CTV Advertising in Canada: A Local Business Guide to Connected TV in 2026

June 3, 2026·Nataliia· 8 min read All posts

Canada's streaming landscape has quietly become one of the most accessible CTV advertising markets for small businesses in the world. With over 28 million Canadians now watching streaming content regularly — and ad-supported tiers now standard on every major platform — a neighbourhood coffee shop in Vancouver or a hair salon in Toronto can place video ads inside premium TV content for less than a primetime radio spot costs.

This guide breaks down exactly how the Canadian CTV market works, what it costs in Canadian dollars, and which business types see the strongest results.

28M↑

Daily Viewing

Canadians on streaming platforms

C$18→

Average cost per thousand impressions

74%↑

Canadians using ad-supported tiers

2.3hrs↑

Average daily CTV viewing time per adult

The Canadian Streaming Landscape in 2026

Understanding where Canadians actually watch is the first step to spending wisely.

Crave (Bell Media) is Canada's largest premium SVOD with 3.5 million subscribers. Crave's ad-supported tier launched in 2024 and now reaches over 1.8 million households. CPMs on Crave run C$22–C$30, reflecting its premium HBO and Paramount content library. For local businesses, Crave offers postal-code-level geo-targeting, which is unusually precise for a SVOD platform.

CBC Gem is the free, ad-supported streaming service from Canada's public broadcaster. It draws a distinctly Canadian audience — older, civic-minded, and concentrated in mid-sized cities like Halifax, Saskatoon, and Victoria. CPMs are lower at C$12–C$18, and the inventory is considered brand-safe by default. CBC Gem is particularly effective for businesses targeting the 45+ demographic.

Amazon Prime Video entered the Canadian AVOD market aggressively in late 2024. Its Canadian CPMs sit at C$15–C$22, and it offers strong household income targeting. The platform's purchasing data integration makes it especially useful for fitness studios and salons running promotions around key spending periods.

9Now and 7Plus (Australian-owned) have limited Canadian reach, but Pluto TV from Paramount has been expanding its free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels in Canada. Pluto TV CPMs range from C$8–C$14 — the most affordable option for businesses testing CTV for the first time.

Netflix Canada and Disney+ Canada both offer ad tiers but restrict local/SMB buying through direct channels. You'll typically need to access these through a programmatic DSP like The Trade Desk or StackAdapt (both of which have strong Canadian presences).

Regional Targeting: Ontario vs Quebec vs BC

Canada's regional diversity makes geographic targeting essential — and fortunately, CTV platforms have caught up.

Ontario (Toronto CMA alone = 6.5 million people) is the highest-volume market. CPMs are 15–20% above the national average due to competition from large advertisers. For small businesses, the upside is precise postal-code targeting: you can target the M5V (King West) or K1Y (Ottawa Westboro) postal codes specifically.

Quebec presents a unique opportunity. French-language audiences are underserved by English-first advertisers, which drives CPMs down 20–30% below Ontario rates. CBC Gem's Ici Tou.tv (the French-language equivalent) reaches 800,000 Quebec households. If your business serves Francophone customers, running French-language creative on these platforms delivers exceptional value. A café in Plateau-Mont-Royal targeting French-speaking residents will face far less CTV competition than a comparable business in downtown Toronto.

British Columbia has the highest streaming adoption rate in Canada (79% of adults), driven by younger demographics in Metro Vancouver and Victoria. Amazon Prime Video and Crave perform well here. CPMs are comparable to Ontario but audience engagement rates tend to be higher, partly because BC residents watch more content outdoors in winter months.

Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) offer the lowest CPMs nationally — C$11–C$16 on most platforms — with strong local business density and lower advertiser competition. A fitness studio in Calgary or a pet groomer in Winnipeg can build meaningful brand awareness on a very modest budget.

Which Local Businesses Benefit Most

Coffee shops and cafés see strong results from CTV because Canadians associate their coffee habits with media rituals — morning news streams, weekend documentary binges. Targeting households in a 5 km radius during 6–9am streaming slots (yes, people stream while making breakfast) or evening relaxation viewing captures intent well. A C$800/month CTV campaign can generate 40,000–60,000 targeted impressions for a neighbourhood café.

Hair salons and spas benefit most from CTV's demographic precision. Women 25–54 remain the highest-value target for salon services, and platforms like Crave and Amazon Prime Video offer gender + age + household income stacking. Running a 15-second ad featuring a before/after treatment before streaming a drama series delivers salon content in the exact mindset when viewers are thinking about self-care.

Pet groomers should focus on CBC Gem and Pluto TV's pet-interest FAST channels. Canada has one of the highest pet ownership rates in the world (57% of households), and interest-based targeting on CTV platforms allows you to reach "pet owner" households specifically. A groomer in Mississauga can geo-fence within 8 km and layer pet-owner interest data for highly efficient spend.

Fitness studios and gyms have the clearest seasonal CTV opportunity in Canada: the January–March resolution period and the September back-to-routine period. Running 30-second CTV ads during these windows on Amazon Prime Video (which has strong fitness-interest data from its shopping behaviour) can drive meaningful trial memberships. Budget C$1,200–C$2,000 for a 6-week seasonal push.

Targeting Options in the Canadian CTV Market

Canadian CTV platforms and DSPs offer several targeting levers that go beyond basic geography:

Postal-code targeting is the most important for local businesses. Canada's postal codes are granular (the first three characters identify a Forward Sortation Area covering roughly one neighbourhood), making them ideal for local radius campaigns.

Language targeting (English vs French) is available on all major platforms and is critical in Quebec, New Brunswick, and parts of Ontario.

Household income targeting is available through Amazon and most programmatic DSPs using Statistics Canada's DA (dissemination area) income data layered onto IP addresses.

Device targeting — Smart TVs (Samsung, LG), streaming sticks (Roku, Fire TV), and gaming consoles — matters for creative format. Ensure your video ad looks polished on a 65-inch screen.

Dayparting is underutilised by small businesses. Canadian CTV viewership peaks 7–9pm ET/PT on weekdays and 2–9pm on weekends. Restricting your campaign to these windows can improve CPM efficiency by 25–35%.

Retargeting via CTV-to-digital is emerging: some DSPs can match a CTV impression to a mobile device in the same household, allowing you to follow up with a display or social ad after someone sees your video.

Budget Guidance for Canadian Small Businesses

CTV advertising in Canada has a lower effective minimum than most business owners expect:

Testing budget: C$500–C$800/month. You'll generate 25,000–50,000 impressions in a local radius. Enough to measure brand lift and website traffic correlation.
Established campaign: C$1,500–C$3,000/month. Covers meaningful reach across one metro area with frequency capping (2–3 views per household per week).
Multi-market campaign: C$4,000–C$8,000/month. Reaches two or three cities simultaneously with separate creative variants.

The most cost-effective entry point for Canadian small businesses is Pluto TV's FAST inventory via a DSP like StackAdapt, which has Canadian-specific audience segments and no minimum spend requirements above C$500.

Common Mistakes in the Canadian Market

Running US-only creative: Canadian audiences notice. References to "zip codes," American pricing, or US-specific offers create immediate disconnection. Always version your creative for CA audiences.

Ignoring Quebec entirely: French-language CTV is a blue-ocean opportunity. Most English-speaking agencies and competitors skip it, leaving CPMs low and audiences uncontested.

Setting budgets below C$500/month: Below this threshold, frequency is too low (under 1 impression per household per week) to drive any measurable recall.

Not geo-fencing tightly enough: A 25 km radius around a coffee shop includes neighbourhoods that will never walk in. In dense Canadian cities, 3–5 km is usually the right radius.

Missing seasonal peaks: Canadian consumer behaviour is highly seasonal. January, back-to-school (September), and pre-holiday (November) are the highest-value CTV windows for most local business categories.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I buy CTV ads in Canada without a large agency? StackAdapt and The Trade Desk both have Canadian self-serve options with no high minimum spends. Many Canadian digital marketing agencies also offer managed CTV buying starting at C$1,000/month in total budget.

Do I need French-language creative to run in Quebec? Not legally required for national advertisers, but strongly recommended for local Quebec businesses. French-language ads see 30–40% higher engagement rates among Francophone audiences and face far less competition for impressions.

What video length works best for Canadian CTV? 15-second non-skippable ads outperform 30-second ads for brand recall in the Canadian market, especially on mobile-adjacent AVOD platforms. Use 30-second creative only when you have a complex offer that needs explanation (e.g., a multi-session fitness package).

Can I track foot traffic from CTV campaigns? Not directly, but you can measure correlated lift by monitoring Google Business Profile views, website sessions from organic search, and phone calls during and after your CTV flight. Some DSPs offer TV attribution reports that model foot traffic based on device ID data.

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Nataliia

Local marketing strategist with 10+ years at global agencies — OMD, Dentsu, GroupM, and BBDO. Now helping small businesses get the same data-driven edge. Based in Europe, working with clients in the US, UK, Australia, and beyond.

About Nataliia