Canadian marketers are bullish about the rest of year, with ad spend now projected to increase by 5.3% in 2019—ahead of the global growth prediction of 3.6%—according to new numbers from Dentsu Aegis Network.
Canadian spending is projected to remain strong through next year, rising by 5.7% to $13.5 billion, up from the forecasted $12.8 billion this year. At the start of the year, spending was expected to rise by 5.2% this year and 5.1% in 2020.
“We’re seeing that digital ad spend continues to lead growth in the Canadian market accounting for more than half [50.6%] of all anticipated ad spend in 2019,” said Hisham Ghostine, president of media brands, Dentsu Aegis Network Canada. Digital is expected to increase by 11.5% in Canada this year.
The ad spending outlook for both outdoor and radio has also increased since the start of the year. Outdoor is now projected to grow by 9.9% (up from 9.7%), while radio is expected to grow by 0.9% from the zero growth predicted at the start of the year.
Some of the other topline media spend highlights from the Dentsu Aegis Network ad spend forecast include:
- Global Digital: Digital ad spend is projected to reach US$249.7 billion this year, representing 41.8% of total ad spend.
- Mobile: Growing consumer consumption of online video means mobile advertising is the fastest growing digital platform, forecast to grow 21.4% in 2019.
- Television: TV ad spend will shrink by 0.1% this year, but is expected to return to growth (0.6%) in 2020.
- Print: The decline in newspapers and magazines continues to accelerate, with the former expected to shrink by 7.7% and the latter by 7.4%.
- OOH: Digital out-of-home innovation is behind the strong growth forecasts for the medium. In January, Dentsu predicted that OOH spending would grow by 4.3% this year, but has revised the number upward to 6.3%.
