CARAT CANADA MARKS LAUNCH WITH MEDIA FINDINGS
By Adnews Staff
The independent media group Carat has formed a new entity called Carat Canada, based in Toronto. The organization was formed as a result of Carat Cairns of Toronto and Carat Strategem of Montreal coming together. The new company will offer media research and analysis services under the Carat Insight trademark. Carat Canada marked its launch with the release of a media study. the results of which included: 51 per cent of Canadians "channel surf" during commercials while listening to the radio, 17 per cent "channel surf" during the program itself, while 14 per cent do nothing. Turning towards the Internet, the survey found 58 per cent of Internet surfers are men and 49 per cent of users play games. Also, one in ten Canadians online use the Internet to meet friends and lovers, half of which result in dates or face-to-face meetings. Residents of Quebec chat on the Internet more often than other Canadians (19 percent verses 12 per cent). Noting these survey results, David Cairns, general manger of Carat Canada, commented that Canadians are increasingly changing their media habits. In response, advertisers and media buying companies need to become more creative in the way they reach their target audience, he said.