NEW YORK — The Canadian advertising market experienced a 19% year-over-year drop in 2020, making it the most Covid-impacted market in comparison with an 8% total decline across all Anglo markets studied by Standard Media Index’s most recent advertising intelligence report.
Taking a look at calendar year 2020, Canada’s 48% decline in advertising spend in the second quarter was the most pronounced compared to the U.S., U.K., Australian and New Zealand markets, but it managed to recover somewhat by the end of the year, with only a 6% year-over-year decline in Q4 2020. However, Canada is showing a slower recovery compared to the other markets, SMI’s analysis reveals.
The 8% total decline in advertising spend across the five countries equals a US$7.6-billion drop in ad spend for 2020, the largest decline ever seen in these key markets, says SMI.
Looking at advertising media type, digital now leads television overall, having expanded to 47% of total media investment in 2020, compared to 44% for television. In 2019, the Anglo market media investment split between digital and television was 42% and 46%, respectively.
In Canada, the ad market experienced upward movement in digital allocation by six percentage points, growing from 47% in 2019 to 53% in 2020, making it the most pronounced rise in digital allocation among the analyzed markets, along with the U.S. market which also saw its digital allocation increase by six percentage points year over year. The percentage of Canadian ad spend allocated to television remained 36% in 2020, the same percentage as 2019.
Analyzed by quarter, the shift toward digital advertising in Canada started in Q2 2020, where digital accounted for 53% of the national advertising media mix that quarter, and grew to 57% of media investment by Q4.
In terms of product category performance, diminished spend from entertainment and travel in Q4 2020 pulled the Canadian market down despite strong improvement in household supplies which was up 111%. In Q4, entertainment spend was down 45% and travel was down 83% year over year in Canada. Please see below for more details.
