Toronto’s biggest radio advertisers continue to build on their plans. With all of the top-five advertisers having purchased more than 900 radio ads in the Toronto market last week, the market is showing signs of a relatively normal summer.

After lessening its buy last week, the Government of Ontario once again purchased a big order of 1,448 ads and topped the Media Monitor charts. Also in the four-figure range was second-place finisher Subway with 1,011 ads.

Some home improvement retailers and banks are investing in radio, too. Lowe’s and Rona came in third and fourth, respectively, with just under 1,000 ads each; while Scotiabank rounded out the top five with 939 ads.

One of the biggest changes in Toronto came from QSR/fast casual restaurants, which more than doubled to 1,862 total ads (from 702). Other big lifts included the top-buying finance category (with more than 3,000 spots), public service, government and unions, television and cable TV, home improvement products and services and jewelry sales and repair. Modest increases were also seen in home centres and hardware stores. However, food and beverage retailers cut their collective spend by nearly half.

Montreal continues to stay somewhat tepid, with no major strides from key advertisers or categories between weeks. The provincial government remains the top buyer there as well, although its buy was reduced to 544 after more than two months at more than 800 weekly spots (nevertheless, the government and unions category remained strong thanks to 395 ads newly purchased by the province’s Commission on Health and Safety).

Consolidated Credit grew its buy to 498 ads, landing in second place, while CTV remained relatively steady in third place with 429 ads. The Commission on Health and Safety came in fourth and Subway rounded out the top-five at 395 ads.

For categories, government and unions grew its buy by about 10%, up to 1,165. Additionally, the finance category moved to second place in the list after purchasing nearly 50% more ads, to a total of 812 spots. Television and cable TV, and medical and diagnostic services, also saw modest boosts, but most categories saw small declines – such as public services, home centres and hardware stores, wireless and internet services and others.