Canadian OOH Revenue Hits $259M in Q2, Transit Leads Growth
2026-08-19 · via DailyDOOH
Canadian out-of-home advertising revenue reached $259.0 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 21.1% year over year, according to a report from the Canadian Out-of-Home Marketing and Measurement Bureau (COMMB). Every reporting category grew, but transit and place-based inventory, both heavily reliant on digital screens, led the pack.
COMMB's quarterly report aggregates revenue reported by media owners across roadside, transit and place-based sectors. Transit revenue grew 47.1% to $69.1 million and place-based revenue grew 35.5% to $36.6 million. Roadside and outdoor, still the largest category by revenue, grew 9.6% to $153.3 million. Programmatic revenue held steady at $17.3 million.
For operators of transit and place-based screen networks, the transit number is the headline. COMMB's report ties the quarter's strength partly to the FIFA World Cup, with Canadian matches hosted in Toronto and Vancouver during June drawing what the report describes as substantial domestic and international audiences. That kind of concentrated public attention is exactly the scenario transit and place-based networks are built to monetize, and the numbers suggest advertisers moved money to capture it.
Digital and classic both grew
The report notes digital revenue rose 20.5% to $149.7 million and classic (static) revenue rose 22.0% to $109.3 million, roughly comparable growth rates. On a first-half basis, classic revenue grew 9.0% and digital grew 13.2%, leaving digital's share of total OOH revenue broadly stable at 58.8%.
COMMB's own reading of this is that digital conversion is expanding the overall market rather than cannibalizing classic inventory. Within transit specifically, classic revenue grew 43.6% and digital grew 54.8% in the quarter, which the report cites as evidence that when audience attention spikes, media owners capture it across whatever formats they have, digital and static alike.
What's missing from the release is any breakdown by individual media owner, market (beyond the general mention of Toronto and Vancouver), or advertiser category, so it's not possible to say which networks or verticals actually drove the transit surge. The report also does not specify what counts as programmatic within COMMB's methodology or why that category was flat while other digital revenue grew.
For Canadian screen operators, the takeaway is that a major sporting event in two cities produced a measurable, broad-based lift across format types rather than a shift in ad dollars from one category to another. Whether that pattern holds without a tentpole event in future quarters is the open question.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from DailyDOOH for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
Transit and Place-Based Lead Canada Q2 #OOH Growth
The Canadian Out-of-Home Marketing and Measurement Bureau (COMMB) has released its Q2 2026 Canadian Out-of-Home (OOH) Advertising Revenue Report.
These quarterly reports benchmark performance with aggregated revenue from Media Owners, across Canada’s Roadside, Transit and Place-Based sectors.
Canadian Out-of-Home advertising revenue reached $259.0 million in the second quarter of 2026, an increase of $45.2 million or 21.1% reported in the second quarter of 2025. Every reporting category recorded year over year growth.
Transit led all categories, growing 47.1% to $69.1 million
Place-based revenue rose 35.5% to $36.6 million
Roadside and outdoor, the largest category by revenue, grew 9.6% to $153.3 million
Programmatic revenue was stable at $17.3 million
Digital and classic formats grew at comparable rates. Digital revenue increased 20.5% to $149.7 million and classic revenue increased 22.0% to $109.3 million.
The second quarter obviously coincided with the FIFA World Cup, with Canadian matches hosted in Toronto and Vancouver. The tournament drew substantial domestic and international audiences to both cities during June and contributed to elevated advertiser activity.
The impressive results in the second quarter demonstrates the medium’s ability to deliver for advertisers during periods of concentrated public attention with transit inventory performing particularly strongly.
The breadth of these results speaks to the underlying strength of the medium. Growth was not confined to a single category or format. All four reporting categories advanced in the second quarter, and on a first half basis classic revenue grew 9.0% while digital revenue grew 13.2%, leaving digital share of total revenue broadly stable at 58.8%.
This matters because it indicates that digital conversion is expanding the market rather than simply redistributing revenue within it.
Classic inventory continues to appreciate while digital inventory scales, and advertisers are evidently finding value in both. The pattern is further reinforced by transit, where classic and digital revenue grew 43.6% and 54.8% respectively in the quarter, demonstrating that when audience attention concentrates in a market, the medium captures it across the full range of available formats
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