Official registries and open data list 1,255 active companies in information and cultural industries in Ontario, which puts Ontario in 3rd place in Canada for this sector (13 % of the national total). 495 of them (39 %) have at least one known director, and 65 (5 %) published an official change in the last 18 months: incorporation, amendment, change of director or address.
Want a closer look at these companies? ciblr sends you 5 profiles of companies in information and cultural industries in Ontario free of charge, contact details included.
Get 5 profiles from this segmentInformation and cultural industries (publishing and software, film and sound, broadcasting, telecommunications, computing infrastructure) group 54,751 establishments and 348,855 payroll employees in Canada. The sector moves at two speeds: telecommunications and traditional media are cutting headcount, while online platforms, data and software capture the growth.
NAICS 51 brings together five families: publishing (including software), film and sound recording, broadcasting, telecommunications, and computing infrastructure and data processing. ISED counts 54,751 establishments in 2025, of which 17,462 are employers: 53% have fewer than five employees and only 93 exceed 500 employees.
Payroll employment in 2025 breaks down as follows: 111,821 in telecommunications, 76,239 in publishing, 63,825 in film and sound recording, 34,955 in broadcasting and 34,030 in computing infrastructure and data processing. Ontario holds 146,773 of these jobs, Quebec 70,294, British Columbia 61,053, Alberta 25,950 and Manitoba 18,052.
The geography of employers follows: Ontario (7,258), Quebec (3,697), British Columbia (3,166) and Alberta (1,592). Sector GDP grew 2.5% in 2024, faster than the economy (2%), and reached $37.46 billion in Ontario, $13.24 billion in Quebec and $10.65 billion in British Columbia (ISED, chained 2012 dollars).
Telecommunications are flat: $59.6 billion of revenues in 2024, with no growth, mobile at $33.6 billion (+2.1%) and fixed Internet at $16.7 billion (+0.1%). After five years and $64.4 billion of network investment, fibre reaches 72% of households. Sub-sector employment fell from 117,128 to 111,821 people in 2025.
Content is shifting online. The CRTC measures commercial broadcasting revenues of $10.2 billion in 2025 (+2.4%): online services grew 13.9% and now hold 40% of the market, while conventional television fell 7.3% and radio 2.6%. Screen production reached $10.2 billion and 181,360 jobs in 2024-2025, driven by foreign location services (+9.5%) while Canadian content declined (-2.2%).
Software and data drive the growth: Statistics Canada reports revenue increases of 10.0% for software publishers and 13.8% for computing infrastructure, data processing and hosting providers in 2024. Employment in the latter sub-sector rose from 32,913 to 34,030 people in 2025. Video games, which cut across the sector, accounted for $5.1 billion of GDP and 34,010 full-time jobs in 2024.
The CRTC is the sector's arbiter. In May 2026 it raised the mandatory contribution of large streaming services to 15% of Canadian revenues (threshold of $25 million), aiming to stabilize funding for Canadian and Indigenous content at more than $2 billion; services above $100 million must direct 30% of it to partnerships with Canadian broadcasters and independent producers. Several platforms are challenging the regime in court.
The rest of the framework rests on the Telecommunications Act, the Broadcasting Act as amended by the Online Streaming Act, the Online News Act, the Copyright Act and foreign ownership rules. Telefilm Canada, the Canada Media Fund, SODEC and provincial tax credits for production and visual effects remain the decisive financial levers.
On the player side, four groups (Bell, TELUS, Rogers, Quebecor) generate the large majority of telecommunications revenues and also control media assets; the three largest hold more than 90% of wireless EBITDA. Facing them are thousands of small and medium businesses: animation and visual effects studios, publishers, regional stations, independent Internet providers, software publishers and data centre operators.
Who buys what: telecom operators buy civil works, fibre installation, network equipment, contact centres and professional services; studios buy stage rental, post-production, insurance and specialized payroll; publishers and data businesses buy cloud, cybersecurity, marketing and technical recruiting.
Cycles and signals to watch: CRTC decisions, shoot announcements and approved tax credits, studio acquisitions, data centre projects announced with their electrical interconnection request, and restructuring waves at the large broadcasters, which shift budgets toward outsourcing.
How ciblr helps: segment the 17,462 employers by sub-sector and province, isolate the 572 establishments with 100 employees or more that carry the large budgets, spot newly registered companies in software and production, and track job postings (development, post-production, network) as an early signal of a funded project.
The country's leading hub: 7,258 employers, 146,773 payroll employees and sector GDP of $37.46 billion in 2024 (ISED). Toronto concentrates broadcaster head offices, shooting studios and 20,187 jobs in computing infrastructure and data processing.
Of these 1,255 companies, 496 are federally incorporated, 79 are known through the provincial registry, 680 only through open data (licences, public contracts, grants, registered employers). 26 of them were founded in 2025 and 2026, that is 2 % of the active base; 18 incorporations in 2025. That is in line with the average of the three previous years (21 a year): a steady pace of creation.
Over the last 12 months, 39 companies in the sector (3 %) won at least one public contract, 153 contracts in all, published by governments, cities and public bodies. 162 received a federal grant or contribution (209 agreements).
Headcount is known for 102 companies (8 %): 646 declared jobs in total, and the median company has 1-4 employees.
45 companies (4 %) publish a general phone or email, 32 have a website verified by ciblr, 16 hold an official licence or permit.
Moves published in the last 90 days: 7 relocations, 4 public contracts, 1 grants, 4 dissolutions.
1,255 companies in information and cultural industries are active in Ontario according to official registries and open data, that is 13 % of the 9,799 companies in the sector across Canada.
495 of these companies (39 %) have at least one director on the federal registry (the only registry that publishes directors), which lets you approach them through the right person.
ciblr sends 5 company profiles from this target free of charge, directors and contact details included. The subscription at 99 CAD per month gives access to the whole target, with Excel export and change tracking.
Every company counted here is active in an official registry (Corporations Canada, Registraire des entreprises du Québec, OrgBook BC) or named by an official open source (licence, public contract, grant, registered employer). The sector is a NAICS code, size comes from the declared headcount when a source provides it and otherwise from an estimate based on the registry (board size, age, status, statute), and "recent signal" means a published move (incorporation, amendment, change of director, address, contract, grant, hiring) in the last 18 months. Figures are recomputed every week from the ciblr database. No data is purchased or invented.
ciblr sends you 5 profiles of companies in information and cultural industries in Ontario free of charge, directors and contact details included. For the whole target, the subscription is 99 CAD per month, no commitment.