Vividata has released research that shows that nearly two-thirds of Canadian adults notice at least one ad in an average day. Ads in streaming video are effective for reaching younger Canadians while adults 50-plus skew more towards traditional TV.
Meanwhile, 85% say they notice ads in online media in an average week with younger age groups more likely to notice than older adults – 90% of 25 to 34 and 88% of 35 to 49 compared to 83% of 50 to 64 and 77% of 65-plus. Ads on streaming video (59%), search (57%), social media (55%), and email ads (52%) get the most notice.
Offline media (84%) gets almost as much notice in an average week as online with older age groups more likely to notice than younger Canadians – 84% of 25 to 34 and 85% of 35 to 49 compared to 84% of 50 to 64 and 86% of 65-plus. TV ads (69%) get the most awareness, followed by radio (49%), OOH/transit (33%), and print newspapers (18%).
The top media types for ad awareness are TV and video streaming with a national average of 69% of Canadian adults noticing ads on TV and 59% noticing ads on streaming video. When comparing awareness of ads on radio and streaming audio, awareness of radio ads on average is 49% vs 32% on streaming audio.
Since most campaigns include more than one channel, advertising awareness by media mix is an important metric. Media mixes comprised mainly of digital channels reach nearly half of younger adults. The media combination that achieves the highest reach and awareness among all Canadian adults in an average week is TV, video streaming, and search at 34% (representing those who saw any ad in all three media in an average week).
The media mixes that follow at 33% are video streaming, social, and search, and TV, video streaming, and social. Television, social, and search, and video streaming, and search both are noticed by 31% of Canadian adults.
Most Canadian adults (65%) say advertising helps them choose what products and services to buy with TV (36%), social (20%), email (15%), radio (15%), and streaming video (13%) being the most effective.
While being aware of ads is good, knowing where Canadians are most likely to pay attention to ads is better. Adults under 35 are nearly twice as likely as older adults to pay attention to ads on social, streaming audio and video, and mobile. They are 40% more likely to pay attention to theatre ads before a film.
The Vividata research also looks at perceived representation in advertising and found that 50% of Canadian adults say, “I don’t see people like presented enough in ads.” Adults that identify as BIPOC, LBGTQ+, or new Canadians feel underrepresented, which opens up new ad opportunities for brands to connect with these consumers. Nearly one in four adults feel underrepresented in TV and one in seven feel the same about ads on social media.
