Enough Canadian marketers have jumped into Internet advertising that the Toronto-based Interactive Advertising Bureau expects total 2006 revenue to top $801 million. In a report released yesterday, the IAB pegged the amount spent in 2005 at $562 million, a 54% increase from the previous year, in which the comparable figure was $364 million. Approximately $124 million or 22% of ad dollars were allocated to the French Canadian market.
Display advertising, including CPM and direct response banner advertising programs, plus sponsorship, continues to garner the largest portion of the online advertising pie at 41% of total revenues, while search advertising grew to a 35% share of all online advertising in 2005. The remaining online ad categories included classifieds/directories at 22% of total revenue, and email at 2%.
‘There’s no question that Canadian marketers are getting the Internet religion,’ says Lynn Fletcher, formerly Arnold Worldwide’s chief strategic officer and now a partner in Toronto-based Fletcher Weir Consulting. ‘In many cases, agencies are rushing to catch up, (but) clients are well aware that, as they move on from attention-based connection strategies, they need larger investments in the Internet to really deliver engagement – especially among key youth and business-to-business targets. As in every medium, the key to success lies in finding the best ideas to create consumer relevance and build the brand’s momentum. But on the Internet, the expectations are now higher for both consumers and marketers.’
The most active adopters of Internet advertising, IAB president Paula Gignac told Media in Canada, are the auto manufacturing and financial sectors. But the Canadian packaged goods industry ‘has a little more work to do in getting online.’ Where she’s seeing dollars subtracted within marketers’ ad budgets is chiefly direct marketing. ‘As we’re getting closed mailbox in terms of do-not-call and do-not-deliver initiatives in Canada and the U.S., some of those DM dollars are going to online.’ Many other advertisers are merely directing bigger portions of their ad spending from traditional media into their own online properties.
The bottom line, says Gignac, ‘ is always the most efficient use of dollars. So we’d like to see greater recognition of where online fits in the mix to help advertisers build product sales, build reach, build frequency and get their objectives met.’
