As an industry operating in an age where we’re more socially connected than ever before, we have little understanding of the actual size and scope of the digital media industry in Canada, and the space in which we work. Despite all the tools available, our government cannot be relied upon to help us understand this information.
Through Statistics Canada, obtaining data is costly and difficult at best. In a thriving and ever-changing industry, it doesn’t help that their data collection process occurs only every five years, with the next round of surveying slated to begin in 2011. The providers of digital media services are classified in a way that isn’t indicative of the industry’s true organization, and two more years will pass before the NAICS classification is rewritten.
To compound the issue even further, the data currently being collected reflects only the larger organizations, while ignoring the small to medium-sized businesses, who are the primary drivers of our economy.
About this project
The purpose of this project is to quantify the Canadian digital media industry. Currently, we don’t have a thorough understanding of the size and scope of our industry; we have no optics into the number of digital media service providers operate within Canada or their characteristics (number of employees, location, revenue, etc). What’s also unclear is the size of the workforce; there’s no reliable and readily available data around the working habits, salaries, and skills of producers of digital media content.
Who’s behind this project?
This initiative is being organized by Justin Kozuch, Research Lead at Pixel to Product.
Who is the target audience?
This research study is geared towards digital media practitioners working in the Canadian advertising and digital marketing industry. These practitioners include those employed in a production capacity (for instance, web/mobile application developers, visual designers and information architects), as well as those employed in a management capacity (project managers, account executives and digital strategists). This research is also targeted towards freelancers and those not employed full-time at the companies that provide digital media services. Finally, we’re looking to survey the companies who provide digital media services.
What are the outcomes?
We intend to deliver the following artifacts by May 2013:
- A report highlighting industry insights and findings
- Access to the raw, anonymized data sets in a variety of open data formats
How are we going to do this?
Over the course this research study, we’ll be performing the following tasks:
- Surveying digital media practitioners employed within the digital media industry
- Surveying companies providing digital media services
The methods of gathering data include surveying through web-based collection mechanisms, as well as through social media, email marketing and the project blog. These research phases will be run concurrently.
Want to help?
If you are interested in helping this project, we are looking for:
- Industry organizations to advocate on our behalf to their members
- Media platforms to promote our research study and the subsequent findings
- Engaged social media and industry professionals to spread the word about this initiative
- YOU!
Lending your gifts to this research study is easy. We’re looking for partners to help promote our research study, help attract funding, or support our initiative through other channels. Join our Working Group and let us know how you’d like to help out.
Connect with us on social media
About Justin Kozuch, Lead Researcher
Justin lives, breathes, and sleeps social media. A web developer by trade, Justin transitioned to a digital marketing focus in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. An avid user of Twitter, Facebook and Google+, he spends his day researching community management tactics and strategies, reading marketing blogs, and sharing his findings with his online networks.
When he’s not sifting through his RSS reader, he co-hosts 49Pixels Live, a weekly podcast covering the latest in technology, digital marketing and entrepreneurship and also volunteers his time advising the Toronto Transit Commission on how to improve their customer service from a technology and social media lens.
