After weeks of the top radio advertisers buying upwards of 1,000 ads per week, the Media Monitors charts for the week ending Nov. 8 was notably much more tepid.

The top buyer, BMO, only purchased 866 ads for the week. Even though it rose five spots – last week it was the sixth-highest buyer – its ad count was only slightly higher than the week before, with 866 ads purchased (up from 830).

The top-five, which also consisted of the Government of Canada, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, Ford SUVs and Sleep Country Canada, all had between 709 and 845 ads, much lower than the top buyers last week.

The category charts show some macro-level recoveries – the finance category grew by nearly 50% to top the charts at 3,581 total ads, and there was modest growth among business and consumer services, public service, pharmacy and bedding. But there were also significant dips – government and unions dropped to 1,556 from 2,347, QSR was cut in half to 1,395 and auto dealer associations dropped to 992 from 2,127.

And Montreal showed a similar situation, even though the drops were slightly less drastic. The provincial government stayed on top with a single-digit reduction in their total ads, while Subway stayed in second place with a slight boost to its order. National Bank, Sephora and MasterCard, all of which were new radio buyers, rounded out the top-five.

There were mixed results from a category perspective; government and unions, department stores, public service, employee recruitment and cosmetics and skincare products all showed lifts, but only the cosmetics category showed a very significant increase (250 up from eight). Modest to moderate decreases were seen along finance, QSR, television and cable TV, business and consumer services, and bedding.