COMMB has conducted a review of traffic data to assess changes to travel behaviour since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The review included sourcing mobile location data on over 12,000 geo-fenced static and digital outdoor advertising faces, publicly available data sources such as Apple, and geolocation mapping applications that provide insights such as driving direction. Data from these sources has been analyzed and output for multi-week periods to provide insight and illustrate a representative snapshot of travel behaviour, by market as well as a seven market average.
Provincial and/or municipal ‘stay at home’ restrictions put in place in various markets have affected travel behaviour patterns, however not to the drastic impact the early onset of the pandemic had in May. While we are seeing a curvature in the decline of movement in major markets, we are still significantly above the decline in movement observed from late April through to end of May.
This report includes information and data of actual results through to Nov. 1. Using these actuals, the COMMB team has modeled and estimated % for the weeks of Nov 2nd – 29th, based on any and all available data at the time of release of this report. COMMB will include the actualized data from Nov 2-29 in future reports and anticipates an adjustment to its estimated numbers at that time.
Since last reported, all seven-markets have seen a decrease in travel behaviour patterns between August through the end of October.
The actual numbers show Halifax holding at just -2% below baseline through October, with all other provinces ranging between -14% to -20% for the same time period (through to Nov 1st, 2020).
As of Nov 1, 2020 Ottawa is at -20%, Toronto and Montreal at -19%, Vancouver and Edmonton at -15%, and Calgary at -14%, representing a direct affect of COVID-19 warnings in these regions. While there has been significant decline in consumer movements throughout the month of November, these numbers are also reflective of government identified ‘red zones’. On a positive note, while there has been a decline in consumer travel patterns, we are seeing higher percentage of movement than the phase 1 COVID-19 patterns, observed in April to May of 2020, which represents the consumer willingness to still move about their day-to-day, in a safe and responsible manner.
COMB estimates are seeing a trend for continued decreases through the end of November, ranging from 11 to 25 percentage since August 30, 2020. These estimates show Montreal with the largest decrease down 25 percentage points since our last report.Ottawa, Toronto & Edmonton are estimated to decrease 18 points, Vancouver & Calgary down 17 & 16 points, respectively, and Halifax decreasing by 11 points. The percentages for each market & the 7-market average on the graph for the weeks of Nov 2 – 29 are modeled estimates based on data available at the time of release of this report.
Data over 9 weeks, starting in January 2020 through March 15th, 2020 was used as a baseline to calculate the % differential by week, which, for the spring/summer months were then averaged for the weeks reported at that time (April 27-August 30).
The data contained in this report represents general travel behaviour activity and is not applicable to specific OOH advertising locations, as travel patterns will vary market-to-market, by road type and other external factors.
Click Here to view previous Travel Behaviour Reports.
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