The latest annual report from the Canada Media Fund says the organization contributed $365.6 million to Canadian television and digital media projects in the 2014/15 fiscal year, an increase of $11.1 million or 3% over the year prior.

Overall, the funding from the CMF triggered $1.3 billion in industry activity, the report said, representing an 11.3% increase over the 2013/14 fiscal year. Leading the way in funding totals was the CMF’s convergent stream, which distributed a total of $325.6 million, while the experimental stream invested $39 million in various digital media projects.

The convergent stream supports Canadian screen-based projects, including television programming and digital media content, while the experimental stream funds interactive, digital media content and software applications.  The final $1 million was handed out via the CMF’s various international initiatives, such as the Canada-New Zealand digital media fund.

Overall, the report said 82% of the CMF’s funding supported television programming, with the remaining 18% funneled to digital media content. The financing dedicated towards digital media content totaled $65.8 million in 2014/15, representing an 11% increase over the previous year.

The report also said the CMF received 1,981 applications for the 2014/15 fiscal, down from the 2,054 applications it received the year prior, even though the funder had an additional $8 million to distribute from its program budget.

Of the applications received, 1,386 were awarded funding, up 1.1% from the year prior. In its 2015/16 program budget, the CMF has made $375.2 million available for the convergent and experimental streams, up from $368 million the year prior.

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