Tubi's First Canadian Streaming Report Has Some Lessons for Marketers

Free streaming has been building momentum in Canada for a while. Tubi's newly released The Stream Canada 2026: When Intention Becomes Attention, the first Canadian edition of its annual cultural insights report produced with The Harris Poll, puts some hard numbers behind a shift that many marketers have been sensing without being able to quantify.

Here are the findings worth paying attention to:

Canadians are actively choosing free

The cost pressure on household streaming budgets is real and measurable. Nearly four in five Canadians (79%) say they have ended, or would end, a streaming subscription because of price increases, and 82% say switching to a free streaming service is a practical way to manage those rising costs. This isn't passive drift. It's deliberate decision-making about where to spend time and money.

And they're fine with ads

Perhaps the most useful number in the report for anyone planning a streaming buy: 84% of Canadians agree that watching ads is a fair trade-off for free content access. That's a level of ad acceptance that challenges some long-held assumptions about streaming audiences and their tolerance for advertising.

Streaming has become a shared experience

The solitary, second-screen image of streaming doesn't hold up against the data. Seventy-five percent of Canadians say they stream with household members as a form of quality time, and 52% stream with people outside their home. Seventy-one percent say they talk about content with others after watching, reinforcing that streaming conversations extend well beyond the screen.

Deep catalogues are driving rediscovery and fandom

Familiarity is a feature, not a limitation. Ninety-seven percent of Canadians express an interest in nostalgia viewing, and 79% say they've discovered older content that is new to them through browsing. That rediscovery is feeding into community: 65% say they feel part of a community based on the movies or shows they watch.

Fandom is translating into brand loyalty

For marketers, this is the section to bookmark. Fifty-seven percent of Canadians say they are more likely to support brands when their fandoms are reflected in advertising. Sixty-seven percent are loyal to streaming services that support their fandoms. And fans are spending to show it, on apparel, physical media, and subscriptions.

What the report signals

"Canadians are taking a more intentional approach to streaming, seeking greater control over what they watch and when, and increasingly viewing ads as a fair exchange for free content," said David Salmon, Tubi's International EVP and Managing Director.

The viewers arriving on free, ad-supported platforms aren't there by default. They've made a choice, and that changes the context in which brand messages land. For Canadian marketers thinking about streaming as a channel in 2026, that's worth factoring in.

The Stream Canada 2026: When Intention Becomes Attention is available to download via Tubi's website. The report is based on a Harris Poll survey of 1,000 Canadian adults who stream at least one hour per week, conducted November to December 2025.

Related: The New Reality of Tentpole Advertising in a Streaming Olympics