Marketing Statistics in Canada

Today’s marketers have so many more options than before. There are still the more traditional media of newspapers, magazines, and TV, but added to that there is also the wide world of digital marketing that includes blogs, social media, videos, and more.

What do companies and marketers need to know about today’s marketing trends? Is it worth advertising on TV or in newspapers and magazines anymore? Or is it better to spend money on digital media advertising?

In this article, we have collated statistics and trends in marketing in Canada that answer the questions above and more.

Marketing Statistics for Canadians

• Around 65% of Canada’s net advertising spend is allocated to digital media advertising.
• TV advertising is still the most effective way to advertise in Canada.
• Over half of Canadians pay more attention to TV advertising than to online videos or social media adverts.
• Magazine reading is declining in Canada, while 67% of the older generations read them weekly, the weekly readership is down to 44% among younger generations.
• Newspaper readership is still strong in Canada, with 88% of millennials and 90% of baby boomers reading newspapers weekly.
• Despite 68% of Canadians still listening to the radio daily, the advertising revenue has been falling since 2014.
• Around 60% of Canadian businesses had a content marketing strategy in 2024.
• Blogging can increase traffic by 126%.

How is money spent on marketing in Canada divided?

According to News Media Canada, the value of advertising on the Internet in 2023 was approximately $13.6 billion, representing around 70% of total advertising spend in Canada. Television advertising was next with about 17% of the share, valued at approximately $3.3 billion.

Radio and newspaper advertising were valued at around $1.1 billion and $850 million, representing 6% and 4% of total spend. Out-of-home advertising, including billboards and posters, accounted for about 3% of advertising spend, with a value of about $650 million. Magazine advertising was the smallest category, representing around 1% of total spend, roughly $120 million.

Marketing on TV is still the most effective

According to ThinkTV, Canadians spend around 22 hours per week watching TV. The media’s weekly reach is 85% of the population and the average TV campaign can deliver 337 million impressions. Even though TV advertising only accounts for 18% of advertising value, when measuring rates of conversion, TV advertising is still the most effective. In a survey by ThinkTV, 51% of the respondents said they pay attention to TV adverts the most.

24% said online video adverts captured their attention the best and 20% were likely to pay more attention to social media adverts. 5% of the respondents could not say which type of advertising they paid the most attention to. When asked which media carries the most influential advertising, 50% said TV. 27% chose social media, 18% online video and 5% were once again unsure.

Newspaper and magazine readership in Canada

The magazine market is declining globally and Canada is no exception. The number of magazine readers in Canada has fallen further since the mid-2010s. More recent readership data indicates that fewer than 15 million Canadians now read magazines regularly.

According to a Statista survey from 2023, around 10–11% of Canadians aged fourteen or over reported that they had read or looked through a magazine the day before answering the survey. However, approximately 65% of respondents said they had read a physical magazine, and around 52% had read an online magazine within the past three months.

Magazine readership remains highest among older Canadians. About two-thirds of people aged 50–69 report reading print magazines weekly, compared with around 40% of Canadians aged 21–34, continuing the long-term age divide in print consumption.

According to Media in Canada data from 2023, newspaper readership remains relatively strongin Canada. Around 88% of baby boomers report reading newspapers weekly and continue to prefer to read printed editions. Among millennials approximately 85% report weekly readership, though they are more likely to read newspapers digitally.

For marketers, business decision-makers remain a key audience. Over 90% of this group report reading newspapers weekly, and most access a combination of print and digital newspaper content.

Marketing in magazines and newspapers

Spending on magazine advertising is down, according to Statista. However, findings show that 44% of Canadian magazine readers and buyers have visited an advertiser’s website after seeing their advert in a magazine. 46% of readers also used or planned to use a coupon or promotion included in the advert.

According to News Media Canada, daily newspapers reported approximately $470 million in advertising revenue in 2022, down from $530 million in 2020. $280 million came from print advertising, $170 million from online advertising, and $20 million from other digital newspaper revenue.

Community newspapers reported advertising revenue of approximately $380 million. 85% of that revenue came from print advertising and the remaining 15% from online advertising.

Marketing on radio

There were approximately 960 radio stations in Canada in 2024 according to Statista. Around 710 of the radio stations were commercial. The revenue was consistent between 2010 and 2014, but since then has fallen year-on-year. Most of the revenue (around 80%) comes from FM radio and the rest from AM radio stations.

According to the American Radio Archives, research shows that 66% of Canadians listen to commercial radio regularly. 37% of commercial radio listeners say they listen daily compared to 21% for streaming music and 3% for CBC/Radio-Canada.

Operating revenue for private radio stations fell by just over 20% between 2019 and 2021. Advertising revenue fell by approximately 24%, and in 2021 remained at its lowest level since the early 2000s.

Direct mail marketing

Despite the growth of digital marketing, 60% of Canadians still like to receive coupons in the mail. 42% of Canadian consumers collect their mail five times a week and 50% will open and read advertisements. 79% of households say they read or scan direct mail ads.

44% of consumers will visit a company’s website after reading their direct mail marketing and 39% end up trying out their products or services. Direct mail marketing works for younger target audiences, too, with 92% of young consumers saying they prefer direct mail for making purchase decisions.

Direct mail is a key source of donations for nonprofits, with 78% of donations coming from direct mail marketing.

Digital Marketing

AccAccording to Statista, internet advertising revenue in Canada has grown from $3.42 billion in 2013 to approximately $12.2 billion in 2023. Marketers are spending more money on digital promotion than before and in 2024, around 60% of advertising budgets were spent on digital advertising. If the digital marketing trend in Canada continues to grow at a similar pace, it is likely to exceed $15 billion by 2026.

Despite the money allocated towards digital marketing, Canadian consumers still trust advertising in printed media or TV more than what they see on the internet or other digital platforms.

Digital media plays an increasingly important part when new businesses are starting. In 2023, around 63% of new business owners used Facebook to start their companies. Existing companies have also used Facebook to their advantage, with approximately 50% reporting growth because of their presence on the platform.

In response to the rise of digital advertising, around 72% of content marketing jobs required applicants to have social media skills in 2024. The other skills expected from candidates were strategy (61%), knowledge of SEO (54%), analytics (52%), and research (34%).

Content marketing

Content marketing is part of the digital marketing field along with SEO, paid advertising, email marketing, and lead generation.

Using content marketing effectively requires marketers to create content and understand the other fields of digital marketing. Content marketing includes posting on social media, writing blog posts, and creating interactive tools such as quizzes and contests.

Most Canadian businesses had a content marketing strategy in 2024

Canadian companies marketing to the public, as opposed to other businesses, clearly have noticed the importance of content marketing in creating brand awareness, educating their audience, building credibility, and generating leads.

Approximately 78% of businesses had a content marketing strategy in 2024. 82% of Canadian companies reported they were more successful after investing in content marketing.

Business-to-business marketers are also utilising content marketing, with over 90% of them using it to reach their audience in 2024.

Out of the businesses not using content marketing yet, around 48% plan to invest in it soon. However, content marketing does not appeal to everyone as around 40% of those businesses not using it have no plans to start using it in the future.

Blogging as a marketing tool

According to Story Chief, blogging is an effective marketing strategy and can create three times as many leads as traditional advertising. Companies publishing sixteen blog posts per month can increase their traffic by up to 126%.

Blogging is great for SEO and it is up to four times more likely to bring traffic to a website and not just any traffic, but an audience interested in what the company offers. It is an affordable marketing tool and easier to manage and create than webinars or videos.

Marketing using interactive tools

Interactive tools include quizzes and contests to attract customers. Quizzes are also a great way for companies to learn more about their target audiences. 93% of marketers see interactive tools as effective.

Challenges with content marketing

Even though content marketing is seen as important by many companies, it poses challenges, especially to smaller companies that cannot dedicate a person or a team to create content for them.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, for 67% of companies, having a small team is the main reason for not developing a content marketing strategy. 44% say they lack the time to work on a content creation strategy. Very few companies felt content creation was not significant or not needed with 11% and 4% respectively.

36.7% of companies say they struggle with the constant need to post engaging visual content. Companies are also concerned about constant changes to search engine and social media algorithms at 61% and 45% respectively.

Automated marketing

Many companies are making use of automation to save time when marketing. Using automation returns $5.45 for every dollar spent in the first three years and has a payback period of less than six months.

According to The State of Marketing Automation, 2024, the main reasons companies choose to automate their marketing are to streamline marketing and sales efforts (36%), improve customer engagement (35%), and improve customer experience (34%). In addition, 31% of companies want to minimise manual tasks and 29% look to increase the number of leads captured.

Over three-quarters of companies have reported increased conversions since they have used automated marketing. Around 46% of the companies said they had seen a return on their investment within six months.

When choosing an automation tool, 52% of companies want easy integration into their existing content management systems and 47% look for lead-scoring capabilities. 27% of companies who use automation use it extensively and over 90% say it is now essential for their business.

The benefits of automation noted by companies are that it allows personalised marketing (50%), saves time (46%), increases efficiency (41%), improves deal quality (36%), and provides more leads (28%).

Conclusion

While TV advertising is still seen as the most effective by just over half of Canadians, the number of people paying more attention to digital marketing forms is rising and marketers are spending more money on advertising on the internet than anywhere else.

Successful marketing today requires knowledge of the different media available to marketers. However, the most important factor for marketers is to know their target audience and choose their advertising platform based on the audience’s preferences.