Corus Entertainment has closed its fiscal 2021 with a 2% increase in consolidated revenue, propelled by a continued ad revenue recovery and licensing and merchandising deals.

President and CEO Doug Murphy told investors on Friday (Oct. 22) that the company is “accelerating” its content production strategy with Corus Studios and Nelvana to leverage its ability to greenlight content and sell it internationally.

The strategy is in recognition of the CRTC’s rejection of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ request for regulatory relief, along with the decision to give broadcasters until Aug. 31, 2023, to make up the shortfall.

Murphy also pointed to Corus’ recent strategic partnership with Discovery+, which launched in Canada this week, as an “expansive, multi-faceted win-win arrangement” to extend beyond a marketing partnership.

“Our objective is to sustain the resiliency of the channels business, both the traditional set-top box and the emerging reaggregation of channels on a streaming platform,” he said.

The broadcaster saw a 13% year-over-year increase in revenue in Q4 2021 with $361.2 million compared to $318.4 million in Q4 2020.

The quarter saw gains across all segments, with TV revenue hitting $335.8 million, a 12% year-over-year increase from $299 million in 2020; ad revenue at $176.9 million, a 21% increase from $146.4 million in last year’s Q4; and merchandising and distribution revenue coming to $33.1 million, a 9% increase from $30.4 million in Q4 2020.

The merchandising and distribution segment produced the largest revenue gains for the overall fiscal year, reporting $106 million in revenue by year-end, a 13% increase from the $93.8 million earned in fiscal 2020. TV revenue came to $1.44 billion in fiscal 2021, a 3% increase from $1.4 billion in 2020, while ad revenue hit $842 million, a 2% increase from $823 million in 2020. Radio was the only segment that came in at a loss, coming to $97.1 million in fiscal 2021, a 6% decrease from $102.9 million in 2020.

Free cash flow also saw a 15% decrease by the year-end, with $251.9 million in fiscal 2021 compared to $296.2 million in 2020.

Subscriptions to streaming platforms such as STACKTV and Nick+ have increased to more than 675,000 as of Oct. 21, up from 600,000 on June 29. Looking ahead to 2022, Murphy said the company has set a target of one million subscribers to the platforms, in tandem plans to expand STACKTV’s content and distribution.