TV revenues recover while radio continues decline: CRTC report

Television revenues are rebounding from the pandemic slump while revenues in radio continue to take a hit, the CRTC said Tuesday in its annual report on the broadcast industry. The greatest increase was for digital media broadcasting undertakings (DMBUs). The report compared figures in 2012 with those from Aug. 31 of last year. For example, 22 per cent of anglophones and 15 per cent of francophones now watch television online exclusively. That is up from five per cent and two per cent respectively in 2012. In 2012 broadcasting revenues $18.5 billion. Conventional TV accounted for 18 per cent of that, discretionary TV was at 21 per cent, radio at 10 per cent, broadcast distribution undertakings (DBUs) at 46 per cent and DMBUs at three per cent. By 2021, revenues had increased slightly to $20.8 billion. Conventional TV made up 12 per cent of the total, discretionary TV 19 per cent, radio dropped to seven per cent, BDUs were at 38 per cent and DMBUs jumped to 25 per cent. The pandemic continues to have an effect on the broadcast sector. While television experienced revenue growth in 2021, radio and BDUs saw revenue declines. DMBUs reported double-digit yearly increases. Traditional broadcasting revenues dipped 0.4 per cent from 2020 until 2021 but were down 6.9 per cent from 2019, the last pre-pandemic broadcast year. Most of that 0.4 per cent decline was attributable to radio revenues falling 6.9 per cent (or $80 million) from 2020 and BDU revenues dropping 3.3 per cent ($269 million) for the same period. In 2019 radio reported total revenues of $1.45 billion. English markets accounted for $1.16 billion of that with French broadcasters hitting $244 million and ethnic radio at $47 million. Those figures dropped in 2021 to $1.07 billion total (a decline of 26.3 per cent), with an $817 million drop in English-language stations (-29.6 per cent), $212 million in French-language services (-13.1 per cent) and ethnic radio at $41 million (-13.1 per cent). “A large proportion of the radio sector revenue decline since 2019 can be attributed to the sector relying more than others on local advertising revenues, which have shown only small signs of recovery,” the CRTC report said. Conventional television services brought in $1.55 billion in 2019 and $1.42 billion last year, a decrease of 8.4 per cent. Larger services – BCE Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc., Quebecor Inc., and Rogers Communications Inc. – accounted for $1.42 billion in 2019 and $1.28 billion in 2021, a decline of 9.4. There was an increase in revenues for smaller services, jumping from $139 million three years ago to $142 million last year, a hike of 1.8 per cent. Discretionary TV services posted $4.23 billion in revenues in 2019 and $3.96 billion in 2021, a fall of 6.5 per cent. English and bilingual services registered $3.44 billion three years ago versus $3.22 billion last year, a decline of 6.3 per cent. French services reported $706 million in 2019 and $671 million in 2021, a fall of five per cent. Ethnic TV broadcasting hit $85 million in revenues in 2019 and $63 million in 2021, a plummet of 26.6 per cent. Larger services had $3.34 billion in revenues in 2019 with a 5.7 per cent drop to $3.15 billion last year, while smaller services revenue declined 9.4 per cent from 2019’s $897 million to 2021’s $813 million. Contributions to Canadian content and programming were up overall by 4.8 per cent in 2021 from a year earlier. This was made up of a jump of 6.5 per cent from television while BDUs’ share dropped 2.8 per cent and radio’s share plummeted 32.8 per cent. Compared to 2012, contributions to Cancon are down 5.3 per cent. “Most commercial broadcasting sector profitability during the 2021 broadcast year either improved or remained similar to the previous broadcast year,” the study said. “This can be at least partially attributed to the continuance of the COVID-19 subsidies during the 2021 broadcast year and on the broadcasting industry adapting to the more recent downward pressures on revenues.” Conventional TV stations owned by smaller outlets were more profitable in 2021 (up 13.2 per cent) than their larger counterparts (down 15.2 per cent). However, discretionary services owned by the major outfits saw their profits go up 26.9 per cent last year against an increase of 13.7 per cent for the smaller players. Listening and viewing time remained constant from 2015 until 2020 but dropped sharply last year. Since the beginning of the pandemic, total radio listening time has fallen by 19.7 per cent. BMBU listening has jumped 12.4 per cent since 2013. Watching traditional television services fell by 16.5 per cent in Canada since 2013. Most of that was outside Quebec (-18.8 per cent) while Quebec viewing declined by 8.8 per cent. Between 2013 and 2019, news programming garnered 13 to 15 per cent of the viewing audience; for the past two years that figure increased to 16 and 17 per cent respectively. Looking at diversity in the broadcast sector, 28 ethnic radio services reported a six per cent jump in revenues from 2020 to 2021 with 119 ethnic discretionary TV services posting a decline of 23.1 per cent. Adaptations to new market circumstances meant that both posted higher profit before interest and taxes (PBIT). Radio leapt from a 6.3 per cent margin in 2020 to 17.7 per cent last year while discretionary television had a margin of 8.3 per cent in 2020 and 11.5 per cent in 2021. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

TV revenues recover while radio continues decline: CRTC report

News | August 23, 2022

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TV revenues recover while radio continues decline: CRTC report

News | August 23, 2022

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