Overwhelmed by Choice, Canadians Spend About 80 Hours a Year Deciding What to Watch on TV, New Study Finds

• 59% of TV streamers say finding something to watch can be exhausting because there are so many streaming services
• 60% can’t always remember which app has the show or movie they want to see
• Two-thirds think ads helping them find shows and movies would help

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new report from Roku reveals that Canadian respondents who stream TV, on average, spend 13 minutes* looking for something to watch on TV. For daily streaming viewers, that translates into nearly 80 hours of scrolling a year. What’s more, Roku’s seventh annual Video on Demand (VOD) Evolution Study also shows that some Canadians spend up to 32 minutes searching. That number rises to 47 minutes among those under 35 years old.

Approximately 27 million Canadians now stream TV, a 35 per cent increase from five years ago, with the average Canadian viewer using four different streaming services. Six out of 10 streaming viewers surveyed said they can’t always keep track of which app has the show or movie they want. More broadly, three quarters said they don’t care which service the content is on — they just want to be able to find what they want to watch easily.

Viewers need guidance, creating a prime opportunity for brands to drive measurable engagement

To find shows, movies, and live TV, 65 per cent of Canadian respondents said ads would be useful. More than two-thirds would appreciate ads reminding them when a show or movie they want to watch is available to stream, and nearly half said they’d like a brand more if it offered or sponsored a free movie, TV show, or a section to help them find sports on TV more easily. Furthermore, 35 per cent agreed that a TV home screen ad would feel less intrusive than traditional TV commercials.

“As finding what to watch becomes more and more of a struggle, the home screen can be a unique guide to everything happening on TV,” Ivan Pehar, Director Ad Sales, Roku Canada said. “Brands can get noticed there in a positive way, becoming part of the journey the moment a viewer turns on the TV, and helping them discover new channels, movies, sports, scheduled TV, and more.”

On Roku, brands can be part of innovative packages of themed content, offering a deeper and more creative advertising experience for consumers. Roku Zones and Curated Playlists provide a single, powerful, and ownable destination for discovery. Last year, for example, Reese’s and Kit Kat sponsored Roku’s Halloween Stream & Scream Zone, helping viewers find a curated collection of iconic scary movies and Halloween TV shows in one place. The campaign resulted in 700,000 visitors to the Halloween collection, and an average of 96 minutes per household was spent streaming the collection. Thirty-six per cent agreed the sponsorship drove heightened cravings for the brand's products.

Learn more about brand sponsorship opportunities for Roku’s seasonal and holiday Zones and Playlists opportunities, including Season's Streaming, here.

Other key findings from Roku’s Video on Demand (VOD) Evolution Study:

• Ad-supported streaming is now a core habit. 84 per cent of streamers watch ad-supported TV monthly, spending 13 hours a week on these platforms, which equals half of all their TV viewing.
• Three quarters of streamers find interactive ads useful: 43 per cent order directly from TV, 48 per cent download or subscribe to streaming during a video ad, and 42 per cent buy a product featured in a show.
• 67 per cent of streamers take measurable action after seeing TV ads, 31 per cent search for more info, 28 per cent visit a brand’s website, 19 per cent map search to see where they can find the brand in-store, and 15 per cent scan a TV QR code.
• About half of people who stream think TV ads with scannable QR codes are ‘very’ or ‘quite’ useful. A similar proportion find ads to download or subscribe to a streaming service useful.

* Total overall average of all times reported by all respondents in response to the question: “When you’re undecided and looking for something to watch on TV, what’s the average amount of time you spend looking?”

About Roku’s seventh annual Video on Demand (VOD) Evolution Study

VOD Evolution 2027 is the latest in ROKU’s annual research studies exploring TV viewing and streaming in Canada. Fuse Insights surveyed 2,043 Canadian adults on Roku’s behalf, in English and French in June 2026. All are regular TV viewers, watching at least monthly. Quotas were used to ensure the survey respondents form a representative sample of the Canadian population by age, gender and geography.

About Roku, Inc.

Roku pioneered streaming on TV. Today, it is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico by hours streamed (Hypothesis Group, Dec. 2025). Roku connects viewers to the content they love, enables content publishers to build and monetize large audiences through advertising and subscriptions, and provides advertisers with unique capabilities to reach and engage consumers. Roku streaming players and Roku-made TVs are available at major retailers, and licensed Roku TV™ models are sold by leading TV brands in more than 15 countries around the world. Roku also owns and operates The Roku Channel, the home of premium and free entertainment; Howdy, a low-cost subscription service; and Frndly TV, a live TV streaming service. Roku is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., U.S.A.

Roku is a registered trademark, and Roku TV is a trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries.