How big is the Canada digital advertising market, and how should you cite it?
Part of US and Canada targeting
The short answer
IAB Canada's 2025 Internet Ad Revenue Survey, published June 23, 2026, puts Canada's digital advertising market at CAD $21.1 billion for 2025, up 16 percent, on a normalized basis comparable with 2024. Newly measured categories add $3.47 billion outside that topline. The figures are supply side revenue estimates in Canadian dollars, never converted US data.
Key takeaways
- The latest edition is IAB Canada's 2025 survey, published June 23, 2026: CAD $21.1 billion normalized, up 16 percent, with $3.47 billion of newly measured categories reported outside the topline.
- The 2024 edition's 62 percent programmatic share and the 2025 edition's 4.6 percent open RTB share describe different bases, so neither can be compared with the other as a trend.
- Sales assisted programmatic in IAB Canada's wording means buying influenced by sales teams, including private marketplace and guaranteed deals.
- A Canadian figure measures revenue earned to reach Canadians, much of it by companies based outside Canada, so a US total scaled down by population is not a substitute.
- Label each number as an actual, a normalized actual, an adjusted figure or a forecast, with the edition and its publication date.
How big is digital advertising in Canada in the latest IAB Canada survey?
The newest public edition is the 2025 IAB Canada Internet Ad Revenue Survey and 2026/27 Forecast (opens in a new tab), which IAB Canada's report index (opens in a new tab) lists as published June 23, 2026. It reports that Canada's digital advertising market "grew 16% year-over-year to reach $21.1 billion" in 2025. That $21.1 billion is a normalized total: in the report's words, it "reflects the same revenue items tracked in 2024 for comparability."
The same edition widened its lens. It measured retail media, ad technology and data products for the first time and reports that "newly measured categories contributed an additional $3.47 billion" in digital advertising related activity, which is not included in the topline. A planner quoting the market size should therefore say which of the two bases a number belongs to. For a year on year comparison with 2024, the normalized $21.1 billion is the figure built for that job.
| Channel | 2025 revenue | Share of total | Change from 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search, including commerce search | $9.33 billion | 43 percent | Up 17 percent |
| Social media (YouTube is reported under video) | $6.52 billion | 30 percent | Up 20 percent |
| Video, including connected TV | $2.79 billion | 13 percent | Up 26 percent |
| Display, including native and sponsored content | $2.11 billion | 10 percent | Up 5 percent |
What does sales assisted programmatic mean in Canadian reporting?
Definition
- Programmatic (assisted)
- IAB Canada's 2024 survey defines it as programmatic buying "Influenced by sales teams, including private marketplace and guaranteed deals," set apart from open RTB, which is "fully automated via exchange," and from direct, "Client service driven revenue (high touch)."
The category is about how a sale was arranged, not about the technology underneath. A private marketplace still runs through an auction, but a seller's team decided which buyers could take part. In the OpenRTB 2.6 specification (opens in a new tab), the private_auction flag set to 1 means bids are restricted to the deals specified, which is how such a deal shows up in the bid request itself.
The 2025 edition labels the same column "Private Marketplace" rather than assisted. When a client deck borrows either share, keep IAB Canada's own label and its definition beside it. The US report from IAB and PwC defines its programmatic category in other terms, which our guide to US digital advertising market size sets out, so the Canadian and US shares are not interchangeable.
Why should US revenue figures not be used as Canadian market size?
The two reports measure different things. The IAB and PwC full year 2025 report (opens in a new tab) asks respondents to "Only include U.S. based revenues" and reports in US dollars. IAB Canada's 2024 methodology describes data from publishers selling on Canadian websites plus content platforms, ad networks and exchanges "that sell advertising on both the Canadian and U.S./other foreign Websites they represent to reach Canadians."
Ownership matters as well. The 2024 Canadian edition found that "6% (~$1.1 Billion) of Total Revenue in Canada is Attributable to Domestic Companies," rising to 10 percent when search and social media are excluded. A Canadian market figure is revenue spent to reach people in Canada, wherever the seller is based. No population ratio applied to a US total reproduces that, because the channel mix, the sellers and the currency all differ.
| Point | IAB Canada survey | IAB and PwC US report |
|---|---|---|
| Geography | Revenue sold to reach Canadians, including on US and other foreign sites | US based revenues only |
| Currency | Canadian dollars | US dollars |
| Who reports | Supply side sellers; agencies, trading desks and DSPs with no supply side role do not take part (2024 edition) | Companies selling advertising online, plus public corporate data |
| Programmatic base | Buying method shares from a subset of respondents | Programmatic revenue excluding search, reported as a dollar figure |
| Assurance | PwC compiled the 2024 data and does not formally audit it | PwC does not audit the information |
Which Canadian figures are forecasts and which are actuals?
Each edition reports one actual year and forecasts the next ones, so the same year can carry two numbers. The October 2025 edition reported 2024 at CAD $18.202 billion, up 14.3 percent, and a news release (opens in a new tab) presented $21.2 billion for 2025 as a projection. The June 2026 edition then reported 2025 at $21.1 billion normalized. The October 2025 forecast and the June 2026 result are different kinds of number for the same year.
The 2026 outlook sits on the wider base. IAB Canada "forecasts that the Canadian digital advertising market will reach approximately $26.2 billion in 2026" and notes that "2026F and 2027F are shown on this expanded revenue basis." Comparing that forecast with the normalized $21.1 billion would mix two definitions. Even actual years are partly modeled: the 2024 edition says its revenues "are based on responses and estimates."
What should a plan include when it cites the Canadian market size?
Before a Canadian market figure goes into a deck
- The edition is named with its publication date, for example the 2025 survey published June 23, 2026.
- The figure says CAD and states whether it is normalized, adjusted or forecast.
- A buying method share carries its footnote: respondent based for 2024, excluding Google, YouTube and social media for 2025.
- No total was rebuilt by adding channel lines from the report.
- No US figure was converted, scaled by population or relabeled as Canadian.
- The year measured and the year published are both visible, since they differ.
- Any comparison across years uses the normalized series, not the expanded basis.
Fictional example
A Chicago e-bike maker sizes its first Canadian test
An unnamed commuter e-bike maker based in Chicago, Illinois asks its agency for a slide on the Canadian opportunity before a spring display test in English Canada. The first draft takes the US internet advertising total, divides it by the population ratio and converts it to Canadian dollars.
The planner replaces it with IAB Canada's 2025 normalized figure in CAD, labeled with the June 23, 2026 date, and moves the 2026 forecast to a separate line marked as forecast on the expanded basis. The buying method shares go in a footnote with IAB Canada's exclusion of Google, YouTube and social media. The slide no longer suggests a share of Canadian spend the brand could capture; it states the size of the market and its source.
How does PlacementGraph show which sites have a Canadian audience?
A market total says how much money moves in Canada; a plan still has to find the sites Canadians actually read.
Frequently asked questions
Does the IAB Canada market figure include YouTube?
Yes, within video. The 2025 survey's revenue presentation says social media revenue "Does not include YouTube, which is reported in the 'Video' group." The 2025 buying method split, by contrast, excludes Google, YouTube and social media, so YouTube counts toward the market total but not toward the direct, private marketplace and open RTB shares.
How much Canadian digital ad revenue goes to French language media?
The 2025 survey says English language media generated approximately $18.5 billion and French language media approximately $3.7 billion, "about 17% of total digital advertising revenue." The two amounts add to more than the $21.1 billion normalized total, so quote the 17 percent share with the edition rather than pairing the dollar figures with the topline.
Is retail media part of the $21.1 billion?
No. IAB Canada's 2025 edition reports retail media at $1.62 billion, ad technology at $559 million and data products at about $727.7 million as newly measured areas. The report places net new categories, worth $3.47 billion in total, outside the normalized topline, and shows retail media as separated into its own category from 2026.
Who supplies the data behind the Canadian survey?
Supply side companies. The 2024 edition describes a panel of publishers, content platforms, ad networks and exchanges, with over 30 companies that "participated or were estimated," and says agencies, trading desks and DSPs with no supply side role do not take part. Revenue from companies that did not respond is estimated with econometric models.
How long has IAB Canada published the revenue survey?
IAB Canada's report index says the research was "First commissioned in 1998" and lists annual editions, with the 2025 survey published June 23, 2026 and the 2024 survey on October 16, 2025. The 2025 report describes the survey as carried out annually since 2013 in its current form.
Sources
- 2025 IAB Canada Internet Ad Revenue Survey and 2026/27 Forecast (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada, June 2026
- IAB Canada Internet Advertising Revenue Reports (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada
- IAB Canada Releases New Industry Estimates Signaling an Expanding Canadian Digital Market (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada, June 2026
- 2024 IAB Canada Internet Ad Revenue Survey and 2025 Forecast (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada, October 2025
- Digital Advertising Poised to Surpass $21 Billion in 2025 (opens in a new tab)IAB Canada, October 2025
- Internet Advertising Revenue Report, Full Year 2025 (opens in a new tab)IAB and PwC, April 2026
- OpenRTB 2.6 specification (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.