Imagine the two following scenarios. In the first, it’s 6am. A sales director turns on the news as she makes a coffee, thinking about how her presentation will go later today. In the second, a mother sits down with her family for a movie – it’s a Friday night tradition.
It’s the same person in each of these scenarios, and we’re talking about the same day, but in which scenario is she going to be more receptive to an ad for, say, a vitamin supplement, or an offer for a discounted food delivery?
This is why timing is so important. We know from our Video-on-Demand Evolution 2025 study that 69% of all Canadian streamers, and 55% of all Canadian TV viewers, can now be reached through ads. When the viewer sees an ad can be the difference whether or not they take action. This is why dayparting is crucial in advertising.
What is dayparting in TV advertising?
Dayparting is the practice of breaking the 24-hour day into parts – morning, daytime, primetime, late night – in order to run TV campaigns at the most appropriate time.
The early riser catching up on the morning news is going to have very different needs to the one who’s kicking back after a long day to binge a series. Brands that understand these needs can precisely adjust their creative and messaging to their intended audience, and create more efficient media plans.
How TV viewing behaviour changes throughout the day
Before we look at how Canadians are watching TV during the day, let’s consider how much time advertisers are working with. According to our Video-on-Demand Evolution 2025 report, on average, Canadians are spending more than 21 hours a week watching TV, and about a third of that time (7.3 hours) contains ads. (This is rising – it was 6.3 hours in 2022.) But not all TV viewing is alike – how does it change during the day?
Morning: live TV dominates
Just under half of all Canadian TV streamers watch TV on the average morning. The majority of these viewers are watching live TV – most likely catching up on the breakfast news and weather. Live TV also dominates morning viewing on weekends.
Daytime and afternoon: live and on-demand are level
During working hours, around half of the streaming audience are watching TV on average (43% on weekdays, 57% on weekends). At this time, they’re watching a mix of live TV and on demand.
Younger viewers are more likely to be watching daytime TV on weekdays: our study found that more than two-thirds (68%) of under-25s are watching at this time, compared with 48% of streamers aged 25 to 34 and 30% of 35-54s.
Evening and late night: on-demand overtakes live
Now we’re in prime TV territory, where the lion’s share of viewing shifts from live to on-demand. Almost the entire TV streaming audience is tuned in at some time during this time bracket (95% on weekdays, 97% on weekends), and while many are watching live TV, the greatest proportion reported watching on-demand. This includes almost half (44%) of the addressable TV streaming audience, on both weekdays and weekends.
A sizeable proportion of streamers (67%) told us they watch TV into the night (at any time from 10pm to 2am). This night owl audience is most likely to be watching on-demand series.
How to create a dayparting strategy for a TV streaming audience
In a nutshell, advertisers should be focusing on live TV in the morning, before turning their attention to streaming during prime time and beyond.
A simple way of thinking about how to plan ads for the audience’s different needs throughout the day is to keep the following states in mind: Real Time, Prime Time, and Make Time. Each of these states represents a distinct tone and mood, which should be reflected in your advertising.
- Real Time covers live TV viewing, including FAST channels, which as we found dominates breakfast time. This kind of viewing is also high during peak viewing times (6pm-10pm) as families tune into the news, or major events including sports.
- Prime Time represents the heartland of TV – 6pm-10pm – when TV streamers are sticking to habits, routines or rituals, and families come together to watch their favourite shows.
- Make Time covers on-demand TV streaming. Streamers have made an appointment to view, binge, or discover something new.
When it comes to serving ads that inspire action, timing is everything. A robust strategy that accounts for these three different states, combined with the personalisation capabilities offered by TV streaming advertising, lets brands seize the day and reach audiences at the right time with tone-appropriate ads that inspire action.
To find out more about how to plan ads around different dayparts, and the evolving Canadian TV streaming landscape, download Roku’s Video-on-Demand Evolution 2025 report.
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