A 2021 Finder survey found Canada is fifth among 18 countries with the most consumers with at least one streaming service subscription.
“Canada is at the top of the global list when it comes to digital content consumption,” said Romana King from Finder.
Rogers Sports & Media said traditional media is still a significant method of consumption, but streamed content has become a regular part of Canadian viewing patterns.
Urnesha Bhattacherjee from Reviewlution said Canadians’ interest in television streaming services escalated rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, as viewership and subscriptions increased by 22 per cent across all providers.
TrueList, a software and agency analysist company, said Netflix gained over 8.5 million paid subscribers in the last three months of 2020 alone.
Netflix accumulated 37 million new subscribers in total for all of 2020, which was a 31 per cent increase from the previous year.
The streaming service industry has also seen a generational shift in how media is consumed.
Rogers Sports & Media said 53 per cent of adults aged 18 years of age to 24 years, have never had a cable subscription in their lifetime.