The shift in weather has also seen a shift in buying on Toronto radio, with bedding, home furnishings and food and beverage brands making big gains, while auto slides back.

Despite the big category shifts, the number-one individual spender in Toronto was Bell Canada, with 1,127 ads for the week.

Many of the top-10 individual advertisers in Toronto hadn’t purchased in the previous week. Immediately behind Bell, with 1,039 ads was Shoppers Drug Mart, which had not purchased ads on radio the week before. Shoppers was the only pharmacy brand to advertise in Toronto the week of August 31, but those 1,039 ads still made it the tenth-largest buying category in the market.

Sleep Country Canada grew its buy to 958 ads, rising up to the third spot from fifth. DTC competitor Casper, new to the charts, trailed directly behind with 909 ads. Other new advertisers on the charts included Sobeys and Benjamin Moore.

In terms of categories, business and consumer services topped the charts with a small decrease in total ads purchased (2,711). Bedding followed with a 90% increase at 1,939 ads. Other big increases came from home furnishings (a 72% increase), food and beverage retailers (more-than-doubled) and the aforementioned pharmacy category. The only category that saw major decreases was auto dealer associations, which was cut in half to 1,544.

While Montreal saw some shifts, they were nowhere near as drastic as the Toronto market.

There were few jumps among the top buyers – the provincial government stayed on top with 900 ads, while Dormez-vous held steady in second with 445 ads. Bell Canada climbed a single spot to third with 344 ads, while Rogers and Bell Internet both posted small climbs to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Despite the perceived power of wireless and telcos, it was once again government and unions that topped the charts from a category perspective, holding relatively steady with 1,086 ads. The business and consumer services category was neck-and-neck with wireless carriers in second and third, with 524 and 523 ads respectively (both saw small decreases).

But there were noteworthy category increases in Montreal as well, with public service seeing a small boost. Department stores, although less active in buying overall, nearly doubled to 422 total ads. Home furnishings and television and cable also saw modest increases.