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

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.

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

Connected TV (CTV) has emerged as the fastest-growing ad channel tracked by 蘑菇AV. Its ad spend outpaced other digital ads, search, social media, and retail media in 2024.

Our annual Trends to Watch report for Canada highlights expected developments in the country鈥檚 media and advertising market for 2025. Next year, we anticipate a shift in media buying will favor domestic publishers and retail media channels, while large platforms will contend with the new Digital Services Tax.

Smartphone ownership is nearly universal in Canada, but time spent with mobile media in the country trails many other similar countries. Average daily time spent on mobile devices in Canada is 33 minutes lower than in the US, for instance. Western Europe doesn鈥檛 fit predictable patterns of media consumption.

The Canada coverage in the Global Media Intelligence Report includes poll results from internet user respondents in H1 2023 conducted by GWI.

That鈥檚 more than double the increase we鈥檒l see in Canada, China, France, Germany, and the UK combined. While there鈥檚 growth across the board in the global programmatic market, rates are tied to total ad spending outlays in each country:. Canada is funneling ad dollars into video and connected TV (CTV). This, in turn, drives strong growth in programmatic display, as is the case in the US.

Testing of the new ad tech platform will begin in Canada later this year. Netflix plans a US launch by the end of next year鈥檚 second quarter and a global rollout by the end of 2025. But wait, there鈥檚 more: Netflix also announced its ad-supported tier has reached 40 million active monthly users, nearly doubling from the 23 million reported in January.

Heavy media consumption in Canada across digital and traditional channels has led to a range of effective ad formats for brands.

This increase is proposed for multiple markets, primarily starting with the US and Canada. Zoom out: Netflix isn鈥檛 alone in this approach; over the past year, the cost of major ad-free streaming platforms has surged by approximately 25% in an effort to improve the bottom line. Disney recently raised prices for Disney+ and Hulu.

So in terms of what's happening in Canada, a couple of major players, like Bell Media. Bell Media hasn't, which has their main linear TV channel as CTV Canada, doesn't really have a FASST play at this point in time. Rogers, as I mentioned earlier, made that deal with Tubi in 2020 to bring that content to Canada and that experience to Canada.

Amid growing concerns over trade tensions and economic volatility, many global brands are reallocating budgets geographically鈥攕hifting spend away from vulnerable regions and toward more stable markets like Canada, Europe, and Australia. Marketers are trading guesswork for guarantees鈥攑rioritizing retail media and CTV for their measurability, accountability, and performance clarity.