Connected TV (CTV) Advertising: What Canadian Brands Need to Know

More Canadians are watching TV through streaming apps. Connected TV advertising (CTV) puts your commercial on the living-room screen, with targeting and reporting closer to digital advertising. Here is what brands advertising in Canada need to know.

This guide builds on our guide to TV advertising for growing businesses.

What counts as CTV

• Ad-supported tiers of major streaming services
• Broadcaster streaming apps (the on-demand and live apps of TV networks)
• Free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels
• Smart TV and device platforms with their own content and ad inventory

Why brands use CTV

• Reach cord-cutters: people who rarely watch scheduled TV.
• Targeting: by geography (down to region or postal area on some platforms), demographics, interests and viewing behaviour.
• Lower entry points than many traditional TV buys.
• Digital-style reporting: impressions, completion rates, reach and frequency.
• High attention: full-screen, often non-skippable ads on the biggest screen in the home.

CTV vs. linear TV

	Linear TV	Connected TV
Buying	By program and daypart	By audience and impressions
Targeting	Broad, by program audience	More precise: geography, demographics, interests
Measurement	Ratings, response to airings	Impressions, completion, visits, conversions
Reach	Large live audiences, sports, news	Streaming viewers, younger households
Best use	Mass reach, live events	Targeted reach, extending linear

Most brands get the best results using both: linear for mass moments, CTV to reach people linear misses and to add frequency. See TV ad scheduling.

How to buy CTV

1. Direct from platforms or broadcasters: guaranteed placements in specific apps or content.
2. Programmatic: through demand-side platforms that buy across many apps with audience targeting. See programmatic advertising explained.
3. Through an agency that bundles CTV with TV, radio and OOH.

Ask any seller about inventory quality (which apps your ad will actually run in), fraud protection and frequency caps.

Creative tips

• 15 and 30 seconds are the standard lengths.
• Brand early: in the first few seconds.
• Big-screen quality: production values matter more than on mobile.
• On-screen QR code at the end can drive action, since viewers often have phones in hand. See QR codes and vanity URLs.
• Captions or supers help when sound is low.

Measuring CTV

• Reach, frequency and completion rate
• Site visits and conversions from exposed households (with the right tracking setup)
• Incrementality tests: exposed vs. holdout audiences. See multi-channel attribution
• Brand lift studies for awareness goals. See brand lift studies explained

Treat platform-reported conversions with healthy scepticism and check them against your own business KPIs.

CTV budgeting tips

• Start with a clear geography: your city or service area, so impressions aren't wasted.
• Set frequency caps so households don't see the same ad too often. See advertising frequency.
• Compare cost per completed view, not just CPM, since a completed 30-second view is worth more than a partial one.
• Keep a holdout group so you can measure incremental results rather than taking platform numbers at face value.
• Reuse your TV creative where possible, cutting 15-second versions for streaming.

Buying CTV programmatically? See programmatic advertising explained and data clean rooms.

Getting started

Start with a focused test: one region, a clear goal, a four- to eight-week flight, a dedicated landing page and a holdout group. If it works, scale it alongside your broader broadcast and out-of-home plan.