Ad spending in Quebec increased 17.9% between 1991 and 1997, with average annual growth of 3%. Across Canada, television received the lion’s share of the advertising investment while daily newspapers were the medium of choice for Quebec advertisers.

These are just a few facts culled from a detailed 30-page report called the Evolution of Advertising Spending in Canada and Quebec, an extensive study from Carat Expert, the new Montreal-based research division of Carat Canada. Carat Canada is the newly-formed parent company of Montreal-based Carat Stratégem and Toronto-based Carat Cairns.

Gilbert Paquette, vice-president and general manager of Carat Expert, says the medium that experienced the strongest growth in spending over the 10-year period was out-of-home advertising – particularly in Quebec, where revenue more than doubled to $56 million from $24 million from 1991 to 1997.

Paquette says while the study was able to gauge media spending across Canada over a 10-year period, the lack of precise information for some media in the province of Quebec meant that section could only cover a seven-year span.

Carat Expert was able to put together the study using information from the usual sources, such as Statistics Canada, the CRTC, ACNielsen and Carat’s own worldwide research, but also incorporated data from private broadcasters, publishers and media suppliers.

The report breaks down the 1997 market share for mainstream media across Canada and in the province of Quebec, respectively, as follows: television, 34% and 23%; daily newspapers, 27% and 37%; radio, 14% and 13%; weekly newspapers, 11% and 13%; magazines, 11% and 10%; and out-of-home, 4% and 4%.

Paquette was surprised by several of the findings in the study, including the fact that growth in ad spending could not be linked to an increase in retail sales, as he had initially suspected. Rather, he discovered that increases in ad spending were more closely linked to a growing Gross Domestic Product – a finding that held true across 16 countries examined in the report.

Paquette also discovered some surprises closer to home.

Comparing 1997 spending for each advertising medium in Canada with that of the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, the study found that television spending is relatively consistent across the countries, ranging from 34% to 44% share of market. Daily newspapers are strongest in the U.S., where they account for 36% of ad spending, while France comes out on top with magazine and out-of-home spending at 28% and 13%, respectively.

Carat Insight, the English-language research division based at Carat Cairns in Toronto, is expected to produce a similar study within the next two years.