Canadians and Americans share a border & a language. Even though they share a lot of the same headlines, the way that they consume these headlines has more differences than you might realize.
Here are ten differences in how Canadians and Americans consume the news. What’s your favorite method of staying up-to-date?
Social video vs. TV
Scrolling through the news has a much bigger role in America than in Canada. One 2025 study found that Americans claim they get their news from social media & video platforms far more frequently than TV.
That’s quite different from Canada, where television continues to top the list for getting the news. TV usage has actually increased here since 2023.
Facebook and Instagram work differently
Canadians who do get the news on social media don’t get it the same way as Americans. Meta blocked news links from publishers on Facebook & Instagram. The measure came from issues over Canada’s Online News Act.
But there’s no such law in the United States. People over there are able to circulate news stories on Meta-owned platforms without any of the same issues.
The “basic TV package” rules are different
The CRTC sets rules in Canada for TV providers, and one of these centers around what an “affordable basic” package must include. They must give Canadians access to local stations & public-interest channels, including the news.
Cable systems in America tend to rely more on must-carry & retransmission deals. There’s no standardized cable package that TV networks must provide, so it seems that Americans don’t have the same freedom of information as Canadians.
X plays a bigger role in U.S.
There’s quite a clear gap in the social media sites that Canadians & Americans choose to get the news. One survey found that only 11% use X, formerly known as Twitter, to get the news on a normal week.
But 23% of Americans said they did the same. X isn’t the most popular site for getting the news, yet it’s clearly a lot more popular in the United States than in Canada.
Canadians use Facebook Messenger for news more
One social media site that Canadians actually use to share the news is Facebook Messenger. A survey found that 10% of Canadians use the site for news during the week. But it’s a different story in America because people over there like to get their news in a different way.
The popularity rate of using Facebook Messenger to share the news is a lot lower in the United States. 10% of Americans use WhatsApp for the news instead.
Weekly news podcasts
Many Americans enjoy getting the audio version of the news through podcasts. 15% of them in a survey said they have recently listened to a news podcast. But only 9% of Canadians surveyed said the same thing.
It seems that Americans are more likely to get the news while driving or walking.
Paying for online news
It’s more common for Americans to pay directly for digital news. Data shows that 20% of Americans paid for online news in 2024, yet only 14% of Canadians did so. The numbers split even further when you look at specific language speakers.
16% of English speakers in Canada pay directly for the news. The figures were at 13% for French speakers, so there’s a bit of a distinction in Canada as well.
Canadians who pay often subscribe outside Canada
That’s not to say that Canadians don’t pay for the news at all. When they do so, they’ll stick to paying for outlets outside of the country, with one survey showing 50% of paying Canadians subscribe to a non-Canadian source.
The figures are only at 21% for Americans. They seem to prefer getting their news from homegrown sources.
Number of news sources differ
Canadians also tend to stick to a smaller group of news brands during the week. Surveys show that they rely on a tighter set of regular sources than Americans do, as people south of the border usually use many different outlets in a week.
Americans spread their attention across a much wider mix of news brands & formats than those in Canada.
Who checks the news more frequently?
There are differences in how often people check the news between Canada & America. Around 60% of Americans said that they look at the news several times a day, whether that’s on TV or social media.
But the rate is only at 48% in Canada. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Americans like the news more, simply that they tend to check it more frequently.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.