How does Canada’s TV consumption compare to the rest of the world?

With an average just under four hours, we're ahead of Germany, but behind China, Poland and the U.S. in terms of total TV watched each day.

As a nation of TV watchers, Canadians clock less traditional television time than some of our international counterparts, according to figures published by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) and the Brussels-based association of television and radio sales houses, EGTA.

The figures were released as part of the 20th edition of World Television Day,  a United Nations initiative designed to highlight TV’s impact on societies across the globe.

In total, Canada clocked 130 million hours of TV each day during 2015 (Numeris 18+), with the average Canadian watching three hours and 54 minutes per day across Canada’s 366 linear channels. TV has a 97% penetration rate in Canada.

By contrast, the average in Germany is lower (three hours and 43 minutes), while the average is slightly higher in Poland (four hours and 18 minutes), Australia (four hours and 10 minutes) and China (four hours and 11 minutes) and much higher in the U.S. (six hours and 40 minutes).

The figures include commercial TV on all platforms (including PVR and online TV via broadcaster websites), and do not include YouTube, Netflix or other on-demand services.

Last month the CRTC released its 2016 Communications Monitoring Report, which showed that traditional TV watching time is continuing to dip slightly. Canadians clocked up 27.2 hours of traditional TV per person in 2015, dropping 0.7% from the previous year. The revenues derived from TV dropped by 3.4% in from 2014 to 2015.