Canadian advertising trends for 2026

As we move into 2026, Canada’s advertising landscape is consolidating fast. Media consumption continues to fragment across screens, privacy expectations are tightening, and performance pressure is rising. At the same time, total ad investment is still growing — with the Canadian market expected to expand by ~8% in 2026 (eMarketer).

The result? More money, more choice — and far less margin for inefficiency.

The most effective marketers in 2026 won’t chase volume. They’ll build connected media systems that prioritize reach quality, data integrity, and measurable outcomes. Here’s where Canadian advertisers should focus.

1. One video plan. Multiple environments.

In 2026, video planning is no longer split between “TV” and “digital.”

It’s built across distinct video environments, each playing a different role in reach and performance. Today’s video plans span multiple environments, with linear video delivering mass reach and shared moments, connected TV live combining broadcast-quality viewing with addressability, premium streaming extending reach in high-attention, on-demand environments, and YouTube providing scalable reach, frequency, and strong completion.

The opportunity isn’t choosing one. It’s planning them together to manage reach, frequency, and duplication more effectively.

• Video plans must be built for incremental reach, not siloed buys
• Each environment serves a purpose — scale, extension, or efficiency
• Poor coordination leads to over-frequency and wasted impressions

The Bell Media advantage

Bell Media enables advertisers to plan, activate and measure total video across linear, connected TV live, premium streaming, and YouTube as a single, coordinated strategy.
With premium streaming on Crave and incremental reach through Tubi, advertisers extend their video footprint in brand-safe, on-demand viewing — efficiently and at scale.

Connected TV live (Addressable TV) bridges broadcast and digital, while YouTube adds scalable reach and frequency.

The result: 10–15% incremental reach, stronger frequency control, and more effective video investment.

2. Live sports remain the ultimate attention engine

Live sports continue to deliver what advertisers value most: scale, attention, and immediacy.

According to eMarketer, Canadian sports fans rely on both linear TV and streaming to watch live sports, with most audiences combining the two (42%). When fans choose only one format, linear TV still prevails (37%), largely due to league rights and broadcast distribution.

2026 will be a defining year for sports viewing in Canada. Global tentpoles like the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games will command national attention, while women’s sports continue to accelerate, delivering fast-growing, highly engaged audiences across Canada.

• Live sports deliver unmatched real-time attention
• Viewing spans linear and streaming, not one or the other
• Women’s sports are driving incremental reach and engagement
• Rights-holding broadcasters continue to anchor scale

The Bell Media advantage

Through Bell Media’s sports portfolio — including TSN and RDS — advertisers reach sports fans across linear, streaming, and connected TV, aligned with premium rights and trusted coverage.

As the exclusive Canadian broadcast partner of the FIFA World Cup, Bell Media offers brands a rare opportunity to align with one of the world’s most-watched events through high-impact brand partnerships, from integrations and sponsorships to custom content and multi-platform storytelling.

With the continued expansion of Crave and the addition of live sports through connected TV live feeds, Bell Media bridges broadcast and streaming — enabling brands to show up seamlessly wherever fans are watching, without fragmenting reach or frequency.

Combined with Bell Media’s leadership in women’s sports coverage, this integrated approach turns live sports into a powerful engine for reach, attention, and measurable brand impact.

3. Retail media evolves into commerce media and pulls budget across the tunnel

Retail media in Canada is no longer a lower-funnel add-on. It’s becoming commerce media — designed to connect exposure to outcomes across the entire journey.

According to IAB Canada, retail media is growing 20%+ year over year, while Guideline projects Canada’s “digital other” category (including retail media, audio, and display) to grow another 13% in 2026.

• Commerce signals are moving up the funnel
• Performance budgets are influencing premium media choices
• Content and commerce are converging

The Bell Media advantage

Bell Media enables advertisers to connect media investment to real business impact by combining ad exposure data with extensive point-of-sale insights from Loblaw Advance, delivering privacy-compliant reporting that links media exposure to verified sales outcomes. Through additional partnerships with advertisers who contribute their own point-of-sale data via EA, Bell Media can also directly match linear and Connected TV exposure to sales performance. When the objective is to drive traffic, Bell Media leverages its robust first-party telco data to measure incremental traffic lift attributable to linear and Connected TV advertising.

Separately, Bell Media enables commerce activation within premium content by embedding shoppable experiences directly into video through its partnership with Shopsense, from Shop-the-Commercial to content-curated storefronts and sponsorships.

Together, these capabilities allow advertisers to measure what drives sales and activate commerce where discovery and influence happen, without compromising brand context, trust, or privacy.

4. AI becomes the operating layer of modern marketing

By 2026, AI is no longer experimental, it’s foundational.

74% of Canadian marketers already use generative AI weekly, and the next wave is agentic AI: systems that optimize campaigns, personalize creative, and inform media decisions in real time.

• Speed and adaptability become competitive advantages
• AI shifts from tool to infrastructure
• Human oversight matters more, not less

The Bell Media advantage

Bell Media applies AI across its Bell Marketing Platform to enrich audience intelligence, improve relevance, and simplify media buying — all within premium, privacy-safe environments.

Just as importantly, Bell Media pairs these AI-powered tools with dedicated, verticalized teams who bring category expertise and human judgment to planning, activation, and optimization. For example, within Bell Audience Manager (BAM), AI is used to enhance targeting by identifying patterns that signal higher likelihood of interest and purchase intent. By filtering out false positives and prioritizing high-propensity audiences, advertisers can reduce wasted reach and improve efficiency, helping campaigns deliver stronger ROI and clearer business outcomes. This ensures AI-driven insights are applied strategically, creative is used responsibly, and performance decisions align with real business objectives.

Together, Bell Media’s technology and expert teams help advertisers move faster without losing control, combining automation with accountability to drive better outcomes.

5. First-party data becomes the currency of growth

As privacy regulations evolve and third-party identifiers continue to decline, first-party data is a strategic infrastructure.

Canadian forecasts increasingly point to consent-based data, identity frameworks, and clean governance as the backbone of future-proof marketing.

• Owning data beats renting it
• Privacy and performance must coexist
• Scale now comes from trusted ecosystems

The Bell Media advantage

Bell Media activates privacy-safe first-party data at national scale, leveraging insights from 22M+ customer connections across 8M+ Canadian households to deliver deterministic reach, reduced media waste, and measurable business outcomes across linear TV, Connected TV, digital, and audio. Advertisers can precisely control reach and frequency, unify exposure across platforms, and directly measure incremental impact, linking media investment to verified outcomes such as sales lift, store visitation, and traffic growth. Unlike walled gardens, Bell Media offers transparency, interoperability, and advertiser-owned measurement, enabling brands to activate their own data, compare performance across channels, and understand true incrementality without being confined to a single platform’s ecosystem or reporting framework.

Advertisers can also onboard and activate their own first-party data within trusted Canadian media environments, enabling personalization, targeting, and measurement without relying on third-party identifiers.

6. Measurement moves from metrics to outcomes

Reach and frequency still matter — but they’re no longer enough.

As media fragments across screens, advertisers are demanding proof that investment drives incremental business impact, not just exposure. Nearly 52% of brands and agencies now use incrementality testing (eMarketer), and Canadian advertisers are following suit.

• Last-click is no longer credible
• Incrementality becomes the new standard
• Measurement must respect privacy

The Bell Media advantage

Bell Media’s outcomes measurement, built in partnership with Environics Analytics, connects exposure across linear, CTV, and digital video to real business actions like sales, site visits, and sign-ups.

Through partnerships with retail data providers such as Loblaw Advance, advertisers can link media investment to verified purchase outcomes in a privacy-compliant way — delivering clearer ROI and reduced duplication.

7. Out-of-Home becomes a performance layer

Out-of-Home: Measurable impact at scale

Out-of-home has evolved into a data-driven, measurable media channel, combining location intelligence with modern buying and attribution capabilities. These solutions establish OOH as a measurable performance layer. Digital OOH captures audience attention, now a premium metric, with high impact, large format screens.

DOOH is the key growth driver leading this evolution, with ad spend projected to grow by 3–3.5% in 2026 (Statista). Momentum is accelerating as advertisers prioritize high-attention, real-world environments that deliver both impact and accountability.

• DOOH captures audience attention with high impact.
• Connects with consumers on their daily journeys, making your brand a relevant part of their everyday experiences.
• Creates powerful synergy, enhancing your integrated media efforts.

The Bell Media Advantage

Through Astral, Bell Media offers one of Canada’s most comprehensive OOH networks. As Canada’s #1 DOOH provider, Astral delivers the most impressions in Digital Large Format and DTSA (Digital Transit Shelters). Astral’s DOOH inventory is available through all preferred buying channels, with options for programmatic buying, audience targeting, and measurement