This week once again saw some major lifts in activity among Toronto’s biggest radio advertising categories. But the real drastic shift on the Media Monitors charts for the week ending July 19 was in Montreal, which has been slower to recover following the COVID-19-related advertising slowdown. In both markets, categories besides government and unions are surging, with auto taking a particularly big step forward.

In Toronto, the Government of Ontario stayed steady at the top with 1,201 ads. New entrant, Voila by Sobey’s, debuted in the second spot with 1,117 ads. The third-place finishing Toyota Dealers Association grew its buy to 964 ads. Another auto dealer association, Nissan, followed closely with 956. Scotiabank fell to fifth place from third, although its buy of 845 ads was not substantially smaller than it had been the week previous.

For categories, finance advertisers stayed on top in Toronto with 4,113, a slight decrease from last week. Auto dealer associations came in second with more than triple its previous buy. Other big increases came from food and beverage retailers (nearly five times higher than the previous week), Asian factory cars and trucks (more-than-doubled from the previous week), local auto dealers (a 49% increase) and insurance providers (nearly doubled). Business and consumer services, public service and governments and unions fell slightly, while QSR saw a more significant decline.

Unlike Toronto where the provincial government has played a less prominent role over time, in Montreal the Government of Quebec grew its ad buy. It purchased 1,138 ads, up from 706. CTV also grew its ad buy to 519 ads, while Consolidated Credit grew slightly to 501.

Fourth-place buyer Chevrolet held its position, but grew its buy by more than 100 ads. And Mazda, the fifth-place buyer, entered the charts with 357 ads.

For categories, Asian factory autos was on top with 1,210 ads, a nearly 50% increase from the previous week. Other big increases came from domestic factory autos (a 43% increase), local auto dealers (a 295% increase), television and cable TV (25%), insurance providers (99%) and auto dealer associations (nearly 100 times higher). Governments and unions, as well as bedding retail and manufacturer, also saw modest increases, while finance stayed steady and public service saw a small decrease.