Why Canada’s media economy is bleeding

Canadian policymakers often focus on natural resources, telecommunications and automotive manufacturing when talking about the country’s economic pillars. However, there is another major industry that employs more people than some of these sectors, even as it steadily loses money.

Right now, the Canadian media and advertising sector is facing serious challenges. The 2026 Canadian Media Means Business (CMMB) report shows that in 2024, the sector provided 137,600 direct jobs.

That’s more than auto manufacturing, telecommunications and almost 40 per cent more than mining. Including indirect and related jobs, the sector adds $22.6 billion to Canada’s GDP.

Even though the industry is a big part of the economy, there is now a major gap between how much Canadians use media and how much money stays in Canada.

Canadians spend more time on media than almost anyone else in the world, but the advertising money that once supported local creators and publishers is now going overseas.

The numbers show that this loss of money is getting worse. In 2017, foreign companies took 76 per cent of Canadian digital ad spending. By 2024, that number had jumped to about 94 per cent.

Since digital platforms make up almost 80 per cent of all ad spending in Canada, 74 cents of every advertising dollar now leaves the Canadian media industry.

This loss of money is hurting Canadian workers, especially in traditional media such as broadcasting and print. From 2019 to 2024, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV lost more than 11,000 jobs. The decline in journalism is even more noticeable.

In just the past year, the industry lost 1,000 jobs — 600 journalists and 400 editors. This eight per cent drop makes it much harder for Canada to support local and investigative reporting.

Interestingly, this contraction is not geographically uniform; it is creating a tale of “Two Canadas” in the creative economy.

Western Canada experienced a severe drain, with British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba collectively losing 5,310 jobs and $710 million in GDP in just 12 months.

Conversely, Quebec leveraged its legislative language moat to add 1,950 jobs, demonstrating that cultural protectionism can translate directly into economic resilience. Nova Scotia also nearly doubled its media employment, growing by 95.5 per cent, largely due to aggressive provincial incentive funds.

Still, the outlook for the industry is worrying.

The CMMB report says that if this revenue loss continues, Canada could lose $87 billion by 2030. Since every $1 million in Canadian ad spending supports about eight jobs, this ongoing trend could mean another 15,000 Canadian jobs are lost for good.

This situation brings up an important policy question about how Canada supports its industries.

Since 2020, the government has given about $5 billion to the auto industry. In comparison, federal support for media and advertising was just over $2.1 billion in 2024.

While Canada strongly supports traditional manufacturing, its biggest information employer is left to handle a tough digital transition with much less help.

The answer is not to punish platforms in ways that do not affect them or to fight against digital change. The industry is already adapting.

For example, 800 new jobs have been created in specialized advertising and PR, and 355,450 communications professionals now work in-house in other sectors.

To protect this sector’s future, a new approach is needed.

Policymakers and business leaders should see Canadian media as more than just a cultural project — it is about economic independence. Fixing the imbalance in the advertising market is key to ensuring the $22.6-billion media industry remains strong and does not become a lost opportunity.

To move from diagnosis to action, policymakers should consider targeted interventions such as introducing tax incentives for advertisers who invest in Canadian-owned media, establishing digital services taxes to level the playing field with foreign tech platforms, and reforming government funding models to reward innovation, local journalism and content diversity.

New regulations could also make digital platforms show more clearly where ad money goes. Closing tax loopholes for these platforms and giving more incentives for advertising in Canadian media would help strengthen the industry.

Taking these steps would protect Canadian media jobs and keep more ad dollars in the country.

Sarah Thompson is project leader with Canadian Media Means Business.