Cinema Advertising in Canada

Who sells cinema advertising in Canada?

The main national seller is Cineplex Media, the advertising arm of Cineplex.

Cineplex operated 154 theatres with 1,606 screens across Canada at the end of 2025. Cineplex Media sells the advertising in them.

It also sells for other exhibitors. Its 2026 media kit puts Landmark Cinemas inside the Pre-Show network, and lists represented independents including Magic Lantern Theatres, Rainbow Cinemas, AdFilms and Ontario and Quebec independents. Cineplex's own filing dates the Landmark representation from January 2026.

What are the on-screen positions, and where can you buy them?

Four positions, sold in a sequence that runs from before the advertised showtime to the last spot before the feature.

• Pre-Show. Starts around 11 minutes before the ticketed showtime, in a mix of entertainment content and advertising. Sold across Cineplex and Landmark, with national, regional and local flexibility.
• Show-Time. Starts at the ticketed showtime.
• In-Trailer. Runs inside the trailer reel, with limited availability, described as a maximum of two placements.
• Gold Spot. The last spot before the feature, sold as the premium position.

Availability is not uniform. Cineplex Media's kit states that Pre-Show and Gold Spot run in Cineplex and Landmark only, that In-Trailer is Cineplex only, and that In-Trailer and Gold Spot require a national booking. Timing varies by theatre.

Programmatic buying of cinema launched in November 2025, through private marketplace and programmatic guaranteed deals. The media kit states it is available in Cineplex locations only.

What else can be bought in the theatre?

The screen is the start of it. The lobby, the app and the website are sold separately.

• Digital lobby screens. 1,075 HD screens nationally on a 10 minute loop.
• Digital posters. 453 portrait screens nationally on a 5 minute loop.
• Cineplex.com. 5.8 million average monthly unique visitors and 28 million monthly page views, across desktop and mobile web.
• Cineplex mobile app. 1.39 million average monthly unique visitors, with banner, pre-roll, interstitial and takeover units.
• Static and experiential. Window clings, stair risers, banners, kiosks, sampling and sponsorships.

How is cinema advertising measured in Canada?

Cinema audiences are counted by admissions, reported by the exhibitor, with survey data used to describe who those audiences are.

Cineplex publishes attendance every quarter. It reported 42.2 million patrons in 2025, down 1.8% on 2024.

Audience profiles in Cineplex Media's kit come from Vividata's Study of the Canadian Consumer, a syndicated survey, rather than from counting who saw a given ad.

For attention, Cineplex Media commissioned an eye-tracking study from Lumen. It tested 270 adults in Toronto and Montreal and reported cinema attention two to five times higher than linear TV and connected TV (CTV).

How is a cinema campaign planned and priced?

By period and by film, not from a flat rate card.

Spots run 10, 15 or 30 seconds. Cineplex Media recommends a minimum of three weeks to build frequency, and states that pricing varies with the campaign period and the films playing in the selected dates.

That is the thing to plan around. A week against a major release is a different product, and a different price, from the same week in a quiet slate. Campaigns can be tailored to the line-up and to the audience you want, at national, regional or local level.

When does cinema advertising make sense?

When the brief needs a seated audience on a big screen, and the timing can follow the film calendar.

Cinema also reaches people who are hard to reach at home. Cineplex Media, citing Vividata, reports that the movies reach 60% a year, 41% per three months and 27% per month of Canadians who are both light streamers and light or non-viewers of linear TV.

That is a seller's cut of survey data, but it points at a real gap. If a plan is already heavy on streaming and CTV, cinema is worth testing as the complement rather than as the reach engine.

What should you ask before booking cinema?

• Which position is it, and is that position available in the theatres you want?
• Does the buy require a national booking, or can it run regionally or locally?
• Is delivery estimated or guaranteed, and on what admissions figure?
• Which films are in the slate for those dates, and how does that move the price?
• What happens if attendance for the booked period comes in under estimate?