Vancouver: While Rogers Communications’ free preview for the new third tier of specialty channels officially ended at midnight on Jan. 17, the cost of trapping means at least three more months could go by before viewers taking a pass on the services are actually cut off.
In the meantime, official penetration numbers aren’t being made available by either of the major English-language cablecos. And although a Jan. 20 informal Toronto Star survey is causing a stir in t.o. (only 12% of 490 homes contacted said they are planning to purchase the service), the broadcasters and distributors are espousing optimism.
‘We can say from looking at Nielsen Media Research audience share numbers that the [preview] package is extremely popular,’ says Richard Stursberg, Canadian Cable Television Association president.
‘Since November, its share of total viewing cable households has risen from 11.6% to 14.7% in December. In comparison, the Canadian cable channels that were launched in 1995 had a combined share of 4.7% in December of last year. For all cable channels, total viewing has more than doubled in the last five years.’
Word on the street has it that Rogers Communications’ MeTv marketing campaign has left consumers believing they can pick and choose from the pack and are therefore disgruntled when they discover they can’t, but Rogers vp of communications Jan Innes says they’re encouraged by the consumer response to date.
‘It’s too early to say what the penetration is, but we reached about 67% in two years of marketing the second tier. The third-tier numbers are very good.’
Similarly inspired is Peter Miller, senior vp at the cab, who says the viewing numbers compiled during the previews tell a compelling story for the upstart stations. Four of the top five services are Canadian, he explains, and anecdotal reports suggest grassroots marketing campaigns are successful in translating viewers into subscribers.
‘If you put energy into marketing this tier, it’s selling,’ says Miller.
‘The viewing numbers suggest [the third tier] is twice as attractive as the second tier services.’
TELETOON leads
According to statistics released by the ccta Jan. 21, audience share for the last week of December gave tbs a 3.1% share of cable households, while teletoon was 2.1%, Space: The Imagination Station was 1.7%, The Comedy Network, 1.5%, Family Channel 1.2% and History Television 1.1%.
Other new Canadian specialties recording audience shares in the last week of December are CTV N1 (.3%), Headline Sports (0.2%), hgtv (0.5%), Outdoor Life (0.3%), Prime tv (0.5%) and Treehouse tv (0.1%). Other u.s. services include cnbc (0.2%), bet (0.4%), Food Network (0.4%), Golf Channel (0.2%) and Speedvision (0.4%).
In comparison for the same period, tsn’s share was 3.7% (equal to ytv), MuchMusic was 1.6% and Bravo! and Showcase each had 1.3%.
Hillary Firestone, vp network marketing and promotions for Family Channel and teletoon, says the company is surprised by the ‘sheer audience numbers which are more than we expected.’
teletoon’s appeal to adults was another surprise, she adds, explaining that adults make up 45% of the audience in some time slots.
Alexandra Brown, executive vp of Toronto’s Atlantis Broadcasting that majority owns Home & Garden Canada and acts as agent for u.s.-based Food Network, says ‘we’re really pleased.’
Recent ratings for the stations’ target markets – women aged 18 to 48 – suggest a 0.8 share for hgtv and a 0.4 share for Food.
‘This demonstrates success of the channels when you consider who they are designed for,’ Brown says.
Rogers has extended the official preview in its Ottawa territory only until the end of January because of the devastating ice storm and blackouts in Quebec and Ontario.
At press time, Shaw Cablesystems – which had a two-month preview and had several weeks head start on marketing – was preparing its first public statements about actual penetration of the new specialties. An annoucement is expected before the end of January.