Subscription streaming has reached mainstream status globally. Growth now hinges on harder-to-reach, price-sensitive markets where uncertain demand and uneven access create new hurdles—and fresh opportunities—for platforms chasing their next wave of viewers.

Digital video keeps expanding as more viewers shift to streaming and mobile gains ground. Growth spans every generation, even as cord-cutting accelerates and reshapes how audiences spend time on the biggest screen in the home.

Canada’s mediascape continues to change as new formats attract younger and older users alike. The GMI report for Canada is a deep dive into the country’s shifting habits relating to time spent with media, media adoption, and device ownership.

This is the first installment of our “Canada Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

Canada trails just one country—the US—in average daily time spent with media. That means plenty of opportunity for media buyers to reach audiences across a range of devices and services.

A trade war with the US will hinder economic performance in Canada this year. Ad spending overall is expected to lose the momentum gained in 2024. But many digital formats will benefit from the emphasis on return on ad spending.

Digital users in Quebec—most of whom speak French as their first language—have unique habits that are different from the rest of Canada. These include heavier consumption of TV and lighter usage of digital services and online shopping.

Our latest forecasts for CTV and digital video viewers in Canada show that audiences are now a match for linear TV and exceed it in some age groups.

Media habits in Canada have changed, favoring digital across all formats. The GMI report for Canada is a single source for quantifying the pace of change in time spent with media, media adoption, and device ownership.

Canada ranks near the top of the list of countries for average daily time spent with media, with digital formats driving consumption to new levels.

Ad spending will rebound in 2024, as mobile formats continue to dominate and areas like connected TV and retail media drive renewed growth.

Viewership in Canada is changing, as more eyeballs turn to connected TV and digital video for long-form content.

Francophones in Canada’s second-largest province have been slower to adopt digital devices and services compared with the rest of the country. But the latest data reveals the increasingly digital lives of Quebecois in 2023.

Keeping tabs on shifting consumer habits is paramount for brands in Canada. In 2023, we expect more changes in how media is consumed and what advertisers can do to tap into these new channels.

CTV is providing continued growth in digital video viewership, further splitting audiences with TV. The ad market in Canada is responding by developing new ways to holistically target the total audience for long-form entertainment.

Total time spent with media is more than 10 hours daily on average in Canada this year. In the years ahead, total time will shrink slightly, but digital formats will continue to steal time away from traditional media.

Move over, millennials: The new kids in town, Gen Z, have claimed the crown as most sought-after demographic for brands. With their deep digital nativity and social influence, this generation is making its mark on society and brand strategy.

Digital video viewership, time spent with the medium, and video ad spending are all reaching new heights in Canada.

Average daily time spent with media shot past the 10-hour mark last year, pushing media consumption to new levels in Canada.

After a challenging 2020, which saw big shifts in how digital media was consumed and how marketing adapted, we anticipate five developments will have a lasting impact on Canada’s digital economy.