A new study prepared for IAB Canada shows that digital display advertising is on the rise in three major advertising categories. The “2012 Digital Advertising Highlights” study looks at “seasonal digital ad trends and demographic exposure to display ad impressions during 2012” in the automotive, financial services and consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories. It also presented the social media skew on online advertising, tracking a bit of how these sectors are using social tools to enhance their online ads.
Here are few of the highlights.
Auto
Digital advertising by Canada’s automakers grew 19% in 2012, with the number of display ad impressions increasing to 19.5 billion from 16.4 billion the previous year. The number of advertising impressions peaked in June, at just over 2 billion.
GM Canada was the leading digital advertiser, followed by the Ford Motor Company and the Hyundai Motor Company.
The study shows that 63% of all automotive advertising was directed at males, while 22% were aimed at the 35-44 demographic, followed by the 25-34 year-old demo (21%) and the 45-54 demo (18%).
Automotive ads came in numerous incarnations, touting everything from horsepower to 0% financing and contests.
Financial services
The financial services category saw similar growth, growing 20% over the previous year, with October being the most advertised month with just over 4 billion impressions delivered.
The majority of financial services impressions were seen by people living in households with an annual income of between $40,000 and $74,999, while 29% of impressions were delivered to households with an annual income greater than $100,000.
Consumer packaged goods
Advertising in the CPG sector grew 5% to approximately 26.5 billion impressions in 2012, with more than 41% of the ads being health and beauty related – more than twice as much as the second leading category – food and grocery.
Procter & Gamble was the leading advertiser in the CPG category, ahead of Condis BV and the Kellogg Company. Condis BV’s Clearly Contacts was the most advertised CPG product, ahead of Kellogg’s, Tide and Gillette.
Social Media advertising
Digital advertising on social media sites increased 228% in 2012, with significant jumps in both the finance (+937%) and automotive (+325%) categories. The number of CPG impressions for social media increased 52% over the previous year.
Click here to flip through the IAB’s infographics. Research for this study was conducted by comScore.
