CBC Television is on a roll, and Kirstine Layfield wants you to know about it.

The Ceeb’s executive director of network programming is crowing about her network’s recent performance, which by certain measures, has surpassed that of Global Television.

Global concedes that CBC eclipsed it in the 8-11 p.m. block in the Jan. 12 to Feb. 8 timeframe, with a 5.8 to 5.3 share advantage in the 2+ demographic. (Perennial leader CTV recorded an 11.6.) A Global spokesperson is quick to point out, however, that in the key 18-49 and 25-54 demos that advertisers crave, Global leads the Ceeb in both primetime and around the clock.

But not for long, according to Layfield.

‘In the 25-54 area, which of course is important, too, we’re gaining big ground,’ she says. ‘We look to overtake Global pretty soon, and that’s great, because that shows you Canadian programming [can win] against American programming, essentially.’

The shows that have brought the most eyeballs to the Ceeb span the sports, news, reality, sketch-comedy and game-show genres.

Hockey Night in Canada, the earlier game of which has averaged 1.2 million 2+ viewers, is up 10% over last season; The National’s 794,000 average is up 16%; Dragon’s Den averaged 777,000 in the fall, up 55%; The Rick Mercer Report remains hot with a cool million average, up 4%; while a season-two ep of The Week the Women Went also recently topped a million.

When asked about Mercer’s continued strong performance, Layfield credits not only the talents of its funnyman host and the currently compelling political climate, but also the fact that the show follows Jeopardy, which CBC began airing weeknights last fall at 7:30 p.m., earning a 2+ AMA of 907,000.

‘That does help all the eight o’clock time periods across the board,’ she says. ‘In the fall we were up 30% at 8 p.m. on average.’

Of course, this is all well and good so long as you don’t object to the national public broadcaster airing U.S. game shows (Wheel of Fortune being the other), not to mention professional sports and summertime Hollywood blockbusters. Nonetheless, the CBC’s ability to boost its regular-season primetime audience share to 7.8 in 2007/08 – up from 7.3 two years earlier, when Layfield came on board to call the shots on the schedule – is impressive. The current regular season is looking even stronger, with an 8.8 share as of Feb. 1.

Meanwhile, the Ceeb’s scripted series have performed only modestly well. Oil-field soaper Wild Roses has averaged 522,000 viewers, customs-officer drama The Border topped them all with 675,000 in the fall, and somewhere in between you’ll find Being Erica, Heartland, Little Mosque on the Prairie and The Tudors. Lagging far behind is the Quebec comedy adap Sophie (332,000), which seems a sure goner when the network announces its production slate in the spring.

Even on this count, Layfield has a positive spin.

‘Two, three years ago, Sophie at those numbers would have been considered a huge hit,’ she says. ‘Shows [now] have to perform at a higher base level in order to look like they match what’s on the rest of the schedule, because the rest of the schedule has come up so much.’

The network still has a hill to climb to win over audiences with its drama offerings. Canadian Media Research’s 2008 TV Trends and Quality Survey – which polls adult viewers nationwide – might place the pubcaster far ahead of its rivals in terms of stations with the best national news programs, but last among Canadian and U.S. networks in terms of best primetime programs.

Whether the CBC should openly target the ratings of a private broadcaster – instead of keeping to a mandate of providing a cultural alternative to the commercial nets – is up for debate. To Layfield, though, it is a matter of survival.

‘People wonder why we worry about numbers. Yes, we worry about them because we get half of our money from ad sales, but we also worry about it because relevance is a big part of being a public broadcaster,’ she says.

Layfield believes that this tradition of having to justify its existence makes the Ceeb better prepared to cope with the current economic downturn than the more ad-reliant networks. The network is already well versed in the challenge of making long-term plans while living from year to year, dependent as it has been on an appropriation from the federal government as well as the Canadian Television Fund.

‘We’ve always worked on a budget,’ she says. ‘I feel badly in some cases for some broadcasters who have been riding high for some time and all of a sudden have to batten down. We’ve always battened down; we’re pretty wily and we’re pretty flexible, because we’ve always had to react to the possibilities of things not being there next year.’

The CBC relies on commercial sources for 55% of its revenues, so it is far from impervious to the shrinking pool of ad dollars afflicting the private conventional broadcasters. In a Feb. 23 internal staff memo, CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix warned of ‘tough choices that will affect, in one way or another, jobs, services and programs in our Corporation,’ due to an ad-revenue shortfall of up to $65 million.

While the net can find solace in the fact that the feds have renewed their support for the CTF for another two years, as Playback went to press, Heritage announced that indie productions airing on the pubcaster would no longer enjoy a guaranteed 37% of the fund, which is being rebranded as the Canada Media Fund, and which puts the CBC in a more competitive position.

And while rumors had persisted about a $200-million cutback in federal support for CBC/SRC, they have since been quashed by Heritage Minister James Moore. In a recent government estimate regarding the CBC/SRC budget for 2009/10, its annual $1-billion appropriation appears intact, although there is as of yet no renewal of the usual $60 million top-up, further exacerbating the pubcaster’s fiscal situation

In a recent government estimate regarding the CBC/SRC budget for 2009/10, its annual $1-billion appropriation appears intact, but there is as of yet no renewal of the usual $60-million top-up, further exacerbating the fiscal situation at the pubcaster.

Layfield points out that when the Ceeb greenlights its drama programs, it is strategically looking to appeal to a broad cross section of viewers from coast to coast.

‘We have to be seen to reflect across the country,’ she says. ‘Heartland we did out of the western region, and Wild Roses is another example of that. Sophie’s out of Montreal; Little Mosque is out of Saskatchewan. These are all things that give a good reflection of what life is like across Canada.

‘To me, the best way to combat threats of a cut from Heritage or anybody else is the fact that a constituent can say to their MP, ‘Hey, wait a minute, the CBC matters to me,” she adds. ‘And I think the more we matter to Canadians, the better we will be able to fight that fight.’