Google Display Network averages $0.71 CPC and $3.33 CPM. TikTok Ads is bought on CPM only, averaging $8.55. Analysis for Canada in 2026.
Canada is a smaller but disproportionately mature digital ad market, with digital share of total media spend tracking close to US levels. Google and Meta dominate, but Canadian advertisers contend with two important wrinkles: French-language obligations in Quebec (Bill 96 enforcement has tightened) and CASL, one of the world's strictest anti-spam laws. CPMs typically run 5-10% below the US, reflecting a smaller auction pool and lower absolute population. The market is also unusually concentrated geographically — Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver account for the majority of high-value commercial audiences, which makes geo-targeting more efficient than national campaigns for most verticals.
Display advertising across Google's network of partner sites
Short-form video advertising on TikTok
The auction, the creative, the budget floor — the three things you actually need to know before picking a platform.
GDN buys impressions across 2M+ publisher sites via a real-time auction. You can bid CPC or CPM depending on the campaign goal. CPCs are 4–7x lower than search, but conversion rates are also lower — it's a top-of-funnel channel, not a decision-point channel.
Responsive Display Ads: 15 images (1200×628 landscape, 1200×1200 square, 1200×1500 portrait), 5 logos, 5 short headlines (30ch), 5 long headlines (90ch), 5 descriptions (90ch). Google auto-assembles.
$30–75/day gets a display campaign to statistical signal, though retargeting audiences reach signal faster and are the recommended entry point for smaller budgets.
TikTok Ads runs on CPM ($8–12 typical, higher for premium placements like TopView). CPC is available but the platform's optimization heavily favors CPM-bid campaigns. Auction density is lower than Meta but growing quickly; creative quality dominates.
9:16 vertical video (1080×1920), 9-60s (best performance 15-30s), native-feeling — polished ads underperform UGC-style creative here by 2-3x. Sound-on is standard. Captions optional but boost completion.
$500/day ($15K/month) is the practical floor for the Traffic and Conversion objectives to exit learning phase in a reasonable window. Smaller budgets work for Awareness and Video View goals.