Julia Stoll
Research expert covering TV and video media
Radio in Canada - statistics & facts
In 2021, there were 961 radio stations in Canada, out of which 716 were commercial radio stations. Revenue generated by the latter category of stations remained essentially unchanged between 2010 and 2014, but since then, the industry has experienced successive years of decreasing revenues , eventually falling to 1.15 billion Canadian dollars in 2020. Unsurprisingly, FM radio generally accounts for approximately 83 percent of the commercial revenues, with AM radio generating the rest. Considering the main radio markets in Canada, the Toronto area claims the highest average radio audience, with more than 5.87 million people listening on a daily basis as of fall 2021. Vancouver radio stations have the second highest audience, with 2.46 million listeners.
Radio consumption
The most played radio song in Canada was 鈥楽ave your tears鈥 by Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd. While the Canadian radio market is more complex than other radio markets due to several national languages being spoken as first languages, the development towards digital radio consumption is comparable to the global radio market, meaning that digital consumption formats are catching up with the traditional radio. Despite this development, radio has been a steady source of audio entertainment, with nearly 87 percent of Canadian respondents stating that they have listened to the radio in the past month. This is also due to the convenience of radio, which is often consumed on the go. For example, in 2021, 67.53 percent of Canadian respondents listened to the radio in a vehicle.The development of the radio market
Likely due to this movement towards internet-based radio and music consumption, the Canadian radio industry has consistently decreased in terms of employment. Advertising figures have also began to stagnate as companies pursuer newer forms of marketing in the hopes of capturing a younger generation of consumers that is less inclined to radio use. In order to adapt to the new digital era, the Canadian radio industry will need to expand further into internet based radio offerings in order to offer its consumers the convenience that they have come to expect with streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify.
