IAB Canada Launches New Series of Canadian Competitive Online Advertising Trend Reports from comScore and Kantar Media

TORONTO, July 6, 2012 /CNW/ - Today, IAB Canada announced the launch of a new series of reports that address Competitive Online Advertising Trends in Canada. The reports are being compiled by comScore and Kantar Media in partnership with IAB Canada. Fueled by the two companies' extensive Canadian paid advertising tracking databases, this collaboration marks the first of a series of reports that will be prepared by these two long-time, respected IAB Canada Member Companies. "This is a great initiative that shows collectively how IAB Canada and its' Members aim to help marketers understand and operate within the Online competitive environment" says IAB Canada Research Director Steve Rosenblum. A new iabcanada.com feature page called "Competitive Online Advertising in Canada" will be launched to provide quick access to the series and future new reports will be announced via the IAB Canada Member newsletter.

The two inaugural reports from comScore and Kantar Media each consist of 2011 year-end top-lines, covering a variety of different/complementary cross-sections of key Display advertising trends in Canada.

The comScore Digital Advertising Report trends paid advertising data from its Ad Metrix service, between the 2^nd-half 2010 and 2^nd-half 2011 periods. It also contains rankings of the top-10 Advertisers and Publishers Online by Display ad impressions, the leading five, and fastest growing three product categories, as well as the top five Branded Products and Content Categories based on ad impression volume.

"The Digital Advertising ecosystem is constantly evolving. The movement to less clutter, rich media, and socially enabled ads creates the opportunity for enhanced engagement with the advertiser's brand. The future looks bright as more formats and creative approaches will lead to greater emphasis on targeting and viewable impressions to ensure the right brand consumers have the opportunity to see the advertisements" says Bryan Segal, Vice President of comScore. The report breaks out total Internet Display ad impressions according to region, age and household income levels and in two examples, demographically compares specific websites' UVs versus ad impressions.

The Kantar Media - Canadian Online Ad Trends Analysis focuses on trends in ad type and size as well as findings on ad clutter. "In our five-year analysis of the Canadian online advertising marketplace, we found growing standardization of ad sizes as well as pronounced shifts towards rich media," states Leslie Darling, SVP of Digital Innovation for Kantar Media Intelligence. "As online advertising continues to evolve and mature in Canada, clutter may be an issue for advertisers in some categories, making it important to use compelling formats like rich media to stand," she adds.  Among the findings in this report, IAB Canada standard Medium Rectangle and Leaderboard sizes now make up 72% of ads by size. Meanwhile, rich media makes up approximately 52% of all Display ad occurrences measured -more than double the level of usage seen in 2007—and  is used at much higher rates by automotive, technology and news sites.

Future reports from comScore and Kantar Media, to be issued several times annually, will provide deeper insights into specific product categories and other topics impacting the Canadian Online advertising sector.

Download the "Competitive Online Ad Volume in Canada " reports now.

IAB Canada (www.iabcanada.com), is the national voice and de facto thought leader of the Canadian Digital marketing and advertising industry, and is a not-for-profit association representing Canada's most well-known and respected Advertisers, Agencies, Media Companies, Mobile and VideoGame Marketers + Developers, Measurement Companies, Service Providers, Educational Institutions and Government Associations operating within the space.

(*Data does not include paid search and video advertising).

Kelly Tulett at [email protected].