For years, media planning in Atlantic Canada followed a familiar playbook. Need reach? Start with TV. Need frequency and brand recall? Add radio. Need local credibility? Layer in some regional print.

That model hasn’t disappeared, and those channels remain relevant and important. But habits are evolving, and we should be aware of the opportunities and challenges these present.

Panoply’s new Atlantic Canada Media Consumption Report 2026 explores how audiences across the region have changed their media habits over the last three years, and the findings are clear: attention hasn’t declined. But it is moving.

Today, 90% of adults in Atlantic Canada use mobile devices weekly, while nearly seven in ten minutes of daily media consumption nationally are now digital-first.

That shift creates major implications for advertisers.

Streaming Is Winning The Video Battle

Traditional live TV viewership in Atlantic Canada has declined 27%, while audiences on paid streaming platforms have grown 17% over the same period. Free online streaming has accelerated even faster.

The takeaway isn’t that live television is dead. It’s that campaigns built around live TV alone are increasingly chasing a shrinking audience. The strongest plans today pair traditional broadcast with streaming environments, ensuring brands capture audiences wherever attention is moving.

Audio Still Matters — But It Looks Different

Radio remains a powerful channel across Atlantic Canada, reaching more than one million listeners. It also provides strong brand recall, and remains an important channel.

But behaviour is shifting. In-vehicle radio listening has fallen sharply while free audio streaming - like Spotify - continues to rise.

One interesting surprise from the research: podcasts are not automatically replacing radio. Regional podcast listenership actually declined over the period studied. For marketers, this means audio planning needs more nuance than simply moving budgets from radio into podcasts.

Atlantic Canada Isn’t Moving At One Speed

Perhaps the most important finding is regional variation. New Brunswick is experiencing faster digital acceleration than Nova Scotia in several categories, including audio and video streaming, with live TV declining much faster.

That matters because media planning in Atlantic Canada is no longer just about regional presence. It’s about regional precision. The brands that win won’t simply follow national trends. They’ll understand where attention is moving locally — and build around it.

The Panoply Media team has the industry and regional expertise to help with that.

Download the full report here.