TORONTO – Maybe a series of minority governments in power only for about 18 months or so is something broadcasters might wish for.
Federal election advertising spending in the second quarter show total national ad spending on radio grew by over 10% during this period (December 2005 to February 2006).
The data was released Wednesday by Canadian Broadcast Sales (CBS), a national sales firm representing approximately 60% of all Canadian radio stations, owned by Rogers Media and Corus Entertainment.
In the second quarter, the top five categories by growth on CBS-represented stations were: Printing/publishing 409%; governments/federal/provincial 229%; beer/wine/coolers 149%; medicines 132%; and computers/software 91%. The government category includes all related election spending.
The top five categories by spending accounted for over 54% of total national advertising spending on CBS-represented stations: retail $6.1 million (20.9% share); telecommunications $4.1 (14.1%); government/federal/provincial $2.3 million (7.8%); automotive $1.8 million (6.2%); and financial $1.5 million (5.2%).
“A solid quarter received a top up with additional spending for the federal election,” said Patrick Grierson, president of Canadian Broadcast Sales. “This category had the highest gross dollar and second highest percentage increases, respectively. Elections Canada was a significant contributor here, in addition to the political parties.”
The broad demographic of Adults 25-54 remained dominant for national advertisers capturing a 44.4% share of revenue, an increase of 6.0 share points over second quarter numbers from the previous year. Second place Adults 18-49 dropped to 7.6% from 14.6%. Third place Women 25-54 was flat at 10.2% versus 11.1%, while Men 18-34 moved up four spots to fourth place with 3.9% share from 1.6%.
“The trend we’ve been seeing for growth in Adults 25-54, largely at the expense of Adults 18-49, likely reflects some recognition that baby boomers are continuing to age,” said Grierson. “The ad dollars are following this group, but are still ignoring the fact that leading-edge boomers have already turned 60. Also, Men 18-34 seems to have benefited from the beer wars in Ontario where spending was noticeably up."
