Canada Mobile Time Spent and Ad Spending 2018

How Consumers and Advertisers Are Using Search, Social, Messaging and Gaming

Executive Summary

Consumer time spent with mobile devices now accounts for almost 3 hours daily in Canada. By 2020, consumers’ time spent with mobile will exceed that of TV. For advertisers, the emergence of mobile devices as dominant media consumption tools is leading to mobile-first marketing and, in some cases, mobile-only media buying. In 2018, more than one-third of all advertising dollars in Canada will be spent in mobile channels.

What is the forecast for mobile ad spending in Canada?

Mobile now accounts for more than one-third of all ad spending in Canada (33.9% in 2018), surpassing the CA$5 billion mark. That’s up 37.5% over 2017, according to our latest forecasts. By 2020, mobile ad spending will be C$7.11 billion. Mobile social and search lead the way in attracting mobile ad dollars, but new channels including messaging and gaming have begun to deliver results for advertisers.

How much time do consumers in Canada spend on mobile?

We find consumers in Canada spend 2 hours, 54 minutes on smartphones, feature phones and tablets daily, not including voice activities. On mobile, most consumers discover breaking news or other events in daily life. Like in other countries, mobile media time in Canada is dominated by apps, making up an 85% share of mobile time in the country, according to comScore.

How much mobile time do consumers in Canada spend on apps and social networks?

In Canada, 85% of online mobile time is spent in apps vs. the mobile web, a rate similar to the US (88%) and the UK (83%). Many countries even report app time shares in excess of 90%. Most of this time is occupied by apps under the corporate umbrellas of Facebook and Google.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report covers our forecast for consumer time spent with mobile and mobile advertising in Canada. It also highlights the prominence of certain app categories.

Here’s what’s in the full report

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12charts

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10expert perspectives

Insights from industry and company leaders.

Table of Contents

  1. Executive Summary
  2. Time Spent with Mobile Continues to Grow
  3. Mobile Ad Spending
  1. Apps Landscape
  2. Key Takeaways
  3. eMarketer Interviews
  1. Related eMarketer Reports
  2. Sources
  3. Media Gallery

Interviewed for This Report

Jed Schneiderman
Tapped Mobile
Co-Founder, President
Interviewed July 9, 2018
Mike Sherman
L'Oreal Canada
Director, Media and Analytics
Interviewed August 2, 2018
Serena Budhwani
The Sandbox Agency
Account Director
Interviewed July 31, 2018
Jessica Chen
Chinese Star Media Inc.
COO, Marketing Director
Interviewed July 27, 2018
Bala Gopalakrishnan
The Weather Network
Managing Director, Data Solutions
Interviewed July 25, 2018
Jayson Hilchie
Entertainment Software Associate of Canada
President, CEO
Interviewed July 30, 2018
Jeff Lancaster
LinkedIn
Agency Lead, North America
Interviewed May 31, 2018
Gary Yentin
App-Promo
CEO, Founder
Interviewed July 10, 2018
Dave Mallon
Integral Ad Science
Director, Sales, Canada
Interviewed July 24, 2018
Dave McLean
Cineplex
Director, Digital Strategy
Interviewed August 1, 2018

authors

Paul Briggs

Contributors

Sean Creamer
Reporter
Angela Kim
Senior Researcher

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