Ottawa – Gatineau – Television is increasingly facing challenges from the online choices that Canadian consumers can choose from. Between Netflix, Itunes, and the Internet for streaming video; the marketplace is changing.
Private local television stations in Canada saw their revenues drop by 4.6% from $2.04 billion in 2012 to $1.94 billion in 2013.
Expenses went from $1.92 billion in 2012 to $1.85 billion in 2013, a decrease of 3.5%. Profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) declined from $22.9 million to -$2.3 million, and the PBIT margin decreased from 1.1% to -0.1%.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) have released statistical and financial information on Canadian local television stations for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2013.
In 2013, private stations invested $605.4 million in the creation of programs made by Canadians, including local news and drama series, and employed over 6,000 people. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada (CBC/SRC) invested an additional $700.8 million in this type of content. In total, local television stations spent more than $1.3 billion to fund the creation of new Canadian programs for viewers.
Canada’s local television stations continued to operate within a challenging advertising market. Private stations brought in $74.7 million less in advertising revenue, which contributed to a 4.6% decrease in overall revenues from $2.04 billion in 2012 to $1.94 billion in 2013. For its part, CBC/SRC reported $331 million in advertising revenues in 2013, an 11% decrease from the $372.7 million generated in 2012.
Each year, the CRTC compiles financial data on Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications sectors to produce a series of reports. The CRTC has published similar reports for specialty, pay and pay-per-view services, and video-on-demand services.
Quick facts
Investments by private local television stations in Canadian-made programs decreased by 8.5% from $661.8 million in 2012 to $605.4 million in 2013. However, investments in sports-related programs were higher in 2012 due to coverage of the London Summer Olympic Games. If sports-related programs are excluded, investments in other programs made by Canadians rose by 1% from $593.3 million in 2012 to $598.9 million in 2013.
Private local television stations invested $66 million for drama series, $73 million for human interest programs, $355.3 million for news programs, $7.9 million for long-form documentaries, $31.1 million for other information programs, $24.5 million for music and variety shows, $6.5 million for sports programming and $19.4 million for game shows.
As part of these investments, local television stations paid $139 million to Canadian independent producers.
Revenues from the sale of local advertising declined from $355 million in 2012 to $351 million in 2013, a 1% decrease. Private local television stations also experienced a 5% decline in national advertising revenues from $1.35 billion in 2012 to $1.28 billion in 2013.
In 2013, CBC/SRC reported advertising revenues of $331.1 million, which represented an 11% decrease from the $372.7 million generated the previous year.
CBC/SRC’s programming expenditures totaled $724.6 million, 97% of which was spent on Canadian programs.
Get more details: CRTC Website.
