Lesson 13 — Activity 1: Advertising in the Media

We might not always think of advertising as part of the media, but it does play a very big role in supporting most of the media we are familiar with. Companies pay magazine and newspaper publishers to have their advertisements included in the publication. They also purchase airtime on various television networks and radio stations to have their commercials broadcast. Companies also pay to have their products "pop-up" on websites, and they also advertise on sites such as YouTube, Facebook, etc. Many companies are now also starting to pay to have their products advertised in movie scenes, on the boards at a hockey game, and on the sides of buses.

Advertisers spend a lot of money to promote various products and encourage people to buy them. We need to be aware of some of the methods that advertisers use to persuade us to spend our money on certain items. We may still choose to buy a product, but if we know something about the way advertising works, we can make our purchases based on the merits of a product as well as — or instead of — on the merits of its expensive advertising campaign!

In 2013, Canada belonged to one of the largest advertising markets worldwide. With an ad spending of nearly $14.2 billion US dollars, Canada ranked ninth in the world on advertising spending ( www.statista.com).

Here are some interesting facts on where the advertising dollars are being spent in Canada:

Overview of the Canadian Market	Advertising Dollars Spent (US dollars)
Advertising spending in Canada	$14.2 billion
Advertising spending per person in Canada	$393
Traditional Media	Advertising Dollars Spent (CAN dollars)
TV Advertising	$3.51 billion
Radio Advertising	$1.6 billion
Newspaper Advertising	$2.94 billion
Magazine Advertising	$558 million
Digital Media	Advertising Dollars Spent (CAN dollars)
Digital Advertising	$5.93 billion
Forecasted social network advertising spending in Canada in 2015	$397 million

As you can see from the table, advertising in digital media (online advertising) is now the area where most of the advertising dollars are being spent in Canada at $5.93 billion dollars per year.

Digging Deeper!

Click on the Play button below to view a video that shows how different popular commercials use persuasion in their advertising to sell their products.