Research Outline

Ad Spend Forecasts - Canada

Goals

To gain an insight on the forecasts for 2020 on advertising spend in Canada.

Early Findings

  • eMarketer found that companies are predicted to spend C$8.80 billion on digital ads, which is 53.5% of total ad spending. Total ad spend is predicted to be C$16.43 billion.
  • 2020's predicted total ad spend is C$17.46 billion, of which C$9.9 billion will be on digital. The total ad spend represents a growth of 6.3%. Digital ad growth is calculated as 12.5%.
  • Mobile ad spending is predicted to grow 33.7%, while video will grow 23.3%.
  • The full report from eMarketer would have more granular data on exact market sizes for each segment.
  • Another report from Dentsu Aegis Network has similar data, showing digital will be more than 50% of the market this year, more than double TV's 24% segmentation share.
  • 70% of digital ad spending is through mobile in Canada.
  • TV ad spend is predicted to grow by only 1% in 2019 and 2020, down from 3% growth in 2018.
  • Newspaper spending dropped 19% last year, but it is expected to also grow 1% in 2019 and 2020.
  • Radio spending grew 10% but is predicted to remain flat.
  • OOH grew 10% in 2018, and it will have 10% and 7% growth in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
  • Statista reports that ad spending in 2019 broke down as such: Pay TV US$1.2 billion, Free-to-air TV US$1.7 billion, online TV US$175 million, radio US$1.5 billion, newspapers US$1.4 billion, magazines US$150 million, OOH US$665 million and digital US$8.3 billion.
  • Converting these to Canadian dollars would be: Pay TV C$1.6 billion, Free-to-air TV C$2.26 billion, online TV C$233 million, radio C$2 billion, newspapers C$1.87 billion, magazines C$200 million, OOH C$886 million and digital C$11.1 billion.
  • Using the growth rates supplied by Dentsu Aegis Network, we can compute some 2020 values: TV (all added together) C$4.13 billion, newspaper C$1.89 billion, radio C$2billion (no growth), OOH C$948 million and digital C$12.49 billion.
  • There are some discrepancies in market sizes due to using different market research reports, each of which will have their own methodologies for calculation.

PROPRIETARY RESEARCH AVAILABLE

We found some proprietary research from one of our data partners which may be helpful:
Advertising in Canada (MarketLine, $350)
If you'd like us to purchase this report on your behalf, just let us know!