News

BBM Media Snapshot: Canadians who bought patio furniture

* 4 million Canadians (15%) bought patio furniture during the last two years.
* 50% of those who bought are between 35 and 54 years old.
* Ontario has the highest incidence of patio furniture buyers in Canada (last two years) – 41% versus the 15% Canadian average. Ontario is the only region above the national average.
* 55% of patio furniture buyers live in families of three or more members; 39% live in households of two members.
* Their average personal yearly income is 1.4 times the national average.
* Consumer facts about those who bought patio furniture during the last two years are: 56% have gas barbecues (1.8 times national average), 13% have a pool (1.8 times national average), 12% have a camping trailer (1.7 times the national average), and 13% own a cottage (1.3 times national average).
* 25% of patio furniture buyers attend a craft show at least once a year (1.5 times national average), 22% go to home shows (1.7 times national average), and 13% attend garden shows (1.6 times national average).
* Their top media for yesterday’s exposure are radio (90%), TV (90%) and daily newspapers (61%).
* News/talk (21%), adult contemporary (20%) and classic/mainstream rock (12%), are the top radio formats amongst patio furniture buyers.
* Their preferred TV program types watched in an average week are: movies (72%), news/current affairs (70%), suspense/crime (49%), and documentaries (47%).

Source: BBM RTS Canada Fall ’03 / Spring ’04

The preceding information is from BBM RTS, a syndicated consumer-media survey of over 55,000 Canadians, conducted twice a year by BBM Canada. For more information contact Craig Dorning of BBM Canada: cdorning@bbm.ca.

News

Teletoon grabs lots for fall

Teletoon’s got a full lineup for fall. For the four-to-six set, Gerald McBoing Boing airs weekdays at 3 p.m. with a launch date of Monday, Aug. 29. Carl2, a half-hour Teletoon original is aimed at tweens nine to 11, beginning Saturday, Sept. 3. The show airs on weekends at 7 p.m. , yet another original, is a half hour also beginning on Saturday, Sept. 3. It airs weekends at 4 p.m. for the nine to 11 age group. The girl-skewed The Life & Times of Juniper Lee begins on Sunday, Sept. 4 and airs on Sundays at 5 p.m. The half-hour show is going for the six-to-12 viewership. makes its debut on Thursday, Sept. 1, airing on Thursdays and Fridays at 8:30 p.m. It’s for the eight- to 10-year-olds.

Older kids are in for a bit of fun with Sons of Butcher beginning on Friday, Sept. 2 at 9:30 p.m. The half-hour show skews male 14 to 17. Station X, a half-hour multimedia series begins its half hour on Saturday, Sept, 3. The show airs weekends at 9:30 p.m. and goes for the 12-to-17 crowd. The Wrong Coast, a 13-episode, half-hour series is aimed at 18+. The show launches on Saturday, Sept, 3 and airs weekends at 11 p.m.

News

Choose your own neighbour on CTV’s summer series

Imagine a place where you can choose your own neighbours. No, we’re not talking Wisteria Lane. On CTV’s new reality series Welcome to the Neighborhood, the participants get just that. Neighbours living in a quiet suburban community get to choose the family who will move next door as seven very different house-hungry families vie to impress them. Talk about kissing up to the Joneses. The hour-long series debuts on Sunday, July 10 at 9 p.m. targeting adults 25-54.

News

Sports reality series hits Toronto 1

For people who really want to know the world of Jerry Maguire, there’s new sports reality series Super Agent beginning on Monday, July 4 at 1 a.m. on Toronto 1. The series follows the process of nine sports agents competing for a chance to sign a projected first-round National Football Leagure (NFL) draft pick. NFL vet and six-time Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez hosts. The show’s bull’s-eye is adults 25-54.

News

Warren becomes president of Carat US

Ray Warren has accepted the post of president of Carat US and president of Carat Media Group Americas. In the latter role, he will oversee ops at Carat USA, Carat Canada and Carat Latin America. Warren will report to Carat Americas CEO David Verklin. Warren was previously managing director at OMD USA.

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PMB Factoid

Attendance at sporting events when on vacation – by age

News

Analysis: Satellite radio gets greenlight

Media in Canada Op/Ed columnist David Bray is SVP of Hennessy & Bray Communications.

There are but a few defining moments in the history of any industry. The CRTC decision unveiled at 4pm yesterday maps out a future for radio that will undoubtedly energize listeners from coast to coast. With their approval of three subscription licenses, the CRTC issued an emphatic yes to new technologies which Chairman Charles Dalfen, in a crystal clear (you might say digital) fashion, declared ‘will help to give Canadian talent exposure to listeners across Canada and indeed, North America-both through new Canadian channels and airplay on U.S. channels.’ John Bitove, chairman CEO and founder of Canadian Satellite Radio, the firm that triggered this entire process, said ‘this is a tremendous opportunity for all Canadians and an evolutionary milestone in maintaining our country’s leadership position within the global broadcasting industry.’ Kevin Shea, President & CEO of Sirius Canada remarked that ‘the commission has worked hard to give us a reasonable and creative framework within which we can move toward providing Canadians with an outstanding programming line-up.’

The first critical step took place last November with the CRTC hearings in Ottawa/Hull at which three satellite/subscription applications were presented. These included the XM/Canadian Satellite Radio and Sirius/CBC/Standard satellite proposals along with the CHUM terrestrial/DAB offering. In the room was a who’s who of Radio in Canada. The lobbying for intervention support leading up to all of this was intense. So much hand shaking and arm twisting took place that few people in the radio or music industries were left with shoulder sockets in tact. After that came the hand wringing as everyone awaited the decision which was over seven months in coming.

News

Cineplex Galaxy- Famous Players merger creates one-stop shop for cinema ad buys

Cineplex Galaxy expects its $500 million purchase of the Famous Players chain to provide great benefits to media buyers and clients as a one-stop national cinema network.The combined company has 132 theatres and more than 1300 screens across the country – after the sale of 35 theatres (284 screens in six provinces) recently was mandated by the Competition Bureau. Cineplex currently has 86 theatres and 775 while Famous Players has 81 locations with 787 screens.
Pat Marshall, VP communications for Cineplex Galaxy, says, ‘It’s wonderful to have a single source to call to cover the entire country. Obviously there will be more economies of scale available as well and we also handle advertising for a number of other (theatre) circuits in Canada.’ Marshall adds, ‘(Another benefit) is we have upgraded to a new digital system at Cineplex theatres in the Toronto EMA (extended market area) and we will be applying that to the balance our (Cineplex Galaxy) chain by the end of the year. The next stage is how to integrate that into the existing Famous Players advertising pieces.’

News

GJP shoots horror-tainment for Covad

Toronto shop GJP Advertising is in the movie business. Well, sort of. Creative director and EVP of GJP, John Farquhar, knew something way out of the box (literally) was in order for their client, San-Jose-based communications giant Covad. Their mission: ‘To overtake the phone company.’ The product: VoIP services. Their target audience: IT managers of small to medium-sized companies; one of the most highly penetrated U.S. broadband audiences who actively use the web to inform purchase decisions.

Last fall GJP sold Covad on branded entertainment, producing a ‘whodunit’ campaign that made Covad a finalist for the AMA’s ‘Next Big Thing’ award, Since Covad ended the first quarter of 2005 with 690 VoIP business customers, representing a 14 percent increase in VoIP station count from December, they were persuaded to do a follow-up, and push the boundaries right into the realm of horror. ‘Everybody on both sides really did swallow deep on this one,’ said Farquhar. ‘They had some familiarity and definitely some success with branded entertainment and they were determined to create a famous brand in a relatively new category, so we thought we’d follow it as a form and see what we could do.’

News

Wild On media set to fly

Toronto-based OOH company Wild On Media is launching its first ever skymural this month. Beginning June 25 until Labour Day, the company will fly a 10,000 square foot mural towed by helicopters for Bell Canada’s 125th anniversary above select high-traffic events such as the CNE, Molson Indy and the 2005 Pride Parade. The price tag? A cool $77,000. ‘The prices are determined by the number of hours and the size of the banner,’ says George Christidis, president. ‘The client gets the choice of flight hours and the price includes the production of these billboards in the sky.’ Wild On flies over Canada’s major markets including Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Prices start at $39,700 for a 2500 square foot ad at 18 hours of flight time for one market.
www.wildonmedia.com

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ComBase market focus: Reaching women in B.C.

ComBase Market Focus: Reaching Women in B.C.

The female audience has long been a major target group for advertisers because women are the key decision makers for a wide range of personal and family products. Although in demand, women lead busy, multitasking lifestyles that have increasingly made it harder for media buyers to reach them.

Declining television viewing:
* 46% are light TV watchers (less than 9.5 hours weekly).
* 20% didn’t watch any TV yesterday.

Declining daily newspaper readership:
* 29% cannot be reached with dailies.

Declining radio listening:
* 39% can’t be reached with radio.

In British Columbia, 75% of women can be reached with community newspapers on weekdays.

Source: ComBase 2003-2004 Study
ComBase, the Community Newspaper Database, is a syndicated consumer-media survey of more than 400 Canadian markets that provides market-by-market information. It is an initiative of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and its nearly 700 members across the country. For more information, contact Kelly Levson, senior project manager, kellylevson@combase.ca.

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BBM Commercial Television Tracking Service

How much share of market have specialty stations taken from conventional stations in the Toronto EM?
Click below for a comparison of conventional & specialty GRPS and share by broadcast quarter for the first 3 quarters of the 2003/4 and 2004/5 seasons, based on adults 25-54.

Conventional & specialty GPRS and share by broadcast quarter

News

Animal Planet scores three; CTV Travel goes island-hopping

Animal Planet’s gone hunting and brought back three wild new series for fall. First is Corwin’s Quest, a show that has Jeff Corwin searching the globe for the most interesting animals. Buggin’ with Ruud is hosted by quirky entomologist Ruud Kleinpaste in a skin-crawling journey into the word of insects. Finally, Animal Lifeline, a three-part series has host Lyndal Davies presenting a $10,000 cheque to a designated project/sanctuary with a challenge to that recipient to use that money to the best effect. All shows are an hour long.

CTV Travel goes island-hopping this fall with new half-hour series Island Escapes. The series showcases popular island destinations with a focus on food, history and people.

News

Discovery Health goes into rehab

Toronto-based Discovery Health network has picked up 28 Days in Rehab, a four-parter that looks at people going through rehab. The series airs Mondays at 10 p.m., beginning August 8.

News

Showcase gets ready for Brit laughs

Showcase presents the network premiere of Little Britain, an eight-part half hour sketch comedy show. The comedy looks as the debris of modern life in Britain as it chronicles gloriously over-the-top eccentrics, lunatics and social misfits. It airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m., beginning on June 22. Little Britain is the winner of several comedy awards including three at the 2004 BAFTA Performance awards gala.