As Ontario begins the gradual and complex process of re-opening its businesses, the provincial government has slowly eased off of its radio buying activity in the city of Toronto.
However, the Government of Ontario was still the most active radio advertiser in the market last week – beating the second-place advertiser nearly twofold – but it cut its order down by about 800 spots. The government purchased 1,898 spots on Toronto radio, followed by Allstate, which purchased 973 (up from 952).
Third-place finisher Toyota reduced its buy slightly but remained at over 900 ads for the week, while the Toyota Dealer Association was just behind at 885 (up from 808). Rounding out the top five was 1-800-GOT-JUNK.
The provincial government’s reduction lowered the overall buy for the government and unions category to 2,117, down from 2,899, but the category was still the highest advertiser in the market. After gradually rising, some categories did taper off in advertising; public service went down to 1,688 (from 1,750), financial went to 1,673 (from 1,909) and television and cable TV went to 1,133 (from 1,228). However, other categories continued to see moderate to significant boosts, like business and consumer service, which doubled to 1,221, and retail stores, which doubled to 713.
In Montreal, the provincial government held steady at 854 ads, but other advertisers that had slowly reduced their buys are slowly increasing their buys, or holding steady. CTV, for example, was in second place with 374 ads, up from 240. Third-through-fifth place advertisers Shopico, Debt Relief and The Source all held their buys at roughly the same level, with single-digit increases.
Some categories are also seeing boosts again after several weeks of reduction. While the government and unions category, as well as public service both went down slightly, Montreal saw the following categories increase their radio buys: television and cable TV (589, up from 571), finance (523, up from 466) and consumer electronics (388, up from 366). Moderate decreases were seen in categories such as insurance, wireless internet services and restaurants and night clubs.
