The Canadian advertising market has been in turmoil for some years, with local broadcasters and online media players cutting jobs and losing market share amid shifting advertising demand, marketing budget cuts and U.S. streaming giants with ad tiers increasingly dominating the domestic media space.
But now that volatility has reached the Canadian podcasting business, with news The Podcast Exchange, a Toronto-based advertising reseller and branded content producer, has signaled it may seek bankruptcy protection. Pary Bell, CEO of The Podcast Exchange, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that his company had written to creditors signaling the company plans to file a Notice of Intention under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.
“The podcast advertising market, like all segments of the media industry, has faced challenges over the last few years, with shifting advertiser demand, pricing pressures, increased competition, and the expansion of large global companies in the Canadian market,” Bell said in a statement. The potential court-directed restructuring proposed by The Podcast Exchange would allow the company to continue operating while it worked out new terms with creditors.
“The goal of this process is to create the time and structure needed to address those challenges responsibly. We want to work with our partners to find a path forward that preserves as much value as possible, keeps campaigns running, and gives us the best chance to continue operating as a viable business,” Pary added.
Canadian podcasting is still a bright spot in an otherwise contracting domestic media market, and major brands like Airbnb, Amazon and MGM Resorts International tout their wares in local audio content consumed north of the border. In April, BBC Studios signed a deal with The Podcast Exchange to become the exclusive advertising reseller for BBC-branded podcasts in Canada.
But that’s as digital pure-play media faces its own struggles in the Canadian market after years where broadcasters, newspapers and magazine mostly took the brunt of falling expenditures by local marketers.
The media intelligence firm Magna Global in a June 2025 report forecast 5.3 percent growth in Canadian ad sales this year, to US$21.9 billion.
That’s down from the 6.3 percent growth forecast in a Dec. 2024 report from Magna Global just as Canada started to feel the impact of U.S. tariff and trade policies from the Trump administration.
