Canada Online Ad Spending to Hit $3 Billion in 2012

Strong growth means online will approach 30% of total ad spending by 2016


eMarketer forecasts online ad spending in Canada will reach CA$3.08 billion ($3.11 billion) in 2012, an increase of 16.3% over 2011. Robust growth will continue through the forecast period, with spending topping out at CA$4.51 billion ($4.55 billion) in 2016.

Online Ad Spending in Canada, 2010-2016 (billions of C$ and % change)

Online ad growth will far outpace that of total media, which will maintain single digit increases through 2016. As a result, online’s share of total ad spending will be 23% in 2012 and near 30% by 2016.

Online Ad Spending as a Percent of Total Media Ad Spending, Canada vs. US, 2010-2016

Search has and will maintain the largest share of online ad spending from 2010 to 2016. In fact, eMarketer forecasts search’s compound annual growth (CAGR) of 11.2% will outpace that of classified (8.6%) and display (9.9%) during the forecast period. However, online video spending growth, which is starting from a smaller base, will leave search in the dust thanks to a CAGR of 34.3%.

eMarketer benchmarks its online ad spending projections against the IAB Canada, for which the last full year measured was 2010. We include classifieds and directories, display (including banner, direct response/lead generation, rich media and sponsorships), email (embedded ads only), search and video ads. Mobile is excluded from online ad spending estimates for Canada.