How do you plan multicultural advertising in Canada?
Part of US and Canada targeting
The short answer
Multicultural advertising in Canada starts from Statistics Canada language data: in 2021, 4.6 million people spoke predominantly a language other than English or French at home, led by Mandarin and Punjabi. Choose in language publishers from directories and their own pages, have fluent reviewers read sampled articles, and report each language line separately.
Key takeaways
- Statistics Canada counted 531,000 people speaking predominantly Mandarin at home and 520,000 speaking Punjabi in 2021, with Spanish at 317,000, Arabic at 286,000 and Tagalog at 275,000.
- In Toronto and Vancouver, more than one in four people spoke predominantly a non-official language at home in 2021.
- Census language concepts differ: predominantly at home, regularly at home, mother tongue and languages known give different counts, so a plan names the one it uses.
- Display & Video 360 says a site in a language its digital content labels do not support can stay unlabeled, so in language placements need fluent human review.
Which languages besides English and French matter in Canadian plans?
Statistics Canada's 2021 Census release on languages (opens in a new tab), published August 17, 2022, found that "4.6 million Canadians speak predominantly a language other than English or French at home," or 12.7% of the population, up from 7.7% in 1991. It also found that 22.7% of the population spoke a language other than English or French at home at least on a regular basis. The francophone side of Canadian planning is covered on French Canadian advertising; this page covers the other languages.
| Language | People speaking it predominantly at home | Change from 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | 531,000 | +15% |
| Punjabi | 520,000 | +49% |
| Spanish | 317,000 | +20% |
| Arabic | 286,000 | +28% |
| Tagalog | 275,000 | +29% |
| Persian languages | 180,000 | +26% |
The release ties growth to immigration. It says the number of Canadians speaking predominantly a South Asian language such as Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi or Malayalam grew at least eight times faster than the overall population from 2016 to 2021, while speakers of Italian, Polish and Greek declined. A plan built from community lists made before the 2021 Census can miss the languages that grew fastest, so the census year belongs on the plan.
The census also shows how much language use overlaps. The release says that among Canadians whose mother tongue is neither English nor French, 7 in 10 spoke an official language at home at least on a regular basis, and that in 2021, 18.7% of Canadians spoke more than one language at home at least on a regular basis. A multicultural plan can therefore pair in language placements with English or French placements on community topics, and record which language each creative uses.
Where are Canada's language communities concentrated?
The same release maps concentration. It reports that "Mandarin is the main non-official language spoken predominantly at home in Toronto and Vancouver, while in Montréal, it is Spanish and Arabic," and that in Toronto and Vancouver "more than one in four individuals speak predominantly a non-official language at home." Provincial shares show how far the pattern extends beyond those two cities.
| Province | Share speaking a non-official language predominantly at home | Population with a non-official mother tongue |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 17.1% | 1,551,885 |
| Ontario | 15.7% | 4,360,760 |
| Alberta | 13.0% | 1,055,535 |
| Manitoba | 13.0% | 347,040 |
| Saskatchewan | 8.1% | 188,190 |
| Quebec | 7.9% | 1,349,695 |
| Concept | Statistics Canada's description | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| Languages known | A language a person feels they can conduct a conversation in | Whether English or French creative can also be understood |
| Mother tongue | A language learned in childhood and still understood | Heritage and community ties, not current media use |
| Spoken at least regularly at home | Reported at home on a regular basis or most often, alone or with other languages | The widest home language count |
| Spoken predominantly at home | The only language a person speaks most often at home | The narrowest home language count |
How do you find in language publishers in Canada?
Directories give leads, and the publishers' own pages confirm them. The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada publishes an Our Members list (opens in a new tab) that includes Chinese titles such as Ming Pao Newspapers (Canada), Sing Pao Vancouver Chinese News and Edmonton Chinese News, Punjabi weeklies such as Canadian Punjabi Post and Punjabi Tribune, Filipino titles such as Philippine Reporter and North American Filipino Star, and Arabic titles such as Arab Canada Newspaper. Membership shows a title exists. It does not show its language mix, its website, its ad selling or its audience.
Five steps from a directory lead to a plan line
- Find the website. Confirm the title has a live site that publishes articles, not only a print edition or a social page.
- Read the language mix. Sample recent articles and record the share in the community language, in English and in both.
- Check the selling path. Read the site's ads.txt to see whether its ad space is sold programmatically and by whom.
- Check audience by country. Confirm the site has Canadian readers, since a site in a community language can be based in another country.
- Record ownership. Note the publisher and any sister titles so one group does not fill several lines.
A programmatic only filter drops any publisher that sells its space only direct. The selling checks are explained on how to check ads.txt, and ownership records for diverse owned outlets on diverse owned media. Indigenous language media have their own page, Indigenous media advertising.
Who should review Punjabi, Tagalog or Arabic pages the team cannot read?
Automated labels can go quiet in exactly these languages. Display & Video 360's digital content labels page (opens in a new tab) lists "A site is in a language not supported by digital content labels" as one reason content stays not yet labeled, and adds that "a site may have different URLs with different labels." Its sensitive categories page (opens in a new tab) names an unsupported language among the reasons pre-bid blocking can fail.
Definition
- Not yet labeled
- Display & Video 360's status for "Content that has not been labeled," which its help page links to new sites, URLs publishers do not make transparent, and languages its digital content labels do not support.
Fluent review for an in language site
- The reviewer reads the language and the script the site uses, such as Gurmukhi or Shahmukhi for Punjabi, or Simplified or Traditional characters for Chinese.
- The reviewer reads at least the latest news, opinion and community sections, not only the homepage.
- The review notes political, religious and homeland conflict coverage by topic, so the brand's tolerance can be applied to it.
- Sponsored posts and paid announcements are identified wherever they sit beside news.
- Any page left unlabeled by a buying platform is read by a person rather than treated as suitable.
- The reviewer's name, language and review date are recorded on the plan.
How should a plan report multicultural reach?
Census counts describe people; platform reach describes ad delivery, and neither converts into the other. Display & Video 360's reach reports page (opens in a new tab) defines unique reach as "The estimated number of unique users (across devices) who saw an ad during the reporting period" and says "Reach data can't be summed or compared across reports." A plan with one line item per language cannot add the lines into one multicultural reach figure.
| Report item | Source | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|
| Community size by language and province | 2021 Census, with the concept named | How many of those people saw an ad |
| Sites and sections on the line | The approved site list | Audience language of each reader |
| Impressions and estimated unique reach | The buying platform's report for that line | A total that can be added to other lines |
| Fluent review record | The reviewer's notes and date | Suitability after the review date |
Fictional example
A new home builder in Edmonton
An unnamed home builder opening a new community in south Edmonton, Alberta, plans display in English, Punjabi, Tagalog, Mandarin and Arabic. The planner sizes each language from the 2021 Census using the predominant home language concept, and notes Alberta's 13.0% share as context.
Directory leads become five language lines after each site's pages, selling path and Canadian audience are checked. A Punjabi speaking and a Tagalog speaking reviewer read sampled articles, and the client report shows reach per line with no combined total.
How does PlacementGraph read in language sites for a Canadian brief?
Frequently asked questions
Is mother tongue the right measure for an in language campaign?
It measures a different thing. Statistics Canada defines mother tongue as a language learned in childhood and still understood, while home language records what people speak at home. In 2021 one in four Canadians had a non-official mother tongue, while 12.7% spoke a non-official language predominantly at home.
Do in language community publishers sell ads programmatically?
Some do and some sell direct. A site's ads.txt file lists the companies authorized to sell its ad space, so reading it shows whether a programmatic path exists. A missing file means the plan needs a direct conversation with the publisher, not that the site is unsuitable.
Which non-official languages grew fastest in Canada?
Statistics Canada reported fast growth from 2016 to 2021 in South Asian languages, including Malayalam, which rose 129% to 35,000 people, Hindi and Punjabi, along with Tigrigna, Turkish, Tagalog, Arabic and Persian languages. It linked the growth to immigration.
Should Chinese pages be split by script?
Script is worth recording, since Simplified and Traditional characters serve different readers and a reviewer may read only one. Statistics Canada reports home languages by spoken language, such as Mandarin, so a plan can record both the spoken language a site targets and the script it publishes in.
Sources
- The Daily: While English and French are still the main languages spoken in Canada, the country's linguistic diversity continues to grow (opens in a new tab)Statistics Canada
- Our Members (opens in a new tab)National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada
- Digital content labels in Display & Video 360 (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- Sensitive categories in Display & Video 360 brand safety targeting (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- Reach reports (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.