The governments of Ontario and Quebec once again used radio ads to get the word out and keep people in Toronto and Montreal safe during the recent COVID surge, according to Media Monitors data for Jan. 17 to 23.

After a slight drop to second place in the previous week, the Government of Ontario switched with the Canadian Cancer Society to retake the top spot in Toronto’s radio market as it continued to push public safety and vaccination messages. The rest of the city’s top five were brands that jumped up from a few spots lower on the list: Spence Diamonds, OLG and Subway.

In Montreal, the Government of Quebec continued to hold strong in its top spot. Educ’alool, a non-profit promoting responsible drinking, debuted its winter campaign in the second spot, followed by Bell, which continued to buy strong behind the radio component of this year’s “Let’s Talk” campaign. Hyundai re-entered the top ten most active radio buyers in fourth, pushing Subway down one spot to fifth.

Categorically, PSAs, financial and government ads had the biggest presence on Toronto radio, while government, public service and automakers bought the most in Montreal.