The Cost of Dull Media 2026 - Canada Edition

How much of your media spend is actually creating the opportunity to work?

This Canadian edition of The Eye-Watering Cost of Dull Media, in partnership with Cineplex Media, examines how media environment shapes attention, brand outcomes and media efficiency.

Backed by real human attention data and generative attention modelling, the report reveals the hidden cost of impressions that are served, paid for, but not meaningfully seen.

Inside the report, you’ll learn:

• Why not all impressions create the same opportunity for a brand
• How low-attention environments increase media wastage and reduce efficiency
• Why cinema generated the strongest active attention among directly measured environments
• How attention is associated with STAS, Mental Availability and brand outcomes
• Why challenger brands face a steeper penalty when media environments become duller
• What marketers can do now to reduce waste and plan for more effective attention

If your media is not earning attention, it is not giving your creative a fair chance to work.