The CRTC has approved the launch of a new survey to track the revenue, programming expenditures and subscriber base of digital platforms operating in Canada.

The Annual Digital Media Survey will require digital media broadcasting undertakings (DMBUs), both for audio and audiovisual services, to report key figures if they meet certain threshold requirements.

Any audiovisual DMBUs with total annual revenues of more than $50 million within Canada in a broadcast year must participate, according to the CRTC, whether they are domestic or foreign-owned services. The threshold is $25 million in annual revenue for audio services. The deadline to submit for the 2020/21 broadcast year is June 30. The deadline for future broadcast years will be Nov. 30.

The survey will collect audiovisual DMBU data on revenue (subscription, advertising, transactional or other sources), programming expenditures (both Canadian and non-Canadian) and the number of paid or free subscribers.

It will not require the collection of audience data, although both the Directors Guild of Canada and Quebec indie music organization ADISQ called for its inclusion as part of their comments in the consultation process. The CRTC said it would not collect the data since it doesn’t require it from other broadcasters, but may consider including it in the future. It will also not collect data on non-programming expenditures.

How much of the collected data will be available to the public is still to be determined, according to the ruling from the CRTC, due to the “commercially sensitive nature of some of the data that the survey will collect.” Whether the Commission will publish the data in aggregate form, and the level of detail to be disclosed, is to be decided “at a later date.”

Advocacy groups argued the data is in the public interest and that DMBUs must provide comprehensive evidence that it would result in financial harm. Broadcasters argued the information is too commercially sensitive, with Rogers noting that disclosure of that information would dissuade the participation of non-Canadian DMBUs.

CBC also proposed its data be aggregated with private broadcasters, as the practice of publishing it separately gives “unprecedented insight” into its financial affairs. The CRTC responded that CBC must “disclose as much financial information as possible to ensure that Canadians are informed of the CBC’s programming strategy, how it plans to meet their needs, and how it is fulfilling its mandate,” adding that decisions around its data transparency will be further addressed as part of its pending broadcast licence renewal.

The broadcasting industry stakeholders that submitted comments on the survey include Netflix, Blue Ant Media, AMC, Super Channel parentco Allarco Entertainment, WildBrain, Quebecor Media and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. Among the advocacy groups were ACTRA, the CMPA and AQPM, the Writers Guild of Canada, Unifor and On Screen Manitoba.

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