The latest analysis from Guideline, owner of Standard Media Index (SMI), shows that while there’s been a definite cooling in overall ad spend, key categories continued to experience growth during the first half of the year.

Ad spend in Canada has had year-over-year growth in seven of the last 12 months, but it dipped by 3.3% in June and was relatively flat through the first half of the year. SMI also pointed out, however, that this is compared to an “overly hot” 2022.

During the first half of 2023, digital ad spending increased 7% year-over-year, while out-of-home continued its post-pandemic rebound with a 14% increase. On the downside, spending declines were seen in linear TV (10%), radio (13%) and print (31%).

The media placements that benefited from the spending were led by long-form streaming video, which rose by 74% as connected TV options continue to mature in Canada and more ad-supported streaming options develop in the market. Podcast spending increased by 21%, while the spend in online video grew by 20%.

“If there’s one thing you can always count on when it comes to advertising, it’s that dollars follow consumer behaviour,” said Darrick Li, VP of sales, North America media owners, at Guideline. “We see the direct implications of that notion with the surges in online video and long-form OTT as Canadian consumers shift towards streaming TV and social video. While we can expect linear to continue its decline as viewership stays on its digital path, one thing for certain is that long-form total video across linear and digital, will continue to be an attractive medium for advertisers to invest.”

Spending in many key product categories was down or remained flat in the first half of 2023. The biggest decline was in technology, which was down by 12% year-over-year, followed by financial services (11%). Food and beverages stayed flat with a 0.2% increase. One area where spending increased was pharmaceuticals, where brands increased spending by 24%.