Much has been made of the plight of Canada’s newspapers, but new data from eMarketer suggests there is a significant imbalance between their daily reach and the amount of advertising revenue they attract.
According to the company’s latest research, newspapers will account for a reported 15.6% of Canadian ad spending in 2016, despite accounting for just 3.3% of the daily time spent with media by adults 18+.
The imbalance is expected to continue through at least 2018, when newspapers will attract 13.7% of all advertiser investment despite accounting for just 2.9% of daily media time.
Print is currently the only major media segment where ad spending outpaces time spent. Magazines will attract an estimated 3.9% of ad dollars this year, despite representing less than 1% (0.9%) of time spent with media.
Digital, meanwhile, will account for nearly half (45%) of time spent with media this year, yet will attract just over one-third (36.2%) of ad spending. The two columns will be slightly more aligned in 2018, with time spent and ad spend accounting for 48.1% and 40.1% respectively.
The current imbalance in mobile (25.2% of time spent versus 17.4% of total ad spending) will largely be corrected within the next two years, attracting 26.9% of ad spending while accounting for 29.2% of time spent with media.
Elsewhere, TV will attract 34.7% of media time and 26.1% of advertising investment this year, compared with 33.2% and 25.1% respectively in 2018. Radio is more closely aligned, accounting for 16.1% of daily time spent with media and 12.3% of advertiser investment.
