Canadian TV Ad Revenues See Significant Drop

OTTAWA/GATINEAU: Local Canadian TV stations saw profits take quite a hit in 2014, according to the latest report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Private local broadcasters in Canada saw overall revenue decrease 7.2 percent to C$1.8 billion ($1.50 billion). Revenues from the sale of local advertising declined to C$333.6 million ($277.2 million) in 2014, a 5 percent decrease. Private local television stations also experienced a 7.8 percent decline in national advertising revenues, to C$1.18 billion ($981 million) in 2014.

Investments by private local television stations in Canadian-made programs increased by 2.3 percent, to C$619.3 million ($514.6 million) in 2014. Private local television stations invested C$60.4 million ($50.2 million) for drama series, C$5.3 million ($4.4 million) for feature films, C$84.7 million ($70.4 million) for general interest programs, C$361.1 million ($300 million) for news programs, C$6.3 million ($5.2 million) for long-form documentaries, C$29.3 million ($24.4 million) for other information programs, C$22.3 million ($18.5 million) for music and variety shows, C$1.1 million ($914,000) for sports programming, C$19 million ($15.8 million) for game shows, C$25.5 million ($21.2 million) for reality TV shows, C$3.7 million ($3 million) for awards shows and C$0.5 million ($415,000) for other programs. As part of these investments, local television stations paid C$138.6 million ($115 million) to Canadian independent producers.