Black Friday 2026 budget decision sheet: last year's Black Friday week against a normal week, per channel
Black Friday is Friday 27 November 2026 and the budget has to be set before 20 November, because moves made during the week cannot be read in time. The method uses only your own numbers: last year's Black Friday week (Friday 28 November 2025) against a normal week, revenue and spend per channel, from GA4, your ad accounts and your shop.
Last checked 5 November 2026. The spreadsheet (.xlsx) has a Last year tab for GA4 revenue and spend per channel, a Compare tab with the formulas, a Shop tab and a Plan tab with raise, hold or cut; the one-page PDF guide gives the click paths.
This page as data: Markdown, JSON.
The two weeks to pull
- Last year’s Black Friday week: Monday 24 to Sunday 30 November 2025 (Black Friday was Friday 28 November 2025).
- A normal week: Monday 3 to Sunday 9 November 2025, or any other seven days, Monday to Sunday, without a sale.
- Decide by: Friday 20 November 2026. Black Friday is Friday 27 November 2026.
The method, in 7 steps
- 1
Pull last year's Black Friday week (Monday 24 to Sunday 30 November 2025) from GA4: purchases and purchase revenue per channel.
Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Date range 24 Nov to 30 Nov 2025. Primary dimension Session default channel group. Read the Purchases (or Key events: purchase) and Purchase revenue columns per channel, and the totals row, into the sheet's Last year tab, columns B and C.
Google, Analytics Help: Data retention (7667196); Google, Analytics Help: Default channel group (9756891)
- 2
Pull a normal week (Monday 3 to Sunday 9 November 2025, or another week without a sale) from the same report.
Same report, date range 3 Nov to 9 Nov 2025, into columns D and E. The sheet compares like with like only if both are seven days, Monday to Sunday.
- 3
Pull what you spent per platform in both weeks from your ad accounts, into the Spend columns beside the channel each platform lands in.
Meta Ads Manager > Campaigns, the week, Amount spent. Google Ads > Campaigns, the week, Cost, split by campaign type (Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Display, Video) because GA4 files each type under its own channel. TikTok Ads Manager > Campaign, the week, Cost.
- 4
Pull the shop's own numbers for both weeks: orders and net revenue excl. VAT, test orders left out.
Your shop admin's sales report, 24 to 30 Nov 2025 and 3 to 9 Nov 2025, into the Shop tab. The sheet shows how much of the shop's revenue GA4 saw in each week, so a channel comparison is read against what GA4 missed.
- 5
Read the Compare tab: for each channel, Black Friday week against the normal week, revenue per euro spent in each, and each channel's share of the week.
Every cell on that tab is a formula over the Last year tab. A channel whose revenue rose with its spend, and one whose revenue rose without any, read differently: the second had demand of its own.
- 6
Fill the Plan tab before Friday 20 November 2026: last year's Black Friday week spend per channel, this year's planned spend, raise, hold or cut, and the reason in one line.
Changes made during the week cannot be read in time: a platform needs days to report, and the week is seven. Decide now, write the reason, and read the result after the week.
- 7
After the week, export the Attribution paths report for Monday 23 to Sunday 29 November 2026 and read what the plan did.
Advertising > Attribution > Attribution paths, key event purchase, date range 23 to 29 Nov 2026, then Share this report > Download file > CSV. Google: the export holds the data currently shown, so set the date range and rows first.
Google, Analytics Help: Key events attribution paths report (10595568)
Which spend sits beside which GA4 channel
- Paid Social
- Meta (Facebook, Instagram), TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat: Amount spent for the week
- Paid Search
- Google Ads Search campaigns and Microsoft Ads: Cost for the week
- Paid Shopping
- Google Ads Shopping campaigns: Cost for the week
- Cross-network
- Google Ads Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns: Cost for the week
- Display
- Google Ads Display campaigns and other display networks: Cost for the week
- Paid Video
- YouTube campaigns: Cost for the week
- Affiliates
- Affiliate network commissions for the week
Google’s words the method rests on
Last year's week is still in your standard reports, whatever your retention setting
“Keep in mind that the data retention setting does not affect standard aggregated reports (including primary and secondary dimensions) in your Google Analytics property, even if you create comparisons in the reports. The data retention setting only affects explorations and funnel reports.”
Which GA4 channel your ad spend lands in
“The channels for Google Ads traffic are determined using source platform, ad network type, and campaign type. Ad network type is used to evaluate most of the traffic, while campaign type is specifically used for Paid Shopping only.”
Where Performance Max and Demand Gen land
“Cross-network includes Demand Gen, Performance Max and Smart Shopping.”
Paid Social
“Paid Social is the channel by which users arrive at your site/app via ads on social sites like Facebook and Twitter.”
Unassigned
“Unassigned is the value Analytics uses when there are no other channel rules that match the event data.”
An export holds what the report shows
“Click Share this report in the top right to share, download, or export the data currently shown in the report.”
Google, Analytics Help: Key events attribution paths report (10595568)
All read 5 November 2026. No benchmarks: the sheet holds your numbers only.
What the sheet can't tell you
Last-click revenue and the platforms' own numbers are all this sheet can see, and a channel that got the last click in a sale week is not always the channel that made the sale. The free first finding on /start reads last year's Attribution paths export in your browser; the read shows what each channel caused, in one to two minutes, before the budget moves.
€99 excl. VAT, once, with a full refund within 30 days, and you keep the read. See the first finding free