More than a third of adult consumers in Canada are podcast listeners, a growing and lucrative audience for brand engagement.

Our revised estimates for total ad spending in Canada this year show a big decline, mirroring what’s expected overall for the Canadian economy. Digital will hold its level after years of double-digit growth.

Ecommerce’s share of total retail in Canada is higher than we previously expected, as brick-and-mortar outlets are forced to shutter and online shopping becomes a necessity.

After reaching an expected saturation point last year, daily media time in Canada will climb further this year based on our latest forecasts. COVID-19 has driven up demand for media while people are quarantined at home, which will impact our full-year forecast.

Even before COVID-19 caused a spike in TV time in Canada, TV continued to be a strong medium of choice. But amid stay-at-home measures, consumers turned to a blend of TV and digital video for long-form content.

Digital video is the lone silver lining in Canada’s ad market. Despite the pandemic, video ad spending will grow 3.6% this year to reach CA$2.18 billion ($1.64 billion).

The coronavirus pandemic has upended 2020 ad spending projections, ours included. This report summarizes our H1 2020 Canada ad spending forecast, factoring in available information about the massive downturn in Q2.