Kevin Crull

This interview originally appeared in the MIPTV 2011 issue of World Screen.

 

CTV is Canada’s largest private broadcaster. The wide range of programming it offers—everything from news and sports to dramas, comedies, talk and entertainment shows—has made CTV the most-watched network in Canada for the past nine years and the number one choice in prime time.

 

Its programming mix includes successful U.S. series, including The Big Bang Theory, American Idol and Grey’s Anatomy, CTV’s three highest-rated shows so far this season, and top Canadian shows along with very strong news coverage. In fact, the CTV National News with Lloyd Robertson is the number one newscast in the country. In addition, CTV broadcasts the top-ranked local newscasts in 11 of the 12 major Canadian markets, reaching more than 25 million viewers each week.

 

Owned by CTVglobemedia, CTV is also Canada’s leading multimedia company, with 28 conventional free-TV stations, 29 specialty channels, 33 radio stations, and Canada’s premier online network.

 

CTV’s ownership is about to change. BCE Inc., Canada’s largest communications company and the parent of Bell Canada, announced last fall that it would acquire 100 percent of CTV. Bell currently owns a 15-percent equity position in CTV and will acquire the remaining 85 percent, giving it full control of the media interests of CTVglobemedia. Upon completion of the deal, which is expected to close by early April, Kevin Crull, who is currently CTVglobemedia’s COO, will become the president of CTV. He talks about what makes CTV such a strong network and media company.

 

WS: What are the strengths of CTV’s programming strategy?

CRULL: The depth and breadth of our schedule—all genres, all time slots, all days—is unmatched anywhere. We have the top 20 hits from all genres on every night. We schedule prime time throughout our schedule, [with highly-rated, marquee programs not only in prime time, but also in daytime and late night].

 

We are always looking for strategic opportunities with new formats and with creative brand partnerships, and we don’t follow trends—rather we seek great content that will resonate with the Canadian audience.

 

Our schedule is organic—programming is more an art than a science. Due to the availability of the American networks in Canada, maintaining the perfect schedule is a 24/7 challenge. Today we are number one in news, number one in sports, and number one in entertainment, but we behave like we’re number two. We know how fast leadership can slip. 

 

WS: How is CTV investing in Canadian content?

CRULL: We remain committed to original production and dedicated to telling fresh Canadian stories and building homegrown talent.

 

Seen around the world, CTV’s robust slate of critically acclaimed, award-winning original productions includes, among others, the upcoming period drama The Borgias; the ratings success story Flashpoint; the Gemini Award–winning So You Think You Can Dance Canada; the drama series The Listener; the scripted comedies Dan for Mayor and Hiccups; the lifestyle series The Marilyn Denis Show; and, promoting it all, Canada’s number one source for everything entertainment, etalk. CTV is also responsible for Canada’s most-watched awards broadcasts, including The Juno Awards [presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands] and The Giller Prize [presented annually for excellence in Canadian fiction].

WS: What is CTV’s strategy with regard to specialty channels?

CRULL: We can’t go into details for competitive reasons, but suffice it to say this is one area where we definitely see opportunity for growth and investment. This year viewers will see significant investment in HD for many of our specialty channels currently in the market. We continue to assess which brands are appropriate for refreshing and evolution and to look for new opportunities.

 

WS: CTV has the leading newscasts in Canada. What has led to the strength of CTV’s news?

CRULL: CTV News’s strength is in its mandate to provide Canadians with news that is important and relevant with accuracy, speed, credibility and integrity. Our core programming principles are trust and tradition, and because of that our viewers and colleagues have confidence in our newscasts. We are also very adept at leveraging our resources, including 12 big-city newsrooms, CTV’s news bureaus around the world, and our specialty services CTV News Channel, CP24, BNN—Business News Network.

 

WS: How do you envision CTV’s news in the future?

CRULL: More news. More places. More often. We must embrace new platforms. CTV News has been a leader in adopting new technologies over the last 50 years. To cite one example: the live coverage of the Olympic Torch Run across Canada [prior to last year’s Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver] transmitted live video across cell towers, making every second of the run available live.

 

Canadians have an enormous appetite for information, and today our journalists are demanding that our news be available on smartphones, tablets and other devices not even invented yet.

 

We’re looking at a four-screen universe. For example, in British Columbia we recently launched a new digital noon newscast. The goal was to deliver compelling stories to our audience and so we launched an app-less newscast, delivering a very streamlined user experience. It’s a prime example of where we’re going—we aim to deliver convenient, innovative, compelling and useful news.

WS: What kind of content is CTV offering online—only clips or full episodes?

CRULL: CTV offers a wealth of content, from full episodes of shows to support content like supplementary guest interviews and companion material. It’s a rich online video library; the best in Canada.

WS: How popular has online viewing been with the CTV audience?

CRULL:Online viewing gets more popular every year, and continues to trend upward. In 2010, CTV websites saw a monthly average of 53.8 million video views, which is 2.3 million hours of video. That’s about a 46-percent increase over the previous year. CTV’s online properties have been the number one Canadian-owned online video network for the past three years.

 

WS: How are you monetizing the content you offer online?

CRULL: At the moment, we serve up pre-roll as the main form of monetizing video content. In some cases, we will offer exclusive sponsorship around programming online. We can put a video player in a show page and skin it with the sponsor’s graphics. We can also do interesting things with pre-roll, like placing an overlay that acts as pre-roll but is a separate clickable ad unit.

 

The most exciting thing for advertisers is that there are really no limits to the imaginative integrations that can be done online. We have a very creative sales and production team.

 

WS: How will CTV benefit from being owned by Bell?

CRULL: This transaction brings stability and a strong financial backing to the company. Bell will make significant investments in CTV, including HD, new specialties, new news programming. And, of course, we will invest to extend our leadership to all four screens and to innovate in order to bring deeper engagement with our content to viewers through digital platforms.

 

WS: How are you restructuring CTV in light of this new ownership? What new management team are you putting in place and what are your goals for them?

CRULL: The goal is simply to remain Canada’s number one media organization. We have flattened the organization, put significant executive focus on key growth areas of sports, specialty and digital, elevated all revenue departments to the executive level, and most importantly, put in place extensive governance and measurement procedures to ensure we can execute on our mission and objectives.

 

It’s our belief that a core strategic imperative is to view programming assets as interchangeable tools to drive all our businesses: conventional, specialty, digital and radio. Due to persistent trends where viewers are leaving conventional media and profits are concentrated in specialty, we really need to think holistically. Creation and selection of hit programming will continue to be the overriding focus of this executive team, and will therefore receive tremendous attention.

 

For these reasons, we have also created a programming council. The council is made up of six senior executives from across the business who will guide our programming evaluation and investment.

 

WS: How will CTV ensure that on one hand, its audience still has access to a plurality of views, and on the other, that independent producers still have the opportunity to pitch their story ideas to programming executives?

CRULL:As always, CTV is fundamentally committed to finding our best stories that will resonate with the diverse audience that makes up the rich tapestry of Canada.

 

Independent producers have always played a big role in the development of our top-rated indigenous programs. We remain an open door to the creative community and will continue to draw from this well of talent as we push into the future. Combined with our unparalleled communications and promotional exper­tise, we are confident that the most compelling and entertaining programs will continue to deliver big audiences across all of our platforms.