Canada's Creator Economy in 2026

Key findings

The Canadian creator market in numbers. Each finding has its own link, so a single statistic can be cited on its own.

1. Only 25.6% of Canadian Instagram creators have a mostly Canadian audience#

   The market median is 14% of the audience in Canada. On TikTok only 11.0% clear the 40% threshold. Canadian creators are read from the United States.

2. 168,886 creator accounts above 10K followers#

   90,774 on TikTok, 62,935 on Instagram and 15,177 on YouTube, plus 1,353,004 nano accounts below the line.

3. 47.4% of Canadian Instagram creators have run branded content#

   29,828 accounts, the 3rd highest rate of the 12 markets measured, far above the 28.8% global figure.

4. Only 345 Canadian Instagram accounts pass every quality filter at once#

   0.5% of the base combines a domestic audience, a 3% engagement rate and six-figure average views. Domestic reach is what makes that number so small.

5. Canadian engagement ranks 10th of the 12 markets measured#

   17.9% of Canadian Instagram creators clear 3%, against 27.9% in France. The market median is around 0.7%.

6. Canadian TikTok is the most female-skewed creator pool we measure#

   64.0% of Canadian TikTok accounts are run by women, 58,055 of 90,774. On Instagram it is 58.8%.

7. 50,791 Canadian TikTok accounts have not posted in 30 days#

   44.0% of TikTok accounts and 64.7% of Instagram accounts posted within the last month. YouTube is the quietest platform.

8. 82,946 Canadian TikTok accounts have never run a brand deal#

   91.4% of the TikTok pool shows no detected branded content, against 52.6% on Instagram. The gap between the two platforms is the widest we measure.

9. 4.5% of Canadian Instagram creators average 100K+ Reel views#

   The market median is around 4,500 views per Reel. On TikTok, 2.7% average six figures.

How many influencers are there in Canada?

Canada holds 168,886 creator accounts with 10,000 or more followers across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and 1,353,004 more between 1,000 and 10,000.

TikTok is the largest pool at 90,774 accounts, 53.7% of the base, ahead of Instagram at 62,935 and YouTube at 15,177. On Instagram alone Canada is 9th of the 12 markets measured, smaller than Germany at 97,105 and Spain at 108,392 despite a comparable economy.

The bench underneath is deep on both major platforms: Instagram holds 10.3 nano accounts for every account already above 10K, TikTok 7.5, and YouTube only 1.3.

78.0% of Canadian Instagram creators sit between 10K and 50K followers, 9.5% between 100K and 500K, and 324 accounts have passed a million.

Which is the one that decides whether a Canadian shortlist is worth buying.

Where Canadian creators' audiences are actually located

25.6% of Canadian Instagram creators keep at least 40% of their audience in Canada. On TikTok it is 11.0% and on YouTube 3.9%.

Measured separately across the whole Instagram market, the median Canadian creator has 14% of their audience in Canada. On 100,000 followers that is roughly 14,000 people inside the country. Canada ranks 11th of 12 on this measure, ahead only of Switzerland.

The reason is not a flaw in Canadian creators. They publish in English into a continental English-language feed, and the audience that finds them is mostly American. 42.4% of Canadian Instagram creators clear even a 20% domestic threshold and 15.3% clear 60%.

For a brand selling in Canada this is the whole game. For a brand selling across North America, the same figure is an argument for buying Canadian creators at Canadian rates.

Next, who those creators are, and where Canada is unlike everywhere else.

Who Canadian creators are

Canadian TikTok is the most female-skewed creator pool of any market we have measured: 64.0% of accounts are run by women.

58,055 of 90,774 Canadian TikTok accounts are run by women. Instagram is 58.8% women and YouTube runs the other way at 58.8% men, which is the usual YouTube pattern everywhere.

Creator gender is inferred from the profile. Accounts with no identifiable individual creator, such as brands, shops and media outlets, are outside the measured population rather than counted separately. This study reports creator gender, not audience gender. Creator demographics should not be used as a substitute for follower demographics.

Engagement next, and Canada sits low on it.

Engagement rate benchmarks for Canadian influencers

17.9% of Canadian Instagram creators clear a 3% engagement rate, the 10th highest share of the 12 markets measured.

42.0% exceed 1%, 17.9% exceed 3% and 10.7% exceed 5%. The median Canadian Instagram creator at 10K to 50K followers engages at around 0.79%, falling to around 0.56% at 50K to 250K. Across the whole market the median is around 0.7%.

Compare that with France at around 1.3% or Sweden at around 1.3% on the same band and the same method. Canadian Instagram engagement sits toward the bottom of the range we measure, which is what you would expect of a market whose audience is largely foreign and therefore less likely to interact.

TikTok is a different instrument: 90.9% of Canadian TikTok accounts clear 3%, so the threshold filters almost nothing there.

So what does a Canadian post actually reach?

Views and reach in the Canadian market

31.6% of Canadian Instagram creators average at least 10,000 Reel views and 4.5% average 100,000.

The median Canadian Instagram creator averages around 4,500 views per Reel. On TikTok the median runs around 1,500 at 10K to 50K followers, around 3,500 at 50K to 250K and around 16,000 above 250K.

Canada ranks 10th of 12 on the Instagram six-figure rate. Read that alongside the domestic share: a Canadian creator hitting 100,000 views is mostly reaching people outside Canada, which is either the campaign or the problem depending on what you are selling.

A view only counts if the account is still posting.

How many Canadian creators are active, and which are growing

64.7% of Canadian Instagram accounts posted in the last 30 days, against 44.0% on TikTok and 43.1% on YouTube.

That leaves 22,211 Instagram accounts and 50,791 TikTok accounts dormant for a month or more. TikTok and YouTube carry the larger dormant shares, which holds in every market measured.

Growth is middling. 9.8% of Canadian Instagram creators grew by at least 20% over six months, placing Canada 7th of 12, and 1,644 accounts doubled. 3,001 grew by half or more.

And the commercial question, where Canada looks better than its engagement suggests.

Brand deals and creator quality in Canada

47.4% of Canadian Instagram creators have run branded content, 29,828 accounts. That is the 3rd highest rate of the 12 markets measured.

Against the global Creator Economy Report figure of 28.8% on Instagram, Canada is a well-worked market. The most likely explanation is the same one behind the low domestic share: American brands buying Canadian creators for a North American audience.

TikTok is almost untouched by comparison. 8.6% of Canadian TikTok accounts show detected branded content, leaving 82,946 with none. The gap between the two platforms, 47.4% against 8.6%, is the widest we measure in any market.

The funnel below is the number to keep. Combining a domestic audience, a 3% engagement rate and six-figure average views leaves 345 Canadian Instagram accounts, 0.5% of the base. That figure counts the accounts that pass all three filters together, not an estimate built from the separate filters.

Every figure above, side by side, in one table.

Every Canadian creator market metric in one table

Every published figure from the Canadian study, as an account count and a share of its own platform base.

Every share uses its own platform base (62,935 Instagram, 90,774 TikTok, 15,177 YouTube).

Numbers mean little until you know whether they are high or low. Next, Canada against the global market.

Canada against the global creator economy

We compared these Canadian figures against Click Analytic's Creator Economy Report 2026, a separate study of 23.6M creator accounts globally using a full-year 2025 snapshot. Its published 25-market breakdown covers a subset of that cohort.

Canada lands close to the global benchmark on engagement and well above it on commerce. Instagram engagement at 10K to 50K followers runs around 0.79% against a global 0.80%, effectively level, while 47.4% of Canadian creators carry brand-deal history against 28.8% worldwide.

Activity is where Canada is ahead: 64.7% of Canadian Instagram accounts posted in the last month against 55.9% globally. The platform mix is more Instagram-weighted than the world average, with Instagram at 37.3% of the Canadian base against 25.0% globally.

Here is what that changes about planning a Canadian campaign.

What this means for marketers working in Canada

Seven rules for planning influencer campaigns in Canada, each grounded in a figure above.

Want to see the creators behind these numbers?

Browse ranked Canadian influencer lists

Every number on this page comes from live creator profiles. Here they are, ranked and filterable.

Other country studies

The same measurement, repeated market by market.

Methodology

Account totals count profiles matching the stated filters in the Click Analytic creator database. Percentages use the population specified for each metric. Medians are estimated from threshold queries and published as rounded benchmarks.

Population

Creator accounts with 10,000-100,000,000 followers (subscribers on YouTube) located in Canada, with an inferred gender.

Base per platform

62,935 Instagram, 90,774 TikTok, 15,177 YouTube. Every share on this page uses its own platform base.

Nano tier

Accounts with 1,000 to 10,000 followers, counted separately under the same location rules and excluded from every 10K+ total and share: 649,641 Instagram, 683,792 TikTok, 19,571 YouTube.

Measured

Instagram in September 2026, TikTok in September 2026, YouTube in September 2026.

Counting, not sampling

Account totals count profiles matching the stated filters in the Click Analytic creator database, which indexes over 400 million public profiles. These totals are database counts, not survey estimates.

Accounts, not people

Accounts are counted per platform. A creator active on two platforms appears in both totals, so the cross-platform figure is a count of creator accounts rather than of individuals.

Engagement rate

Calculated per platform. The definitions differ, so a rate is comparable within a platform and not across platforms.

Medians

Each median is published rounded, as a benchmark rather than an exact value.

Notes and limits

• Fewer than 30 YouTube channels combine a domestic audience, a 3% engagement rate and six-figure views, too few to publish as a share.
• This study covers creator gender and audience location, not audience gender or audience quality. Creator demographics do not substitute for follower demographics.
• Followers in the United States count as outside Canada throughout. For a North American campaign that is an understatement rather than a limitation, so read the full country split on the shortlist.

Still have questions? Most of them are answered below.

Frequently asked questions