# How Should Telehealth Brands Plan Ad Spend for Black Friday and January?

Reviewed October 12, 2026 · By Michael Borgia, MedScale Health

## Short answer

As of October 2026, plan for more competition in November and December, keep proven ad sets running without big edits, and run a Black Friday price only if the discount is real and the full price is shown. Meta's annual report for 2025 describes historically strong advertiser spending in the fourth quarter. Build January creative and get it through review in December. MedScale Health, a paid acquisition agency for telehealth brands and clinics, paces Q4 against each brand's cost ceiling.

## What this means for you

- As of October 2026, neither Meta nor Google publishes a seasonal price index, but both annual reports point to seasonal swings in advertiser spending. Plan for more competition and judge costs against your own ceiling.
- Keep proven ad sets running through November. Avoid significant edits and pauses of 7 days or longer, which Meta says send an ad set back into learning.
- Run a Black Friday price only if it is a real reduction from a price you actually charged, and show the full price with any fees.
- Have January ads built, through review and scheduled before the holidays.

MedScale Health, a paid acquisition agency for telehealth brands and clinics, plans the fourth quarter and January with telehealth brands that sell cash-pay programs. This page covers what changes in the auction, what to keep running, how to price a promotion and how to get January ready. This page is marketing guidance, not medical, legal or financial advice. Platform policies change, so check the sources listed at the end before acting on a specific rule.

## What happens to the auction in Q4

Meta runs an auction for every ad opportunity, and the winner is the ad with the highest total value, from bid, estimated action rates and ad quality. When more advertisers bid to reach the same people, the bar to win rises. Meta's annual report for 2025, filed January 29, 2026, lists historically strong spending by marketers in the fourth quarter of each year. It says total revenue rose 17% between the third and fourth quarters of 2025 and generally declines into the following first quarter.

Alphabet's annual report for 2025, filed February 5, 2026, says Google's cost per click is affected by advertiser competition for keywords and by seasonal fluctuations in advertising spending, such as traditional retail seasonality. Neither company publishes what that does to a health brand's cost per patient, and it varies by year and category. So don't plan on a number. Watch your own cost per result against your ceiling every week from early November, and decide in advance what you will do if it rises.

## What to keep running through Black Friday

In a crowded auction, ad sets that are out of learning and under your ceiling are the safest money you have. Meta counts any change to targeting, creative or optimization event, adding a new ad, and pausing for 7 days or longer as significant edits that send an ad set back into learning, where cost per result is usually higher. Hold structure steady from early November to early December.

If costs climb past your ceiling, lower the budget in modest steps rather than pausing for a week or more. Meta says a budget change may or may not restart learning, depending on its size. Plan pacing by the week and the month: Meta says daily budgets average out over a calendar week, may run up to 75% above the budget on some days and won't exceed 7 times the daily budget in a week, and Google can spend up to twice an average daily budget on a day, within a monthly limit of 30.4 times for most campaigns.

## Should you run a Black Friday offer?

Only if the numbers still work after the discount. A lower first-month price lowers what a patient is worth unless it brings in patients who stay. If you run one, these rules apply.

- The former price has to be real. The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing say a former price supports a price comparison when it was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period, and that an inflated price set up to advertise a large reduction makes the bargain false.
- Show the full price. The FTC sued Lens.com on October 2, 2026 over low prices in sponsored Google search ads followed by a mandatory "Taxes & fees" charge at checkout, and its October 5, 2026 letters to healthcare companies warned that a price disclosure can still deceive if it omits fees.
- If the price renews, say so. Under the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, an online subscription must disclose all material terms before taking billing information, get express informed consent before charging, and offer a simple way to stop recurring charges.

On Meta, an ad that promotes a prescription drug, with or without its price, needs prescription drug authorization. Meta lists sharing affordability information, such as price or delivery discounts, among what authorized advertisers can do. Ads that promote telehealth services generally need no authorization.

## Getting January ready in December

January creative should be finished, checked and submitted before the holidays. Meta says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours but some take longer, and ads can be reviewed again after they go live. You can create an ad in advance and leave it off, or set a schedule on the ad set, so it starts on the date you choose.

Adding a new ad to a running ad set is itself a significant edit, so plan when January's new ads go live rather than adding them one by one through the first week. Launching them in one change means one learning period instead of several.

Check your category's January pattern before setting the budget. Keyword Planner shows monthly search estimates for keywords, though Google notes that sensitive keywords may not be discoverable or forecastable, and your own past Januaries are the best guide if you have them. Google's seasonality adjustments tell Smart Bidding about a short event when you expect a major change in conversion rate. Google says they suit events of 1 to 7 days, may not work as well beyond 14 days, and that Smart Bidding already manages seasonal events, so they fit a Black Friday sale better than all of January.

## A simple calendar

- October: decide whether there will be a Black Friday offer, confirm the former price is real, and brief January creative.
- Early November: freeze structure on ad sets that are working, set the weekly cost ceiling, and agree the budget steps you will take if it is breached.
- Black Friday to Cyber Monday: run the offer, if any, with the full price shown. Use a Google seasonality adjustment only for a short sale you expect to move conversion rates sharply.
- December: finish January ads, get them through review and schedule them.
- January: launch the new ads in one change, then raise budget in steps only while cost per patient holds.

## What MedScale does

MedScale Health sets a weekly cost ceiling for November and December, holds proven ad sets steady, checks any promotional price against the FTC's pricing rules before it runs, and has January creative reviewed and scheduled before the holidays. No cost is promised, because the auction sets it. Book the free growth audit for a written Q4 and January plan.

## Next step

**Planning a launch?** The budget calculator turns your price and target cost per patient into a starting budget for the first 90 days.

- [Open the ad budget calculator](https://medscale.health/tools/telehealth-ad-budget-calculator)
- [Plan a launch with us](https://medscale.health/build)
- [Telehealth marketing agency](https://medscale.health/telehealth)
- [Get a free Growth Audit](https://medscale.health/audit): a written read of your ads, pages and eligibility, with a plan

## FAQ

**Do ad costs go up around Black Friday?**

Meta's annual report for 2025 describes historically strong advertiser spending in the fourth quarter, and its auction rewards the highest total value, so more competition raises the bar. Neither Meta nor Google publishes a figure for health brands, so watch your own cost per result weekly.

**Should a telehealth brand pause ads over the holidays?**

Not by default. Meta says pausing an ad set for 7 days or longer sends it back into learning when it restarts, where costs are usually higher. If costs pass your ceiling, lower the budget in steps instead, and pause only ad sets that are not working anyway.

**Can telehealth ads show a Black Friday discount?**

Yes, with care. A former price must be a real one under the FTC's pricing guides, the full price including fees should be clear, and on Meta an ad that promotes a prescription drug and its price needs prescription drug authorization.

**When should January ads be ready?**

Before the holidays. Meta reviews most ads within 24 hours but some take longer, and approved ads can be scheduled to start on a set date. Launch January's new ads in one change so the ad set goes through one learning period, not several.

## Sources

- [Meta Platforms, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (filed Jan 29, 2026): revenue seasonality](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000162828026003942/meta-20251231.htm) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Alphabet, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (filed Feb 5, 2026): factors affecting cost-per-click](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1652044/000165204426000018/goog-20251231.htm) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About ad auctions](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/430291176997542) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: Significant edits and learning phase](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/316478108955072) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About the learning phase](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/112167992830700) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About budgets](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/214319341922580) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Google Ads Help: About average daily budgets](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6385083?hl=en) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [16 CFR Part 233: FTC Guides Against Deceptive Pricing (former price comparisons)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-233) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [FTC press release (Oct 2, 2026): FTC and states sue Lens.com for misrepresenting the price of contact lenses](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/10/ftc-states-sue-lenscom-misrepresenting-price-contact-lenses-search-ads-its-website) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [FTC press release (Oct 5, 2026): FTC issues letters warning against deceptive pricing practices](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/10/ftc-issues-letters-warning-hospitals-against-deceptive-pricing-practices) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [15 U.S.C. 8403 (Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act): negative option marketing on the Internet](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title15/html/USCODE-2024-title15-chap110-sec8403.htm) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About Meta's Prescription Drugs advertising policy](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/263390265553560) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About ads in review](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/204798856225114) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Meta Business Help Center: About scheduling ads](https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1037425549606837) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Google Ads Help: About seasonality adjustments](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10369906?hl=en) (checked October 12, 2026)
- [Google Ads Help: Use Keyword Planner](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7337243?hl=en) (checked October 12, 2026)

## Related

- [Can Your Telehealth Ads Show a Monthly Price?](https://medscale.health/answers/can-telehealth-ads-show-a-monthly-price)
- [How Many New Ads Should a Telehealth Brand Test Each Month?](https://medscale.health/answers/how-many-new-ads-to-test-telehealth)
- [How Should a Telehealth Brand Budget Its First 90 Days of Meta Ads?](https://medscale.health/answers/telehealth-ad-budget-first-90-days)
- [Why Do Telehealth Meta Ads Stall in the Learning Phase?](https://medscale.health/answers/meta-learning-phase-telehealth)

Canonical page: https://medscale.health/answers/telehealth-ad-budget-black-friday-and-january