For the first time in 10 years, broadcast sector revenues fall: CRTC

The broadcasting sector saw its first overall revenue decrease in the previous decade last year, while traditional TV viewership among youth continued to fall, according to numbers reported by the CRTC Monday. Revenues for the whole broadcasting sector in 2015 — comprising of radio, conventional TV, broadcast distribution and specialty and on-demand TV — were down 1.6 per cent from the previous year, to $17.9 billion. BCE Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Quebecor Inc. and CBC/Radio-Canada accounted for 81 per cent of those revenues. It was the first revenue fall in at least the previous decade, according to the earlier Communications Monitoring Reports available on the commission’s website, which have data going back to 2006. Growth of the overall sector had slowed over the past five years, averaging 0.4 per cent between 2011 and 2015 compared to the 6.4-per-cent average revenue growth between 2006 and 2010, the CRTC said. Private conventional, also known as local, stations fared no better in 2015 than they did in previous year — revenues were down 2.6 per cent, to $1.76 billion. It was the only private-sector segment to report a loss, with profits before interest and taxes sitting at an eight-per-cent loss, down from a 7.7-per-cent loss a year earlier. Private conventional TV began losing money in 2013, when private stations reported a 0.1-per-cent loss, and broadcasters have been warning that conventional TV is in trouble since. Canadians are watching less traditional television overall, the CRTC said, but they’re watching more TV content overall. “Whereas weekly viewing of traditional television has decreased by approximately 1 hour over the last 5 years, weekly television viewing in the total population increased by approximately 2 hours and by approximately 4 hours for typical Internet TV weekly users over the same period,” the report said. Viewership fell among younger demographics, with the average number of viewing hours among teenagers and millennials continuing to drop. Teens are now watching an average of 18.8 hours of traditional TV per week, down from 22.4 hours five years earlier, while Canadians between the ages of 18 and 34 are logging 19.8 hours, down from 23 hours a week. Video-on-demand (VOD) and pay-per-view (PPV) also “continued their downward trend” in 2015, according to the report, which noted they had “combined reported revenues of $214 million in 2015, down $38 million” from the previous year. VOD and PPV also “reported a significant drop in profitability in 2015 as their combined profit margin fell 14.8 percentage points” from the previous year to sit at a 21.4-per-cent loss. That’s despite VOD services continuing to beef up their catalogues with non-feature film content. The number of titles grew from 163,961 in 2014 to 198,263 in 2015, while the number of orders rose slightly, from 344.9 million to 346.6 million. Specialty channels and on-demand services grew slightly, up 0.4 per cent to $4.25 billion in revenues, though the report noted that was the “slowest pace of growth in that sector since 2009.” Sports continued to be among the highest-earning specialty channels; of the top-10-grossing specialty channels, five were sports channels. Rogers’ “Sportsnet One and TVA Sports were among the top 10 grossing services for the first time in 2015 as their revenues recorded strong growth with the broadcasting of NHL content,” the report noted. The radio sector was more stable than television. Private radio stations had $1.6 billion in revenues, which the report noted was “relatively unchanged” from 2011, when revenues were $1.61 billion. While FM stations grew an average of 0.3 per cent per year over that time, the report noted that “AM radio stations have been struggling over the past 5 years: their revenues have dropped 2.1 per cent per year on average since 2011.” However, radio listening was down for all demographics under 65 years for the third consecutive year in Canada’s five biggest cities, the report noted. The average number of weekly hours per listener was 18.4 hours, down from 18.8 a year earlier and 19.9 the year before. The CRTC also noted that subscribers to traditional TV services are falling, with 11.2 million subscribers in the 12-month period ending August 31, 2015 — a fall of 270,000 from the previous year. The Wire Report also reported an acceleration in TV subscriber losses earlier this year, though those numbers were based on publicly traded companies’ fiscal year-end numbers. The CRTC said 78.5 per cent of Canadian households subscribed to TV service, compared to 82.6 in 2011. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca

For the first time in 10 years, broadcast sector revenues fall: CRTC

Broadcast | October 25, 2016

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For the first time in 10 years, broadcast sector revenues fall: CRTC

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