Radio buying in Toronto was up across multiple categories for the week ended May 17, according to the latest Media Monitors charts.
The Ontario Government remains the largest spender on the market, increasing its buy even more to 2,632 (up from 2,010). But its buy was followed by some advertisers that were either returning to the charts after some time away from ad buying, or those who upped their order from previous weeks.
Second- and third-place finishers Toyota and Allstate did not advertise the previous week, but went on to buy 982 and 952 ads, respectively. In fourth place, Rona stayed strong at 892 ads (up slightly from 879). Fifth-place finisher Lowe’s also upped its buy to 855 (up from 790).
Other advertisers returning to radio buying included the Toyota Dealers Association (808 spots), HydroOne (726) and Canadian Blood Services (422).
Despite the Ontario Government’s boosted buy, the government and union category overall went down. It still, however, topped the charts at 2,897 (down from 3,268). However, hardware stores, financial services, car and truck dealer associations, insurance providers, cars and trucks (Asian factory), food and beverages and business and computer services all saw significant lifts in their advertising (in some cases, like food and beverage services, more than tenfold). The television/cable TV and public service categories saw slight drops.
The “return to radio” theme in Toronto was not the same in Montreal, however.
The Government of Quebec remained at the top with a consistent purchase of 891 ads. CTV also stayed put in second place with 240 ads, nearly cutting its previous buy of 402 in half. Accent Insurance Solutions kept its buy steady at 238, tying for third with Litresits Opticien.
Rounding out the top five was retailer Shopico with 325 ads.
Category buys stayed relatively steady in Montreal. Government and unions were down slightly to 1,129, although public service went up to 689. The most significant lifts were seen in consumer electronics, which went up to 336 (from 142), while most other categories hovered around the same place where they had the last week. No one category saw a significant drop, however.
