While television and audio continue to have mass reach, the latest Cross-Media Update from Vividata finds that engagement is becoming more varied, particularly regionally.
According to Vividata’s spring update, which draws from its ongoing Study of the Canadian Consumer, encompassing more than 70,000 annual respondents across 10 provinces and 52 markets, audio continues to reach 21 million Canadians weekly, with listeners spending an average of 13.1 hours per week. Quebec is a standout audio market, leading in both reach and time spent, spending almost 30 minutes more with audio per week than the average Canadian.
When it comes to streaming audio, like Spotify and Apple Music, the Prairies are out front, closely followed by British Columbia, while Atlantic Canadians are most likely to listen to Amazon Music. Vividata found that audio drives other media behaviours, with Atlantic Canadians browsing the web and scrolling social media while listening. Quebecers and British Columbians are more apt to turn to print media.
Television also still has mass reach, with 83% of Canadians watching weekly, spending about 20 hours per week with TV. While streaming is now deeply embedded in viewing behaviour, Vividata says it’s not simply replacing linear. Canadians are mixing live TV, paid streaming, free streaming and social video.
According to the study, 43% of Canadians are still watching live TV as it is broadcast, with Quebec showing a stronger connection to live broadcast. Other regional gaps in behaviour see Ontario lead viewership of free online TV platforms like Tubi (46%), while Atlantic Canada shows the highest percentage of paid streaming and social video subscribers (65%). Atlantic Canadians are also most likely (37%) to watch Social Video Shorts via TikTok or Instagram Reels. French viewers in Quebec lead in catching up on content on-demand (31%).
Vividata says what advertisers should take away from the spring update is that media planning in Canada can no longer rely on national averages alone, as geography, language, platform and audience motivation increasingly shape how Canadians engage with media.
“Television and audio continue to be powerful mass-reach media in Canada, but the way people engage with them is becoming much more varied,” said Pat Pellegrini, President & CEO of Vividata. “The Spring 2026 data shows TV still reaches more than eight in 10 Canadians weekly, while audio reaches 21 million Canadians each week. The story is not that traditional media is disappearing. It is that Canadians are moving fluidly across live, streaming, digital and on-demand environments, and that creates both complexity and opportunity for broadcasters and advertisers.”
“One of the clearest messages in this report is that Canadian media behaviour cannot be understood through national averages alone,” he continued. “Quebec’s stronger connection to live television and audio, Atlantic Canada’s high streaming engagement, and regional differences across audio apps and viewing platforms all point to the same reality. Broadcasters and media planners need to understand the local market, the platform and the audience mindset if they want to connect effectively.”
