Lexicon entryChannel mix · Attention economics

CMUST Media Mindsets

The framework that organises Canadian media consumption by the type and amount of attention consumers pay — the diagnostic spine for any client whose digital strategy covers only one mindset.

Chris Gardner — Digital Marketing Consultant, USA TODAY NETWORK | LOCALiQ. Founder, Signostic. Windsor, ON. Last updated 3 May 2026 · About · LinkedIn · Email

Direct answer

The CMUST 2025 media mindsets framework organises Canadian media consumption by the type and amount of attention consumers pay, replacing the channel-category taxonomy and the demographic-segment framework used in earlier editions. Three mindsets cover the spectrum: Watching & Listening (passive attention), Reading & Engaging (focused attention), and Searching & Finding (task-based, intent posture).

What it is

Three mindsets, not five segments.

PHD Canada retired the demographic-segment framework in 2025 and replaced it with an attention-type taxonomy — the right unit of analysis for the post-digital media age.

The framework aligns directly with Karen Nelson-Field’s attention economics research. It treats channels as interchangeable within a mindset (one passive medium can substitute for another) but not across mindsets (passive consumption cannot substitute for intent-stage searching). The diagnostic value is that a customer journey requires coverage across all three mindsets — yet most SMB and mid-market digital strategies cover only Searching & Finding, leaving upstream mental availability building (Watching & Listening) and consideration-stage influence (Reading & Engaging) uncovered.

Watching & Listening

Passive attention · lean-back consumption

Channels: TV (linear), Connected TV, Other Video, Radio, Podcast, Audio Streaming, Cinema. Mindset suited to: building memory structures over time — mental availability, brand priming, emotional storytelling.

Reading & Engaging

Focused attention · scroll/read posture

Channels: Social, Digital News, Digital Lifestyle, Newspaper, Magazine, Out-of-Home. Mindset suited to: communication that asks the consumer to think — articles, longer creative units, distinctive brand asset reinforcement.

Searching & Finding

Task-based attention · intent posture

Channels: Search, Retail (digital), AI assistants. Mindset suited to: capture — meeting buyers at the moment of need, converting demand the brand has already created upstream.

The math gets brutal quickly when only one mindset is covered. If the brand is not building mental availability upstream, every dollar of intent capture is competing against larger brands that have built mental availability upstream. The cost per click rises. The conversion rate falls. The local business assumes the SEM platform is broken. It is not broken — it is being asked to do the work of three mindsets with a budget allocated to one.

Diagnostic implication

Map the mindsets before the channels.

When recommending channel mix, map mindset coverage before channel selection. A prospect whose budget is 100% Search + Retargeting is not running a “digital strategy” — they are running a single-mindset strategy. The conversation should expose the missing mindsets and the cost of leaving them uncovered.

The three-mindset coverage test

1. Watching & Listening — what budget builds mental availability with non-buyers? 2. Reading & Engaging — what budget reaches consideration-stage research? 3. Searching & Finding — what budget captures live intent?

If two of the three answer “zero,” the strategy is structurally undersupplied. Reaching only Searching & Finding means the brand is dependent on demand that other brands are creating upstream — and competing for the residue. Adding Watching & Listening and Reading & Engaging coverage is not an upsell; it is the missing two-thirds of the funnel.

Primary sources

Where this definition comes from.

Referenced in this entry

PHD Canada. Canadian Media Usage Study (CMUST) 2025. December 2025. 22nd annual edition. Sources include Numeris PPM, Numeris VAM, Vividata Metrica, MTM, SimilarWeb, Statistics Canada, eMarketer, Guideline, ThinkTV, Analytic Partners, IAB Canada, IPA.
Nelson-Field, K. The Attention Economy and How Media Works. Routledge, 2020.
Romaniuk, J. Better Brand Health: Measures and Metrics for a How Brands Grow World. Oxford University Press, 2023.

Get a diagnosis

If your strategy lives entirely inside Searching & Finding — if every dollar is allocated to capture and none to creation — the gap is not budget, it’s coverage. Chris Gardner audits mindset-coverage gaps personally. Findings translate into strategy — execution runs through LocaliQ when you’re ready.