Dave Naylor

August 4, 2021

-The Western Standard

 

Another plunge in ad revenue. Another threat to chop services. Another plea for more taxpayer bailout money.

Blacklock’s Reporter says CBC advertising revenues fell again last year by 18% and the state broadcaster said it will require more federal grants to offset commercial losses.

“Advertising revenue from conventional TV will continue to be under pressure,” management wrote in a CBC Corporate Plan Summary 2021-2025.

The plan said, “without additional funding, program spending in future years will have to be reduced to match available resources and some services will have to be reduced.”

Ad revenues totaled $208.4 million last year, down 18% compared to the previous year. Advertising sales overall are down a third over the past decade that marked the CBC’s loss of exclusive broadcasting rights to Hockey Night In Canada to Rogers Communications.

The CBC plan predicted a dramatic boost with Tokyo Olympic ad revenues to $401 million this year, a figure not seen in more than a decade, though data points to scant viewership.

Just 578,000 Canadians watched a live CBC broadcast of Emperor Naruhito open the Summer Games according to Numeris, formerly the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. By comparison 975,000 watched a regularly scheduled episode of a Master Chef cooking contest on CTV.

Management acknowledged its anticipation of an Olympics ratings boon was speculative.

“The projections are based on a series of assumptions pertaining to key factors, e.g. the economy, media industry, rules and regulations, that are difficult to predict and are beyond our control,” said Corporate Plan.

“Any changes to these factors may cause actual results to differ from the projections over the planning period.

“We expect advertising revenue will be negatively impacted in the coming months as advertisers reduce expenditures to offset declining revenues as Canadian and global efforts are focused on containment of the COVID-19 outbreak.”

“We strive to appeal to all Canadians in all parts of the country and across all generations,” wrote CEO Catherine Tait.

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