Convergent Digital Media Incentive

The Convergent Digital Media Incentive (CDMI) is designed to support convergent or second screen digital media production in Canada. This program is part of the Canada Media Fund’s (CMF) Convergent Stream. Funding from this program is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The program is targeted to high-value projects, requiring a minimum $100K budget. The $13.0M budget was fully utilized in 2015-2016.

The CDMI supported 83 projects in 2015-2016, a decrease from last year despite the $1M increase in the program budget, signaling larger budgets per project. CDMI accounted for 45.1% of convergent DM funding, a four-year low, however, the total convergent DM funding overall was at a five-year high. The average commitment in this incentive was 48.2% of project financing while the average budget was $324K, 2.6 times higher than the average budget for convergent DM components that did not access the CDMI. This program triggered production budgets valued at $26.9M.

Drama projects captured $5.3M or 41.1% of CDMI funding, triggering $12.9M in production activity and 31 projects. Dramas received the largest share of funding in both of the past two years. Documentary and Children’s & Youth received the next largest portions of funding, at $4.2M and $3.0M, respectively. English Drama had the highest average budget, at $555K per project over 18 projects.