Published October 28th, 2025
by Jennifer Young
TV Overview: Canada’s Unique Viewing Landscape
Canadian audiences remain deeply loyal to linear TV, with a 76.6% share of viewing – far higher than the US at 49.7%. Streaming and YouTube are growing but still trail behind.
Why TV Still Dominates:
- Reach: Linear TV reaches 83% of A18+ and 76% of A25-54
- Share of Video: Video commands 70% of total video viewing among A18+ and 52% among A25-54.
- Impact: TV delivers the highest number of attentive seconds – critical for ad effectiveness – outperforming digital formats like YouTube & social media
- Efficiency: Cost per attentive second (CPAS) is competitive with YouTube and slightly better than social media
- Profitability: TV remains the largest driver of advertising profit
Marketing Effectiveness in Canada: A Call to Action
Most Canadian brands invest just 1-2% of revenue into marketing – far below optimal levels. As 90% of brands face baseline declines due to macroeconomic pressures, media investment is proving to be a partial buffer.
Video Drives ROI:
- Combining linear & CTV boosts short term ROI by 83%
- 15 second ads outperform longer ones with a 65% ROI lift (mostly due to rate efficiencies)
- Quebec shows a 16% improvement in linear TV performance
Strategic Takeaway:
Brands must increase their media spend, especially in video, to drive growth and counteract economic headwinds. ROI gains far outweigh the modest inflation in TV costs.
Numeris: Building Canada’s Cross-Media Measurement Future
Numeris is leading a transformation in ad measurement, aiming to unify tracking across TV, digital, radio & more.
Timeline of Innovation:
- Fall 2025: Launch of National VAM, a cross-platform audience measurement system
- Spring 2026: Campaign performance tracking begins for digital & linear media
- Post Spring 2026: Expansion to include radio, OOH & print
Methodology:
- Data from digital platforms is processed through a clean room; linear TV data is aggregated
- A synthetic population model combines global data & panel insights
- Outputs delivered via an API for comprehensive audience reporting & deduplication
Strategic Takeaway:
Canada is closing the gap in cross-media measurement, giving advertisers clearer insights into campaign impact. Industry collaboration is essential to this success.
Why Brands Still Matter: The Power of High Impact Media
Strong brands offer more than recognition – they provide trust, stability and pricing power. TV plays a vital role in building and sustaining these brand attributed.
TV vs Digital:
- TV Advertising:
- Builds emotional connections & lasting impressions
- Encourages co-viewing, which amplifies engagement
- Instilled with trust due to regulatory controls
- Benefits from creative consistency
- Digital Advertising:
- Often lacks attentiveness
- Often perceived as untrustworthy due to low regulatory controls & fake news
- Struggles to create deep brand associations in a fragmented media environment
Strategic Takeaway:
Brands shifting away from TV to low-impact digital media risk commodification and erosion of brand equity. TV remains essential for long-term brand health and sales growth.
The Eye-Watering Cost of Dull Media
‘Dull media’ refers to low impact formats like display ads, social media & YouTube – often chosen for their low CPMs and short-term metrics
Why Dull Media is Problematic
- Prioritizing short-term performance leads to repetitive, uninspiring content
- 50% of ads evoke no positive emotional response
- Passive attention dominates digital media – being ‘in view’ doesn’t mean being ‘seen’
- Creative effectiveness is undermined when ads aren’t truly noticed
Attention Science:
- Ad memory begins at 2.5 seconds of attention
- Peak effectiveness starts at 13.5 seconds
- 85% of digital ads fail to meet the minimum attention threshold
- As attention time increases, ad recall time lengthens
Strategic Takeaway:
Not all video impressions are equal. Buying based on the lowest CPMs favours dull media, which leads to faster attention drop-off and fewer branded memories. Even the best creative fails without sufficient attentive seconds.
Overall Strategic Recommendations
- Invest more in marketing: Especially in high impact video formats
- Prioritize attention over impressions: Cost per attentive seconds (CPAS) is a more effective metric than CPM
- Leverage TV to build/strengthen a brand: TV remains unmatched in reach, consumer trust and emotional impact
- Support industry collaboration: Measurement innovation will benefit all advertisers
- Avoid investing in dull media: A low CPM is cheap but ineffective’ and can damage brand equity
