is the worst time to judge results.
4. Use seasonality adjustments carefully
Google offers seasonality adjustments for short events where you expect a big change in conversion rate, typically one to seven days. Google notes they may not work as well for periods longer than 14 days, and that Smart Bidding already accounts for regular seasonal patterns. For most businesses, a lower budget is the simpler choice for a two-week break.
5. Update your ads and landing pages
Tell buyers when you are back. Add a line to landing pages and auto-replies, such as "We are back on 4 January and will reply to every enquiry that week." Clear expectations keep enquiries coming.
6. Keep tracking on
Make sure forms, calls and conversions are still tracked over the break, so you can see what came in and how it converted once you are back.
What should you do in January?
The first two weeks of January are a chance to get ahead while competitors are still restarting.
- Reply to every holiday enquiry quickly. These buyers did their research over the break. Be the first to respond.
- Restore budgets gradually. Bring budgets back to normal levels over a few days rather than all at once.
- Refresh creative. New-year messaging and offers give returning buyers a reason to act.
- Review December results honestly. Look at enquiries and pipeline, not just clicks, before deciding what to change.
- Line up your 2027 plan. Our 2027 marketing calendar for Australia and New Zealand maps the key dates and campaign moments for the year ahead.
If Meta is part of your mix, it is also worth checking what has changed on the platform before you scale back up. Our guide to Meta Ads in 2026 covers what founders need to know.
The bottom line
You do not need to choose between switching everything off and paying for wasted clicks. Keep campaigns for planned work running, stop campaigns for same-day work you cannot deliver, and use lower budgets rather than pauses where you can, so your accounts keep their learning.
Do that, and you will come back in January with enquiries already waiting and campaigns ready to perform from day one.
Frequently asked questions
Should B2B businesses advertise over Christmas?
Often, yes. Many B2B buyers use the quieter weeks to research and shortlist providers for the new year. Keeping planned-work campaigns live at a lower budget means you are on the list when they return.
Will pausing Google Ads hurt performance?
It can. Reactivating a bid strategy can trigger a learning period of up to seven days. Lowering budgets does not, which is why it is usually the safer option over the break.
How long can I pause Meta ads without resetting learning?
Meta treats pausing an ad set for seven days or longer as a significant edit, so it re-enters the learning phase when switched back on. Shorter pauses avoid this.
Should I use a seasonality adjustment for the Christmas break?
Usually not. Google designed seasonality adjustments for short events of one to seven days and notes they may not work as well beyond 14 days. A budget change is simpler for a longer break.
When should I restart ads after the holidays?
Restart a few days before you are back at work, so ads are running and stable when your team returns. Bring budgets up gradually rather than all at once.
Want January to start strong? Corient works as a full marketing department for founder-led businesses and SMEs across Australia. Your first month of management is free, including a pilot campaign on one channel, a landing page and tracking set up properly, ready for the new year. Media spend is paid directly to the platform. Start your free month and come back from the break with momentum.
