Video Advertising in Canada – Key Trends 2025

The Evolution of Video Advertising in Canada (2025 Outlook)

The landscape of video advertising in Canada is undergoing a major transformation — shaped by shifting consumer habits, cross-platform integration, and the rise of AI-powered campaign optimization.
Where traditional television ads once dominated, today’s brands are investing heavily in digital video advertising across platforms like YouTube, Meta, TikTok, and streaming services.

According to IAB Canada’s 2024 Digital Media Report, video now represents 41 percent of total digital ad spending in the country, a figure projected to surpass 45 percent by mid-2025.
This growth reflects a fundamental change in audience behaviour: Canadian consumers spend an average of 103 minutes per day watching online video content, and 68 percent of them say they are more likely to engage with brands that use storytelling-based video campaigns.

The infrastructure supporting this expansion is equally advanced.
With federal incentives, cutting-edge studios, and creative clusters in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, Canada has become a leading destination for high-performance advertising production.
Agencies such as B2P Production integrate data analytics, cinematic quality, and marketing insight to deliver campaigns that not only capture attention but also convert it into measurable growth.

As we move through 2025, video advertising is not just an instrument for visibility — it has evolved into a strategic business driver that unites creativity, performance metrics, and emotional storytelling to shape how brands grow in the Canadian market.

Canada’s Video Advertising Market — Growth, Investment, and Platform Trends

Video advertising has become one of the fastest-growing segments of Canada’s digital economy.
According to IAB Canada’s Digital Ad Spending 2024 Report, total digital ad expenditure reached CAD $14.4 billion, of which 41 % (≈ CAD $5.9 billion) was allocated to video — a 13 % year-over-year increase.
This expansion demonstrates that brands are shifting budgets from display and search toward richer, storytelling-based formats that deliver measurable engagement.

Platform Dynamics

Canada’s top three channels — YouTube, Meta (Video Reels), and TikTok — collectively capture nearly 82 % of total digital-video impressions.
Meanwhile, Connected TV (CTV) and streaming platforms such as Crave, CBC Gem, and Amazon Prime Video Canada are attracting higher-value brand advertisers because of their targeting precision and premium inventory.
As of 2024, Telefilm Canada estimates that CTV ad revenue in the country surpassed CAD $890 million, marking a 29 % increase over the previous year.

Investment Trends

CMPA Profile 2023 data shows that corporate and branded content production grew by 18 % year over year, driven largely by the advertising sector’s adoption of cinematic storytelling.
Agencies that combine data analytics with creative production — including B2P Production — are redefining what constitutes advertising ROI, integrating viewer-behaviour metrics with visual-quality benchmarks.

Key Performance Indicators of Video Advertising in Canada (2024–2025)

This data illustrates a market that’s both expanding and maturing.
Canada’s advertisers are now using video not just to inform but to influence behaviour, leveraging analytics, automation, and creativity to build stronger connections with audiences.
In this ecosystem, agencies such as B2P Production serve as strategic partners — merging art, insight, and measurable outcomes.

Consumer Behaviour and Performance Insights in Canadian Video Advertising

Understanding how Canadian consumers engage with video ads is central to optimizing creative strategy and ROI.
In the last three years, the Canadian audience has become highly selective yet deeply responsive to relevant, emotionally resonant content.
A Nielsen Media Research 2024 study found that 72 % of Canadian viewers prefer video ads that tell a story or feature real people, compared to only 18 % who respond positively to product-centric spots.
Similarly, IAB Canada reports that video ads with contextual relevance generate 43 % higher engagement and 27 % longer average watch time than non-targeted campaigns.

The Shift to Cross-Platform Consumption

Consumers in Canada are no longer confined to a single screen.
Over 87 % of Canadians now watch video content on multiple devices each day — including mobile, smart TV, and desktop — making cross-platform consistency vital.
Telefilm Canada’s 2023 Media Trends Survey indicates that mobile accounts for 64 % of total ad video views, while Connected TV (CTV) is the fastest-growing segment, with an annual increase of 33 % in impressions and completion rates.

Ad Format Preferences

Interactive and short-form ads (6–15 seconds) perform best for awareness and recall, whereas long-form storytelling videos (30–90 seconds) deliver higher brand trust and purchase intent.
This aligns with IAB Canada’s 2024 Consumer Insight Report, which found that brand recall rises 32 % when video narratives align with a viewer’s personal values or community identity.

 Consumer Engagement Metrics for Video Advertising in Canada (2024)

Canadian consumers are highly receptive to video ads that feel authentic, localized, and emotionally intelligent.
For agencies like B2P Production, these insights shape every stage of campaign design — from scripting to distribution — ensuring that each project resonates with cultural nuance and delivers measurable engagement.

Technology, Targeting, and the Future of Programmatic Video Advertising in Canada

The next stage of growth in Canada’s video advertising ecosystem is defined by automation, data precision, and creative intelligence.
Programmatic video — the automated buying and delivery of ads through AI-driven systems — has rapidly become the dominant model for distributing video campaigns across digital and connected TV platforms.

Data-Driven Targeting and Personalization

According to IAB Canada’s AdTech Outlook 2024, programmatic video now accounts for 72 % of total video ad transactions, representing CAD $4.2 billion in media value.
Machine learning algorithms analyze real-time viewer behaviour — such as content preferences, location, and device type — to deliver personalized experiences.
Telefilm Canada’s 2023 Market Trends Report found that campaigns using dynamic creative optimization (DCO) achieve 2.3× higher click-through rates (CTR) and 1.8× better completion rates than manually targeted ads.

These innovations have reshaped the advertiser–audience relationship.
Where traditional campaigns focused on reach, programmatic strategies prioritize relevance, timing, and contextual intelligence, ensuring that every impression contributes to brand equity and performance metrics.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used not just for media placement, but also for creative development and post-production analysis.
AI-assisted editing, facial-emotion tracking, and automated A/B testing are helping brands refine visual narratives and predict which creative elements resonate most effectively.
Invest in Canada (2023) estimates that one in three Canadian agencies now integrates AI tools in their workflow, reflecting a shift toward performance-oriented creativity.

Programmatic and AI-Driven Video Advertising in Canada (2024)

As programmatic infrastructure matures, Canada’s video advertising sector is evolving toward real-time precision and measurable storytelling.
For forward-thinking agencies such as B2P Production, this transformation represents an opportunity to unite creativity and data science — turning each campaign into an intelligent narrative that adapts dynamically to audience intent and emotional response.

Creative Trends and Future Outlook for 2025

The creative future of video advertising in Canada is being shaped by a fusion of human insight and intelligent automation.
As the market matures, advertisers are moving beyond attention metrics to focus on emotional precision, sustainability, and inclusivity — producing content that both inspires and informs.

Trend 1: Emotionally Intelligent Storytelling

Telefilm Canada’s 2024 Audience Study reports that 74 % of Canadian audiences engage more deeply with campaigns that evoke empathy or humour.
Brands are increasingly combining cinematic storytelling with real-life social narratives — from sustainability and diversity to innovation and human connection — turning advertisements into micro-documentaries that elevate purpose-driven marketing.

Trend 2: Sustainability and Ethical Production

Environmental accountability is fast becoming a creative differentiator.
CMPA’s Green Production Index (2023) shows that 46 % of Canadian ad productions now follow certified low-carbon or zero-waste guidelines.
This reflects a growing consumer demand for brands that not only communicate values but demonstrate them through responsible production practices.

Trend 3: AI-Enhanced Creativity

Artificial intelligence is transforming creative ideation, from script generation to audience segmentation.
According to IAB Canada’s 2024 Creative Innovation Report, 58 % of Canadian marketing teams are already experimenting with AI-based video editing, adaptive ad sequencing, or voice synthesis tools to personalize creative output at scale — without sacrificing emotional authenticity.

Trend 4: Inclusive Representation and Localization

Canada’s multicultural fabric gives advertisers an unmatched advantage: diversity.
Campaigns that feature multilingual storytelling or underrepresented communities record 29 % higher audience relatability and 36 % better brand favorability, according to Telefilm Canada.
Agencies like B2P Production leverage this cultural depth to ensure every campaign resonates across demographic and linguistic boundaries.

Emerging Creative Trends in Canadian Video Advertising (2025)

As Canada approaches 2025, video advertising is evolving into an ecosystem of empathy, innovation, and responsibility.
By blending data intelligence with authentic storytelling, Canadian agencies — led by B2P Production — are redefining what creative excellence means in a digital age where audiences expect both performance and purpose.

Conclusion

Video advertising in Canada stands at the intersection of creativity, data, and accountability.
With audiences consuming more online video than ever before, brands are moving toward campaigns that are not just persuasive — but also purposeful, personalized, and performance-driven.

The synergy between AI, sustainable production, and culturally inclusive storytelling has given rise to a new marketing paradigm: one that connects emotional resonance with measurable ROI.
For agencies like B2P Production, this evolution represents more than a technological shift — it’s an opportunity to redefine how creativity builds trust and long-term value for brands.

As Canada continues to lead in digital media innovation, its advertising industry will remain a model for how human creativity and intelligent technology can work together to produce campaigns that inform, inspire, and endure.

References

1. IAB Canada. (2024). Digital Ad Spending and Consumer Behaviour Report 2024. Toronto, ON.

2. Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). (2023). Profile 2023: Economic Report on the Screen-Based Media Production Industry. Ottawa, ON.

3. Telefilm Canada. (2024). Audience Insight and Creative Performance Survey. Ottawa, ON.

4. Invest in Canada. (2023). Creative Industries Innovation and Investment Report. Ottawa, ON.

5. Nielsen Media Research. (2024). Canadian Video Advertising Engagement Study. Toronto, ON.

6. IAB Canada. (2024). AdTech Outlook and Creative Innovation Report. Toronto, ON.

7. Government of Canada. (2023). Digital Economy Overview: Creative Sector Statistics. Ottawa, ON.