Audience Results - Television

While funding results in this annual report illustrate activities in the 2015-2016 fiscal year, audience results reflect the most recently completed broadcast year, specifically, 2014-2015.

Overall English-language Viewing Trends

Canadian vs. foreign programs

Domestically-produced programs accounted for 39% of full-day viewing in English-language television, down one share point from the previous year. During peak-viewing hours, 36% of English-language television viewing was devoted to Canadian programming, down 2 share points from the previous year. Despite the small drop in share points from one year ago, Canadian programs maintained a five year average of 36% viewing in prime time.

CMF-funded genres vs. other genres

Overall viewing to English-language programs (both domestic and foreign produced) in the four CMF-supported genres (Children’s & Youth, Documentary, Drama and Variety & Performing Arts) grew one share point to 41% for full day. However, the peak hour share to CMF-supported genres’ dropped one point to 44% compared to the previous year, a five-year low. This suggests that audiences are consuming more measurable content within the 4 CMF-funded genres during non-peak viewing hours.

CMF-funded programs vs. non-funded Canadian programs

When examining full-day viewership to Canadian programs in only the CMF-supported genres, share to CMF-funded programs dropped one point from the previous year to 52%. In peak-viewing hours however, CMF-funded programs maintained a 59% share from a year ago, which had set a five-year record.

Overall Viewing of English-language programs in CMF-supported Genres

In 2014-2015, CMF-financed English-language programs generally maintained the 5-year highs in total viewing hours as well as share of viewing during peak periods that were set in 2013-2014. However, much of this growth is a result of increases in hours of CMF content scheduled as the volume of CMF-funded content available across conventional, specialty, and digital services continues to grow year over year. Total hours of CMF programming scheduled rose 2% from the previous year.

In Children’s & Youth, the share of full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs rose by four share points to 36%, highest in 10 years, while viewing to non-CMF Canadian programs increased by 3 share points to 12%. In peak viewing hours, viewing to CMF-funded programs rose by one share point to 46%. The total share to domestic Children’s & Youth programming (CMF and non-CMF funded Canadian) rose to its highest level in five years in both full day and peak hours viewing at 48% and 50% respectively.

In Documentary, the share of full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs fell by one share point to 22%, while viewing to non-CMF Canadian programs rose by one share point to 32% and foreign maintained 46% (its lowest share since 2005-2006). In peak-viewing hours, viewing levels to CMF-funded programs also rose by one share point to 22% while foreign projects declined by one point to 51%.

In Drama, the full-day share of viewing to CMF-funded programs remained stable at 8%, while shares to viewing in peak hours dipped by one share point to 9%. Of note however, there were large gains in share for CMF-funded dramas in non-peak periods (which allowed for full day share to remain stable in the face of declining share in peak hours). The rise in non-peak viewing was due to broadcasters scheduling almost 50% more episodes of CMF financed content outside of peak viewing times.

In Variety & Performing Arts, the share of full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs increased by seven share points to 27%, while viewing to non-CMF Canadian projects remained flat at 2% and foreign programs dropped seven points to 71%. During peak-viewing hours, viewing to CMF-funded programs grew by six share points to 17%, while viewing to non-CMF Canadian programs remained at 1%, and the share of hours tuned to foreign programs slid by five points to 82%. The large increase in the amount of available CMF-funded content contributed to the gains in share.

Top Performing CMF-funded English-Language Programs

The following is a list of the Top 10 English-language programs funded by the CMF which aired during the 2014-2015 broadcast year.

Nine CMF-funded programs airing in the 2014-2015 broadcast year achieved average audiences of over 1 million viewers. Nine of the top ten programs were from the Drama genre, achieving audiences that ranged from just under 1 million to 2.1 million viewers. One Variety & Performing Arts program, with an average audience of 1.2 million viewers, made the Top Ten list.

The top performing CMF-funded English-language series, Corner Gas: The Movie, averaged 2.1 million viewers, followed by the mini-series The Book of Negroes at 1.6 million. The top domestic program overall was the World Junior Hockey Playoffs (Canada vs. international teams playoffs) at 4.2 million viewers, followed by the CFL Grey Cup at 3.8 million viewers, The Amazing Race Canada at just under 3.0 million, FIFA Women’s World Cup (final and 3rd place game) at 2.4 million, and the Stanley Cup Finals at just under 2.4 million.

By way of comparison, the top performing foreign series in a CMF-supported genre, The Big Bang Theory, attracted an average audience of 3.5 million viewers during the regular season, while ten other drama series (Forever, Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., How to Get Away with Murder, The Flash, Criminal Minds, N.C.I.S., Castle, Gotham, C.S.I.: Cyber and N.C.I.S.: New Orleans) delivered over 2 million viewers on average. For added context, the program with the largest audience overall in 2014-2015 was the NFL Super Bowl at 8.3 million viewers.

Source: CMF Research (Numeris) 2014-2015 Broadcast Year, Original Airings Only

Overall French-language Viewing Trends

Canadian vs. foreign programs

Canadian programs continued to account for the majority of viewing in the French-language market with a 59% share of full-day viewing, down one percentage point from the previous year. This is the first time overall viewing to Canadian programs in the French language market has dropped below 60%, and reflects an ongoing downward trend observed since the CMF began tracking this data dating back to 2005-2006. In peak-viewing hours, the share of viewing to Canadian programs in 2014-2015 dropped two percentage points to 61%, another record low.

Domestically produced programs have traditionally dominated weekly schedules of French-language broadcasters. However, versioned foreign programs have over the past number of years become more prevalent on French-language broadcasters’ schedules. There have also been gains posted in viewing to foreign reality shows and theatrical movies aired on TV, contributing to the declines posted in the most recent broadcast year.

CMF-funded genres vs. other genres

Share of viewing to CMF-supported genres in the French-language market was at 44% for both full-day and peak-hour viewing in 2014-2015. This is steady for full-day and up 1 share point in peak-hours from the previous year. The one-point gain in prime time comes from marginal share increases in Variety & Performing Arts and Documentary programs.

CMF-funded programs vs. non-funded Canadian programs only

When examining viewership to Canadian programs in CMF-supported genres only, CMF funded programs captured a 49% share of full-day viewing, steady from last year but a nine percentage point gain since 2010-2011. In peak-viewing hours, CMF-funded programs captured a 68% share, an increase of two percentage points from last year and nine percentage points since 2010-2011. Changes in the definition of eligible CMF projects to include in-house programming as well as the broadening of the VAPA genre definition, coupled with several marquee drama and VAPA programs attracting record number of viewers have contributed to these significant gains in audience share over the years.

Overall Viewing of French-language programs in CMF-supported Genres

Among French-language programs in the CMF-supported genres, the overall share of viewing to CMF-funded programs was up one share point in full day and three share points in peak viewing hours compared to last year. Note that the total amount of CMF-financed programming aired has increased by over 16% in 2014-2015 compared to the previous year, suggesting that the increase in share could have as much to do with an increase in available CMF content as much as growth in audience.

In Children’s & Youth, the share of full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs decreased by two points to 48% from the previous year while viewing to non-CMF Canadian programs grew by three points. In peak viewing hours, the share of CMF-funded programs also dropped by two points to 60%, which continues a trend of ongoing decline in CMF share over the past five years.

In Documentary, full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs was unchanged from the previous year, while peak-hours viewing to CMF-funded programs increased by one share point to 16%, at the expense of non-CMF-supported Canadian programs. Overall, CMF financed Documentaries scheduled during peak-hours attracted 9% higher hours tuned with a 12% increase in episodes aired vs the previous year, a marginal increase in content available relative to overall viewership.

In Drama, full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs grew by two share points to a five-year high of 25%. In peak viewing hours, share viewing to CMF-funded programs grew by four points to 41%, also a five-year high. Viewing to foreign produced dramas dropped by two and three share points during full day and peak hours respectively. The viewing of foreign acquired versioned dramas has waned slightly over the past year, allowing for a bit of a comeback in share by domestic projects. However, viewing to foreign projects overall continues to grow, as demonstrated by the increase in share to non-CMF-eligible reality and theatrical movies airing on TV as alluded to earlier.

In Variety & Performing Arts, full-day viewing to CMF-funded programs dropped one share point from its five-year high last year to 86%. Meanwhile in peak-viewing hours, viewing to CMF-funded programs remained stable at its five-year high of 89%. Strong shares in prime-time share continue to benefit from the broadening of the definition of CMF-eligible Variety & Performing Arts, allowing for marquee projects such as La Voix to be counted as a CMF-funded.

Top Performing CMF-funded French-Language Programs

The following is a list of the Top 10 French-language programs funded by the CMF which aired during the 2014-2015 broadcast year.

All titles on the Top 10 list achieved audiences of more than 1 million viewers, a further eight titles have also met this criterion, bringing the number of CMF programs with over one million viewers to eighteen in total. The top two CMF-financed projects (Bye Bye 2014, La Voix) were also the top projects overall, in any genre, foreign or domestic, in 2014-2015.

Four of the Top 10 programs were from the Variety & Performing Arts genre, achieving audiences that ranged from 1.5 to 4.0 million viewers. Six programs on the Top 10 list were Drama projects, with audiences that ranged from 1.3 to 2.2 million viewers. No programs from either Documentary or Children’s & Youth genres made the Top 10 list.

The top performing CMF-funded French-language project, Bye Bye 2014 was watched by over 4 million viewers, while the top performing series, La Voix, was watched by close to 2.9 million viewers. By way of comparison, the top performing foreign series in a CMF-supported genre, Le Dôme (aka Under The Dome), attained on average of just over 1 million viewers, while four other foreign series (Downton Abbey, Vengeance, Du talent à revendre, M. Selfridge) posted audiences of at least 500,000 viewers on average, down from six the year before.

Source: CMF Research (Numeris) 2014-2015 Broadcast Year, Original Airings Only