CMF-funded kids content tops export sales for first time

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) released its 2017-2018 annual report on Monday, revealing that kids' content beat out drama in export sales revenue for the first time. With $32.3-million in sales for 78 projects, the children and youth segment ended up above the drama category, which brought in $27.4 million from 53 projects. The CMF could not tell The Wire Report why that was the case this year when, historically, drama has been the highest on the list of most sought after CMF-funded content. “We have no explanation yet as to why kids’ shows overtook drama series in terms of sales, but it could simply be due to the fact there were a lot more popular kids’ shows produced in the last fiscal when compared to drama series,” said CMF spokesman André Ferreria in an email. The revenue figures for the children and youth content are the segment’s highest since the CMF began reporting these export sales numbers in the 2014-2015 year. Previously, the category brought in $24 million for 53 productions in 2016, $21 million for 25 projects in 2015, and reported $3.1 million for five funded projects the year before that. Kids' programming has classically been a strong point in the Canadian production industry, with leadership in innovative animation going back to the National Film Board in the 60s, executive vice-president and general manager at DHX Media Ltd., Joe Tedesco, said in an email. “While it is difficult for us to comment on the specifics of this year’s numbers without having the benefit of the data behind them, we do know that Canadian children’s and youth content has always exported well,” Tedesco said. “It is imperative that this continue to be supported going forward, so that Canadian stories can continue to be told around the world.” DHX is in the midst of a strategic review, which came as a surprise for financial analysts. RBC Capital Markets analyst Drew McReynolds said at the time that DHX “is in the right spot at the right time as a content producer targeting very attractive kids and family genres within a strong global content cycle.” Corus Entertainment Inc., a broadcaster with a significant focus on children's content, has previously highlighted negative market pressures including falling revenues and potential legislation which is expected to significantly reduce junk food advertising on TV. In the fall of 2017, Corus announced it will launch a new venture to produce kids’ content for linear and digital markets in Canada and around the world, in partnership with Discovery Communications Inc. The report also included that CanCon project spending fell 5.4 per cent from the previous years investment, with this year’s funding totalling $342.3 million to develop, produce and promote 1,176 television and digital media projects. Total industry activity spurred by the CMF’s funding remained close to last year, coming in again at $1.4 billion. According to a press release issued on Monday, it was the highest leverage ratio—or the amount of economic activity generated by CMF-subsidized projects— since the creation of the CMF. As well, export revenues for television productions in 2017 came in at $77 million, down from 2016’s $90 million during the course of 2016. Most of the funding went to “convergent” Canadian productions, with the CMF providing $284.6 million to produce 497 projects. According to the CMF, convergent projects are distributed on more than one type of media. Projects must include television productions, but they also need to publish corresponding video game, web series, ebook or social media content at the same time, according to the CMF’s website. The second stream of the CMF’s 2017-2018 funding was an “experimental” category which supported digital media and software applications. The CMF helped with the production of 57 experimental projects and funded the promotion or development of an additional 46, according to a follow up email from Ferreira. The funding organization saw its contributions from broadcasters decrease 7.8 per cent to $199.6 million this year. That was expected to happen, however, with the federal government announcing the details of top ups to the CMF in its spring budget that it originally committed to in Sept. 2017. Over the next five years, the government will contribute up to $172 million to the CMF, but only to compensate for the loss of funding from TV service providers should revenues continue to fall across the industry. “The government’s new commitments will enable the CMF to stabilize investments in the development, production, promotion and export of Canadian content and sustain jobs in the screen-based sector,” chairman of the CMF’s board of directors, Alain Cousineau, said in the release. — With reporting by Bryson Masse at bmasse@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

CMF-funded kids content tops export sales for first time

Broadcast | August 28, 2018

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CMF-funded kids content tops export sales for first time

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