Internet ad revenues in Canada came within $382 million of television’s ad revenue total in 2012, dramatically shrinking TV’s lead, according to the annual year-end report released this week by the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada.
Revenues for Canadian internet ads, encompassing both online and mobile, continued the double-digit growth streak enjoyed since 2007, hitting $3.1 billion in net revenue, up 15% from $2.7 billion in 2011.
Mobile revenue led the growth spurt, nearly doubling to $160 million.
“The dramatic growth of mobile devices and their use, both in and outside the home, is driving market growth,” says Chris Williams, president of IAB Canada. “Canadians seek more information whenever and wherever they are; marketers want to be there at that moment. Additionally there is an increased use of targeting precision across search, display and video driving media efficiency.”
Online (i.e. non-mobile) advertising grew to $2.9 billion, passing last year’s forecasts by 2.8%. The key driver behind that growth was the boom in search, which grew 21%. Online video revenues also grew by 27%.
Television’s share of total Canadian major advertising revenue actually fell to 30.9% in 2012, while internet advertising’s rose to 27.5% (the remainder being made up by radio, daily newspapers and magazines).
The top 10 advertisers continued to own the Canadian online space, spending 82% of all online dollars and roughly repeating their performance of the two previous years. The biggest advertiser category continued to be automotive, which actually generated a higher share of online revenue than it did the year prior.
The full report is available from IAB Canada.
