The Toronto radio market continued to ride a summer heat wave, with many categories staying steady (although auto categories did ease off slightly) for the week ending Aug. 2.
Public Mobile was the top buyer, increasing its buy to 1,102 ads. The next two spots were filled by Sobeys – one for Sobeys itself (1,041 ads, a big leap from its previous buy) and the next for Sobeys new delivery program Voila (1,024 ads, its third week in the row with more than 1,000 spots for the service). The top-five was rounded out by Sleep Country Canada and Scotiabank, both of which posted notable increases in their buys. Notably, the Government of Ontario, which has been one of the top advertisers (if not the top buyer) in the Toronto market, was not even in the top 10 this week – the radio market was mostly carried by consumer brands and services.
Categories were mostly consistent in Toronto – finance remained on top, but the total buy decreased slightly to just over 3,000. Insurance and some auto categories (most notably dealer associations) also saw their buys drop. But those were balanced out by lifts in business and consumer services (2,439 ads) food and beverage retailers (1,471), wireless carriers (1,281), bedding retailers and manufacturers (965) and fast casual/QSR advertisers (958). QSRs showed the most drastic increase at nearly four times the previous week’s buy.
While governments and unions aren’t playing a big role in the Toronto market anymore, the Quebec government remained the biggest buyer in the Montreal market with 1,139 ads. Consolidated Credit was in a distant second and although it grew its ad slightly, it still has yet to break 500 ads in one week.
That was followed by consistent third-place buyer CTV (347 ads), new entrant Rona (291) and Invent Help (277).
Government and unions continued to top the Montreal market with a slight increase in its total buy (1,304), while the finance category balanced it out with a slight dip. There were minor to moderate increases from public service, television and cable TV, business and consumer services, bedding, wireless internet services and department stores, while home and hardware stores also debuted on the charts with 274 total ads. The only category besides finance to show any decrease in Montreal was a very minor decrease among insurance providers.
