Top Social Media Brands in Canada: Q1 2025 Overview

Introduction

In the ever-evolving landscape of social media, Canada remains a key player with significant user engagement across major platforms. In Q1 2025, YouTube, WhatsApp, and TikTok emerged as leading brands, each exhibiting distinct trends in monthly user engagement and advertising strategies. Sensor Tower's comprehensive data suite provides unparalleled insights into these trends, covering web and app performance as well as advertising metrics.

YouTube

YouTube's digital presence continues to dominate, with a strong showing across both its website and app.

• Audience Trends: The website, youtube.com, experienced a stable increase in visits, peaking at over 6.4B in March 2025. The monthly true audience also showed slight growth, maintaining a steady presence above 40M.

• App Engagement: The YouTube app saw a consistent rise in monthly active users, reaching nearly 30M by March 2025. This suggests a balanced engagement between web and mobile platforms.

• Ad Spend & Channels: YouTube's monthly ad spend on Instagram showed a notable increase in Q1 2025, with March seeing over $365K and impressions exceeding 100K. Other channels like Snapchat and TikTok were utilized minimally.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp continues to be a staple in Canada's social media ecosystem, with its website and app maintaining a strong user base.

• Audience Trends: The website, whatsapp.com, saw visits fluctuate slightly but ended Q1 2025 strong with over 220M visits in March. The monthly true audience remained stable around 21M.

• App Engagement: The WhatsApp Messenger app maintained a steady monthly active user base, hovering around 20M throughout the quarter.

• Ad Spend & Channels: WhatsApp's advertising efforts were minimal in Q1 2025, with a slight investment in Reddit in December 2024, but no significant monthly spend in Q1 2025.

TikTok

TikTok continues to capture attention with dynamic user engagement and advertising strategies.

• Audience Trends: The website, tiktok.com, maintained a robust presence with visits peaking at nearly 96M in March 2025. Monthly true audience figures stayed close to 15M.

• App Engagement: The TikTok app saw a slight dip in monthly active users in February but rebounded to over 9.5M by March.

• Ad Spend & Channels: TikTok's monthly advertising spend was significant, peaking in February with over $749K and impressions surpassing 130M. Facebook and Instagram were primary channels, reflecting a strategic focus on video content.

Conclusion

The first quarter of 2025 highlighted YouTube, WhatsApp, and TikTok's strong positions in Canada's social media landscape. Sensor Tower's unique capabilities in cross-referencing web, app, and advertising data provide crucial insights into these platforms' performances. As digital consumption patterns continue to evolve, such comprehensive analytics are indispensable for understanding market dynamics.

For more detailed insights, explore Sensor Tower's offerings: Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics.