Includes web links to local trade fair or show authorities and local newspapers, trade publications, radio/TV/cable information.
Last Published: 9/30/2019
Manufacturing sector
A crucial factor in promoting manufactured products as well as related professional services in Canada is to develop and maintain a sales-oriented corporate website. The website needs to identify your firm’s products and services; comparative advantages over competitors; technical specifications; examples or testimonials of your firm’s clients; and contact information for sales and service. Be mindful of Canada’s requirements for bilingual French/English messaging.

Firms may broaden their visibility and sales through participation in U.S. pavilions at major Canadian trade shows, and through participation in U.S. Department of Commerce trade missions to Canada. Visit https://build.export.gov/canada/eventsforu.s.companies/eg_ca_029302 for a list of missions and events.

Consumer sector
Small and mid-sized U.S. consumer goods manufacturers entering the Canadian market should focus on developing a strong web presence. Traditional mass market Canadian advertising (newspapers, TV, and radio) is costly, with ethnically diverse and geographically dispersed audiences.

Daily Newspapers
According to the news media industry association News Media Canada, as of April 2018, there were 90 daily newspapers in Canada. Eighty of these newspapers are paid for, and the remaining 10 papers are free publications. Canada's leading daily national newspapers, listed by daily average of print and digital circulation, are:
  • The Globe and Mail: 928,571 daily print and online readers
  • Toronto Star: 705,775daily print and online readers
  • The National Post: 642,857 daily print and online readers (2016 data)
  • Le Journal de Montreal (French): 560,714 daily readers
  • La Presse (French): reaches 520,000 unique tablets every month; includes 40 minutes average weekday engagement

*La Presse transitioned to an exclusively digital platform and this number reflects its self-reported readership within the province.
http://plus.lapresse.ca/advertisers.html

Visit News Media Canada website at:
newspaperscanada.ca/about-newspapers/circulation/daily-newspapers


For circulation information, visit Vividata:
https://vividata.ca/

Television and Radio
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/ICI Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. CBC carries news and entertainment programming nationwide on radio and television in English and French, as well as in eight indigenous languages, and operates internationally in nine languages. Learn more at: www.cbc.ca/, and www.cbc.ca/radio/.

CTV is Canada's largest private broadcaster, offering news and entertainment programming on two English language channels. More: www.ctv.ca/

Global Television broadcasts nationwide on one English language channel. For more information, visit: www.globaltv.com/

TVA broadcasts in French, countrywide. More: tva.canoe.ca/

Commercial television stations in Canada carry a large amount of U.S. programming including popular dramas, sitcoms, and major sporting events, but show local commercials. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires that U.S. networks simultaneously substitute Canadian commercials over U.S. commercials during their programs. The CRTC recently made an exception to this policy, allowing for U.S. commercials to be broadcast on U.S. networks during the Super Bowl. As of Super Bowl LI, viewers had the option of viewing Canadian commercials on Canadian channels, or U.S. commercials on U.S. channels.

More information about simultaneous substitution can be found here: www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/television/publicit/america.htm

Canada’s remaining independent stations are mostly community-oriented specialty stations. Radio advertising is largely local.

Internet marketing
The most popular sites in Canada are major international sites such as Google, YouTube, Reddit, Amazon, and Wikipedia. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the dominant social networking sites in Canada.

 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.