North American Media Experts
Canada CTV ad spending hit $1.29B in 2026, up 16% YoY. Here's how Canadian CTV advertising works, what targeting is available, and what CPMs to expect.
9 min read
By Ryan Roberts, Programmatic Director, North American Media Experts
TL;DR
- CTV ad spending in Canada reached $1.29 billion USD in 2026, up 16% year over year (eMarketer)
- Bell Media consolidated CTV, Crave, Noovo, TSN, and Tubi under one addressable advertising platform in 2026
- CTV lets you target by age, income, postal code, interests, and viewing behavior—not just daypart
- Canadian CTV CPMs run $20–50 depending on inventory quality and targeting depth
- Non-skippable CTV ad completion rates average 95%+, versus 65–70% for pre-roll web video
Canadians are watching less traditional television every year. They're not watching less video—they're watching it on connected screens at times that suit them, on platforms they pay for. That shift moved $1.29 billion USD in Canadian advertising to connected TV in 2026 alone, a 16% jump over 2025.
For advertisers, this creates an opportunity that didn't exist five years ago: television-quality video inventory with digital-quality targeting. You're no longer buying a timeslot and hoping your audience was watching. You're serving a 30-second ad to a specific household—income $80K+, suburban Ontario, in-market for a vehicle—on a 65-inch screen at 9 PM.
CTV advertising in Canada means buying video ad inventory that plays on internet-connected televisions. This includes smart TVs (Samsung, LG), streaming devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku), and gaming consoles connected to streaming services.
The main publishers for programmatic CTV in Canada in 2026 are:
This is where CTV earns its premium CPM. Unlike a linear TV buy where you're paying for a time slot and an audience estimate, programmatic CTV lets you target specific households:
Age, household income, geography down to postal code. This is the minimum—every CTV platform offers it. For a Canadian retailer running a promotion in the GTA, you can limit delivery to postal codes M1–M9 with household incomes above $75,000.
Based on viewing history, device type, and (where permitted) third-party data onboarding. Bell's first-party data from Crave subscriptions backs most of their CTV targeting segments in 2026, which is more reliable than cookie-based web data.
Platforms layer retail and transaction data from partners to identify households actively researching purchases—automotive, insurance, home improvement. These segments cost more but deliver measurably better conversion rates.
If you have your own customer list or CRM data, you can upload it to a DSP and serve CTV ads specifically to existing customers (cross-sell) or to households that match your customer profile (lookalike). This is one of the most powerful targeting approaches for B2B and high-consideration consumer brands.
| Factor | Linear TV | Connected TV (Programmatic) |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting | Demographic + daypart | Household-level, behavior, intent |
| Minimum spend | $30,000–$100,000 (typical buy) | $3,000–$5,000/month |
| Ad skipping | Possible (DVR) | Non-skippable in most environments |
| Completion rate | ~60% (estimated) | 95%+ (verified) |
| CPM range | $20–40 (negotiated) | $20–50 (programmatic) |
| Audience verification | Estimated (Nielsen) | Device-verified, household IP |
| Campaign pacing | Fixed schedule | Real-time, budget-controlled |
| Reporting | Post-buy Nielsen reports | Daily dashboards, impression logs |
For detailed CPM benchmarks by channel, completion rate, and ROAS for Canadian CTV campaigns, see our CTV Advertising Benchmarks 2026 report.
In general terms, Canadian CTV CPMs range:
Completion rates on non-skippable CTV average above 95%. That makes effective cost-per-completed-view (CPCV) extremely competitive versus pre-roll web video, which runs 65–70% completion on average.
The smartest starting point for most Canadian brands is a retargeting-first CTV campaign: reach people who already visited your website or engaged with your brand, but serve them a video ad in a premium living-room environment instead of a banner.
This approach works at a $3,000–$5,000/month media budget and gives you measurable lift data before committing to full prospecting scale. Once you know what a CTV-converted customer is worth, scaling prospecting budgets becomes a straightforward math problem.
From there, the full programmatic mix—as described on our programmatic advertising services page—can layer in display, audio, and DOOH to build reach and frequency across the full marketing funnel.
No. Programmatic CTV campaigns can start at $3,000–$5,000/month in media. At that level, you're focused on retargeting or small-reach prospecting. Broad reach campaigns (targeting millions of households) typically need $20,000+/month to generate meaningful frequency.
Yes, for high-value B2B products and services. Using IP targeting and firmographic data, you can serve CTV ads specifically to households where someone works at a target company. The CPMs are higher, but reaching a CFO in their living room on a premium content platform is worth the premium for enterprise software, professional services, and financial products.
The most reliable approach is incremental lift testing—comparing conversion rates between households that saw your CTV ad versus a matched control group that didn't. DSPs including DV360 and The Trade Desk have built-in lift study tools. For e-commerce, pixel-based attribution can also capture view-through conversions within a defined window.
Self-serve access to DSPs is available for some platforms, but the minimum commitments and technical requirements are significant. Most Canadian brands are better served by a managed service partner who already has the platform access, publisher relationships, and data partnerships in place.
OTT (over-the-top) refers to any streaming content delivered over the internet, including on phones, tablets, and computers. CTV specifically refers to streaming on a connected television screen. In Canada, the two terms are often used interchangeably in advertising, but the premium placements—and the non-skippable formats—are on the CTV side.
Ready to test CTV for your brand? Book a 30-minute intro call: calendly.com/ryan-namediaexperts/intro-call-with-ryan or request a free media audit: namediaexperts.com/free-audit.
Sources: eMarketer Canada Digital Ad Spend 2026; StackAdapt Connected TV Statistics 2026; Bell Media 2026 Upfront Digital and DOOH Offer (Bell Media Press); Bell Media CTV and Noovo Content Moves to Crave announcement; eMarketer FAQ on CTV Advertising Trends 2026