While GroupM’s latest forecast on global ad and media investment shows the U.S. is still the biggest influencer worldwide, This Year, Next Year also highlights a number of changes in the Canadian market.
Media Spending
Canadian spending on media increased 1.8% to $13.6 billion in 2013 and is projected to rise another 2% in 2014 to $13.9 billion and 2.1% in 2015 to $14.1 billion.
Digital and interactive media grew the most, 7.9% to $2.8 billion, while television ad spend rose 2% to $3.4 billion. Going in the opposite direction were newspapers and consumer magazines, both down 2% and business magazines, down 1%.
Millions in $CAD. Click to enlarge
Media Share
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Big Spenders
As usual, P&G remains the biggest single spender on media with its total spend rising 10% in 2013 to $196 million. The next biggest spender was Rogers Communications, which dropped 2% to $143 million.
GM (+15% to $117 million), Bell (+4% to $102 million) and Ford (+23% to $91 million) round out the top five.
Of the top 20 charted by GroupM, George Weston Limited (the parent company of Loblaw) saw its spending on media increase the most – 60% – in 2013 to $63 million from $39 million in 2012.
While a number of these individual companies have increased their spending, most of Canada’s major ad sectors saw declines in overall investment. Of the top 18 markets, 13 of them saw at least some decline.
Market influences at a glance
These are the factors GroupM called out as having a bearing on ad and media investment over the course of the year.
• “57% of Canadians own a smartphone and 30% own a tablet”
• “However, Ipsos finds that of four hours per capita daily ‘watching’, 80% is on a large screen and 83% can be classified ‘commercial’ airtime. TV viewing hours remain stable”
• “Rogers Media now controls the vast majority of Ice Hockey media rights following landmark 12-year $5.2BN deal. This deprives the part state funded CBC of much programming including 61-year flagship Hockey Night in Canada”
• “The Canadian Radio and Television Commission has again been asked to review ‘simultaneous substitution’, being the insertion of local ads into US TV network feeds. To stop would devastate the Canadian media economy, so broadcasters, agencies and advertisers support its continuation”
• “Nielsen OCR now live in Canada, allowing advertisers to measure reach and frequency on digital campaigns”
• “Media owners now offer advanced data targeting. Rogers, Bell and Shaw match subscriber data with media consumption habits across all media channels”
