Leading Brands in Canada's Film & Television Category: Q1 2025 Overview

In the fast-evolving digital landscape, the Film & Television category in Canada has witnessed significant engagement across various platforms. Sensor Tower provides unparalleled insights into these trends, allowing us to analyze the performance of leading brands such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC/Radio Canada), Shaw Media Inc., and Netflix, Inc. This article delves into their performance from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, highlighting audience trends, app engagement, and advertising data.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC/Radio Canada)

The CBC/Radio Canada maintains a robust presence with its websites, cbc.ca and radio-canada.ca, alongside the CBC Gem: Shows & Live TV app.

• Audience Trends: Both cbc.ca and radio-canada.ca experienced substantial growth in Q1 2025. Visits on cbc.ca peaked in March, surpassing 410M, while radio-canada.ca reached 112M. Monthly true audience numbers remained stable, with over 23M for cbc.ca and around 7.5M for radio-canada.ca by March.

• App Engagement: CBC Gem saw an increase in monthly active users, reaching over 1M by March.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly advertising spend rose in January, with more than $800K spent, primarily on desktop video and Facebook, generating significant impressions.

Shaw Media Inc.

Shaw Media Inc. operates through its websites, globalnews.ca and globaltv.com, and the Global TV app.

• Audience Trends: globalnews.ca saw a decline in visits, falling to around 28M by March. The monthly true audience also decreased to approximately 6M. Conversely, globaltv.com maintained a steady audience with visits peaking at 4M in March.

• App Engagement: The Global TV app experienced a recovery in March, with monthly active users climbing back to around 198K.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly ad spending was minimal, with a gradual decrease to about $1K by March, focusing on Facebook.

Netflix, Inc.

Netflix continues to dominate with its website, netflix.com, and the Netflix app.

• Audience Trends: netflix.com maintained high visits, averaging around 120M in Q1 2025. The monthly true audience remained stable, exceeding 7M consistently.

• App Engagement: The Netflix app saw a slight dip in monthly active users, averaging around 5M.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Netflix's monthly ad spend was significant in December, exceeding $1.3M, with a heavy focus on Instagram and Facebook, yielding substantial impressions.

Conclusion

The analysis from Sensor Tower highlights the competitive dynamics in Canada's Film & Television category. CBC/Radio Canada showed remarkable growth in web traffic, while Shaw Media Inc. experienced fluctuations. Netflix maintained its stronghold with consistent audience engagement. Sensor Tower's comprehensive data offerings, including Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics, are crucial for understanding these cross-platform trends, providing decision-makers with the clarity needed to strategize effectively in this dynamic market.