Revenue for conventional TV fell in 2016, but the CBC’s went up, according to numbers from the CRTC. Conventional TV has slid each year since 2012.

Total revenue for conventional in 2016 clocked in at $1.68 billion, a 4.51% drop from 2015. Advertising revenue dropped for both local (down 4.56%, now at $315.08 million) and national sales (down 4.49%, totalling $1.24 billion). Syndication revenues were also down 4.48%, and totalled $98.88 million for the year. Infomercial revenue rose slightly (0.03%) to $14.29 million.

At the private conventional TV stations, Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) decreased 3.42% in 2016, landing at $633.29 million. Overall, programming expenses decreased 5.15% and totalled $1.29 billion. Canadian productions represented 49% of conventional TV’s production spend for 2016.

Conventional TV saw an operating loss of $30.26 million, with a negative profitability margin of 1.8%. That number was less drastic than 2014 and 2015, which were negative 2.3% and 3.4%, respectively.

Meanwhile, the CBC saw a total revenue increase of 7.04%, totalling $1.18 billion in 2016. Although local time sales and syndication revenues were down (11.84% and 26.23% respectively), growth in national time sales and other revenue resulted in the overall increase. National sales revenue rose to $222.5 million (a 30.44% increase), while other revenue (which included parliamentary appropriation) came to $853.18 million (up by 6.94%).

The CBC’s total programming expenses were $793.08 million, up 8.12% from 2015. Of these costs, $635.09 million were Canadian programming expenses (up 13.98%). Staff costs reduced slightly to $511.09 million, largely the result of a staff count reduction of 218 (a 4.2% decrease). The average staff salary is $102,496, up just over $2,000 from 2015.

This resulted in an operating income of $126.42 million and a surplus of $39.69 million, the pubcaster’s first surplus in at least four years. Overall, CBC’s operating margin for profitability was 10.7%, up from 7.5% the previous year.

Image: Shutterstock

From Media in Canada