Online advertising growth in Canada is taking off. IAB Canada just released their report on 2006 growth and it was 80% over the 2005. While I have great respect for the IAB I thought their summary of reasons for the growth were extremely weak. One of the biggest trends in advertising is the consumer shift towards online. Many industries are reporting that the majority of users consider online media first when doing product research or making a purchase decisions. Combine that with a very strong internet market penetration in Canada and you get an amazing online advertising growth story. Advertising almost always follows the consumers, the IAB seems to get this wrong with this statement:

“Add to all of this, results from the 7 CMOST (cross-media optimization) research studies that the IAB has undertaken over the past 4 years, plus the fact that in the past two years alone, over 1,000 senior-level advertiser, agency and publisher representatives have taken the IAB’s Intensive One-Day Course in Interactive Marketing and Online Advertising — and you get a sort of “perfect storm” that was able to move the Canadian Online advertising dial forward to such an extent,” says Paula Gignac, President of IAB Canada.

I don’t believe that Advertisers can build the market, no matter how many senior-level advertisers participate in the IAB workshops.