The top private broadcasters’ websites have so far been spared the advertising downturn afflicting their conventional TV stations, and as a result the casters say they are proceeding with their digital media initiatives as planned.

Stability on the web can be attributed to the fact that there is still so much room to grow, with advertisers’ online spends still lagging behind consumer usage. An Ipsos Reid study released in January indicates that Canadians with Internet access spend the same amount of time online as they do watching TV (15 hours each per week), but, according to broadcasters, web advertising accounts for less than 10% of sponsors’ overall budgets.

CTVglobemedia, which leads its rivals in terms of video streams, is crowing about double-digit revenue growth last year for its online network, although it doesn’t provide any dollar figures. The caster sees Internet business growing unfettered in 2009.

‘We’re still executing to our initial targets that were set at the beginning of our fiscal year and beyond,’ says Stephan Argent, CTV’s VP digital media.

CTV collects online revenue from commercials preceding its featured episodes, as well as from banner ads, with sponsors including Dove, Grand & Toy and McDonald’s. The network reports the number of video streams at CTV.ca quadrupled to 58 million in 2008.

Offerings on CTV.ca are generous, if generally conservative, the focus being on its TV series archive for viewers who may have missed an episode of their favorite show. But if you’re looking for web extras for smash-hit drama Flashpoint, all you will find is a two-minute cast interview.

Epitome Pictures’ Degrassi: The Next Generation continues to provide the most robust web offerings among the network’s shows, with music videos, on-set clips, webisodes, and, on its own microsite, blogs, podcasts and a virtual environment in which visitors can ‘party.’ The show has targeted a young demographic that expects a certain level of interactivity to remain engaged.

But that demo is maturing, and will likely carry that expectation with them, and CTV gets that. To complement the upcoming adult-skewing The Listener, a virtual world is in development with Smokebomb Entertainment, the interactive division of Shaftesbury Films, producer of the paranormal drama.

The funding of bonus Internet content comes down to brand enhancement, where ROI becomes harder to quantify.

‘[Web-only material] needs to have mass appeal, or at least it needs to target a highly motivated niche that we can count on for critical mass following the property from broadcast to online and back again,’ Argent says.

Meanwhile, the brain trust over at rival Canwest remains equally as bullish on digital.

‘We haven’t seen any softening against our budgets, and are certainly seeing significant growth over prior, and it’s no mystery that in more conventional broadcast and in print there has been a bit of pulling back,’ says Graham Moysey, Canwest’s SVP and GM, digital media.

Moysey expects a continued uptick in Internet advertising. He cites the example of major advertiser Procter & Gamble, which has proclaimed its intention to direct a greater percentage of its ad dollars online, with other packaged goods companies likely to follow suit.

While U.S. content on the Global Television site is relatively modest in terms of the number of episodes and extras available, the sites related to Canwest’s specialties are heartier. This is due in large part to the caster’s ability to strike more favorable online deals with Canadian producers, unions and guilds.

In some instances, the web-only content can actually draw more attention than archived episodes, which is what Canwest is seeing for its newly launched add-ons for reality show Project Runway Canada at Slice.ca.

‘People are coming to the Project Runway Canada site for photo galleries, for the [designer contestants’] exit interviews and for exclusive online video more than they would be coming to watch the show again and/or to catch up,’ says Pary Bell, VP content Canwest Digital Media.

From an indie producer’s point of view, it’s essential to understand what kind of web content a broadcaster is looking for in this or any other economy – and what it is willing to fund.

In the case of action drama The Guard, the Global site offers all aired episodes, behind-the-scenes clips, and a production blog from the series’ writers. What it doesn’t have are any dramatic webisodes comparable to what Hollywood shows such as Lost and 24 have provided. The will might be there from Halifax Film, which produces with Brightlight Pictures, but what isn’t there is the cash.

‘We’d love to produce more content, but it comes down to the distributor of the content in the territory being able to monetize it and justify the licence fees that they would have to pay for us to produce it,’ says Graham MacDougall, HF’s director of digital media.

For now, HF is producing the kind of web content that currently resonates best – comedy and kids stuff. It has created webisodes for This Hour Has 22 Minutes and games, videos and activities for the animated Bo on the GO!, both of which air on CBC.

‘The model is not there yet, but advertisers are starting to find value in it,’ MacDougall adds. ‘It’s just a matter of time, and we are positioned to produce for online in a greater capacity when that shift occurs.’