TORONTO – Canadian radio outperformed its U.S. counterparts and the 25-54 demographic gained further share of market, according to Canadian Broadcast Sales, a national sales firm co-owned by Rogers Communications (46 stations) and Corus Entertainment (51 stations) representing approximately 60% of all Canadian radio stations.
For the 12 months ending August 2005, spot and non-spot radio sales increased only 1% in the U.S. compared to an overall increase in Canada of 8.7%, comprised of national growth of 17% and local growth of 6.1%.
There are a number of reasons for this, CBS president Patrick Grierson told www.cartt.ca in an interview. One is that the two largest U.S. broadcasters, Clear Channel and Infinity Broadcasting, cut their overall available ad time inventories because so many clients had complained about radio ad clutter.
Another reason is that since TV ad creative sometimes doesn’t translate for the Canadian market, companies will turn to radio in Canada because radio ads are cheaper to produce.
And finally, “The U.S., I don’t think, has done a particularly good job at selling the medium,” adds Grierson.
The top five categories by growth on CBS-represented stations are: office machines/furniture 400%; loyalty/rewards programs 163%; food and food products 92.9%; insurance 59.2%; and automotive 46.9%.
The top five categories by spending accounted for 51.4% of national advertising spending on CBS-represented stations: retail $23 million (17.2%); automotive $18.1 million (13.6%); telecommunications $11.6 million (8.7%); restaurant/fast food $8.1 million (6.1%); beer/wine/coolers $7.8 million (5.8%).
And, with all the new telecom players around these days – and the incumbents responding, telecom ad spending has grown about 15% already this fiscal year, said Grierson.
The broad demographic of adults 25-54 continued as the target of choice for national advertisers capturing a 43.65% share of revenue, an increase of 3% over the previous year, according to the CBS press release.
Second place adults 18-49 dropped 2.45% to 14.5% from 16.9%. Third place women 25-54 held steady at 9.4%, while men 18-34 increased 0.65% to a fourth place share of 5.12%.
“It is interesting that the broadest demographic of adults 25-54 gained 10% share in a time when everybody claims to be more targeted in their media buying and more and more attention is devoted to niche markets and demos,” said Grierson. “This 25-54 demo growth is also inconsistent with what we know about the aging population and their disposable income.”
“Looking ahead to the end of the first quarter, we see continued strength for radio across all major categories due, in part, to the increased fragmentation of media,” said Grierson. “The debate over the granting of satellite radio licenses has heightened interest in the radio medium. However, given the proposed non-commercial nature of satellite radio and the unknown timetable for its launch, we believe commercial radio will experience no impact in 2006 and for some time to come.
“Will satellite radio have an impact, even in the long term? No, I don’t think so,” Grierson added.
