Communications Monitoring Report 2019

Link directly to Radio Sector Radio Sector

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1. Audience measurement
2. Canadian content development
3. Tangible benefits
4. Commercial radio
   • Market composition
   • Formats
5. CBC/SRC radio
6. Non-commercial radio
   • Revenues
7. Internet-based audio services
8. Availability of radio services and other audio services
   • Type and number of radio services and audio services authorized to broadcast, by language of broadcast, 2017 and 2018
   • Over-the-air radio serving the Official Language Minority population in Canada
   • Number of public/community-based and private radio services authorized to broadcast over-the-air in Canada, by province and language of broadcast, 2018
   • Number of new over-the-air radio stations licensed by the Commission from 2014 to 2018, by language of service, licence category, type of service, and licensing process
9. Methodology
   • CRTC data collection
   • Media Technology Monitor (MTM)
   • Ovum
   • Numeris
   • Official language minority population
   • Definitions

Long description

• The 721 private commercial radio stations reporting in 2018 generated $1.5 billion in revenues (down 0.5% from 2017) and a profit before interest and taxes (PBIT) margin of 18.3% (compared to 18.4% in 2017).
• In 2018, the 66 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada (CBC/SRC) radio stations reported a total of $327 million in revenues, up 10.9% over the previous year, and an operating margin of 10.9%.
• Indigenous radio stations revenues reached $18.6 million in 2018, growing an average of 6.1% per year over the past five years, while the reported PBIT margin stood at -1.6%.
• In 2018, 68% of radio stations serving the Official Language Minority (OLM) population were CBC/SRC radio stations.
• In 2018, there were 85 originating stations and 172 rebroadcasters, offering a total of 257 transmitters serving Canadians within the OLM population.
• Revenues from Canadian Internet-based audio services were estimated at $423 million in 2018, a 16.6% increase from 2017.
• On average, Canadians 18+ listened to 14.6 hours of radio per week in 2018, a decrease of 2.3% from 2017.
• There were 109 radio station ownership groups in 2018, 20 of which reported revenues over $10 million.
• Contributions to Canadian content development (CCD) initiatives totaled $43.7 million in 2018, a 0.4% increase from 2017.
• In 2018, a total of 13 radio ownership transactions resulted in $34.7 million in tangible benefits.

Source: CRTC data collection, Ovum, CRTC internal database, Numeris, Aggregate returns

In 2018, private commercial and CBC/SRC radio stations reported $1.8 billion in revenues, the vast majority of which (82%) were for private commercial radio stations. In comparison, Internet-based audio services generated estimated revenues of $423 million in the same year, which is equal to 23% of the revenues reported by traditional radio stations (private commercial and CBC/SRC combined).

In 2018, on average, Canadians 18+ tuned in to 14.6 hours of radio content per week. This weekly tuning was supplemented, on average, by an additional 8.1 hours of audio streaming content, for a total of 22.7 hours of audio listening each week. These levels are the highest observed for the period from 2014 to 2018.

In 2018, the five largest radio operators, operating 289 commercial radio stations, reported 65% of the total commercial radio revenues.

Link directly to i. Audience measurement i. Audience measurement

The average weekly number of hours that Canadians 18+ spent listening to traditional radio decreased slightly from 15.0 to 14.6 from 2017 to 2018. The average weekly number of hours spent listening to streamed audio services grew from 7.2 to 8.1 during the same period, a 12% increase. As such, the average weekly number of hours spent listening to all audio services increased from 22.1 to 22.7 from 2017 to 2018, the highest level of listening during the 2014-2018 period.

This demonstrates that Canadians are listening to increased amounts of audio content. Furthermore, notwithstanding a shift from traditional radio, it suggests that the hours of listening to streamed audio content are complimentary to the hours of listening to traditional radio content.

In 2018, the vast majority of Canadians were still tuning in to traditional radio. When asked about their use of radio and audio services, 88% of Canadians aged 18+ reported having listened to the radio in any given month. While streaming music videos on YouTube remains popular and listening to personalized online music services continued to rise in popularity in 2018, reaching 55% and 38%, respectively, of Canadians aged 18+, both types of online services have yet to reach as many Canadians as traditional radio.

Link directly to ii. Canadian content development ii. Canadian content development

Canadian content development (CCD) contributions are financial contributions made by radio broadcasters to support the development and promotion of Canadian musical and spoken word content for broadcast. There are three sources of CCD contributions: new stations during their first licence terms (5.0% of total CCD contributions), stations for which the licences have been renewed (43.9% of total CCD contributions), and stations for which a change in ownership and effective control resulted in the payment of tangible benefits (51.0% of total CCD contributions). In 2018, CCD contributions, including tangible benefits contributions, totaled $43.7 million, a 0.4% increase from the previous year.

In 2018, Radio Starmaker and Fonds RadioStar, combined, were the leading recipients of CCD contributions, receiving a total of $10.8 million (representing 25% of total CCD contributions). Next were local initiatives ($9.5 million) and FACTOR ($8.9 million). Together, these three recipients received 67% of all CCD contributions in 2018. MUSICACTION, received approximately $3.8 million in CCD contributions, the equivalent of 43% of the funds that FACTOR received.

Link directly to iii. Tangible benefits iii. Tangible benefits

In 2018, the Commission approved 13 ownership transactions for both French- and English-language services, resulting in total tangible benefits of $34.7 million.

Sources: CRTC decisions and administrative approvals

The Stingray/Newcap ownership transaction, which occurred in 2018 (see Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2018-404), resulted in $31 million in tangible benefits. Approximatively $30.1 million of this amount was committed to radio.

The 2017 Sirius XM Canada transaction (see Broadcasting Decisions 2017-114 and 2018-91) resulted in $28.7 million in tangible benefits. In its decisions, the Commission mandated equal distribution of $27.1 million between French- and English-language funds. The Commission also directed Sirius XM Canada to contribute the remaining $1.6 million of the tangible benefits package to the Broadcast Participation Fund. Given the breakdown of the tangible benefits contributions between French- and English-language recipients, the Sirius XM transaction is listed under the French and English sections, and its value is divided equally in each section.

Link directly to iv. Commercial radio iv. Commercial radio

Long description

	Commercial radio (total)	AM radio stations	FM radio stations	French-language radio stations	English-language radio stations	Third-language radio stations
Number of reporting stations	721	122	599	97	599	25
Revenues	$1,514 M	$269 M	$1,244 M	$254 M	$1,214 M	$46 M
2017-2018 Revenue growth	-0.5%	-1.3%	-0.3%	-1.7%	-0.1%	-3.5%
Local advertising revenues (% of total revenues)	64%	73%	62%	60%	64%	91%
National advertising revenues (% of total revenues)	34%	25%	36%	38%	35%	5%
PBIT margin	18.3%	5.8%	21.0%	19.1%	18.2%	14.9%
Tuning share	71.5%	12.4%	59.2%	14.5%	56.4%	0.6%

Source: CRTC data collection, Numeris

Note: For the purposes of this infographic, the tuning share is based on total hours associated with reporting stations and availability of audience data.

In 2018, 721 reporting commercial radio stations reported $1.5 billion in revenues, a 0.5% decrease from 2017. This decrease is slightly lower than the annual average 1.6% decrease in revenues from 2014 to 2018. However, the overall profitability margin of those commercial radio stations remained steady, at 18.3%, compared to 18.4% for 2017.

The 599 reporting FM commercial stations reported revenues of $1.2 billion in 2018, equal to 82% of all commercial radio revenues. FM stations surpassed AM stations in terms of profitably, reporting a PBIT margin of 21.0%, compared to 5.8% for AM stations.

FM commercial stations relied less on local advertising revenues and more on national advertising revenues than AM stations. Whereas FM stations generated 62% of their revenues from local advertising and 36% from national advertising, AM stations generated 73% of their revenues from local advertising and 25% from national advertising.

Although the vast majority of revenues were generated by English- language radio stations, profitability in terms of PBIT margins was somewhat similar between French-, English- and third-language stations. What sets third-language radio stations apart from French- and English-language radio stations is revenue composition: third-language stations generated 91% of their revenues from local advertising, compared to 60% and 64% for French- and English-language stations, respectively. In addition, third-language stations are mainly concentrated in major markets, and have a limited presence outside of those markets.

Link directly to Market composition Market composition

In 2018, the five largest radio ownership groups in Canada garnered over 65% of total commercial radio revenues. The two largest groups, BCE (109 stations) and Rogers (57 stations) garnered close to 40% of total radio revenues in 2018.

Long description

	BCE	Cogeco	Corus	Rogers	Stingray	Total
Number of reporting stations	109	13	39	57	71	289
Revenues	$373 M	$99 M	$115 M	$226 M	$158 M	$971 M
Share of total commercial radio revenues	25%	7%	8%	15%	10%	65%
French-language station revenues	$90 M	n/a	-	-	-	$90 M
English-language station revenues	$283 M	n/a	$115 M	$226 M	$158 M	$782 M
CCD	$14 M	$0.5 M	$0.9 M	$1 M	$2 M	$18.4 M
Tuning share in the French-language market	21%	30%	-	-	-	51%
Tuning share in the English-language market	19%	n/a	12%	12%	9%	52%

Source: Public disclosure of aggregate annual returns for large ownership groups, Numeris

The breakdown of Cogeco’s revenues by language market is not provided for residual disclosure issues.

For 2018, in addition to reporting the majority of the revenues of the radio sector, these 5 ownership groups garnered the majority of tuning in both official-language markets. In the French-language market, Cogeco and BCE together held 51% of weekly average tuning hours, with Cogeco leading at 30%, followed by BCE at 21%. In the English-language market, they together held 52% of the tuning, with BCE leading at 19%, followed by Rogers and Corus, both at 12%.

Link directly to Formats Formats

In 2018, radio tuning in the English-language market was more fragmented than in the French-language market.

The top 3 formats in the French-language market garnered approximately 73% of the tuning share, with talk radio (News/talk and Radio-Canada Première combined) leading with 37%, followed by the Hot adult contemporary format at 29% and Mainstream Top 40/Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) at 7%.

The top 3 formats in the English-language market garnered approximately 45% of the tuning share, with talk radio (CBC Radio One and News/talk) leading with 24%, followed by the Adult Contemporary and Country formats, garnering approximately 11% and 10%, respectively, of the tuning share.

The 32 News/Talk stations in Canada reported a total of $137 million in revenues in 2018. These stations represented 4.4% of the total commercial radio stations in Canada and reported 9% of the revenues. Although they reported a higher average revenue per station than the average commercial radio station, due to higher operating expenses – spoken word programming is labour intensive and involves significantly more resources to produce than musical content^{Footnote 1} – the average PBIT for stations operating this format is 8.1% compared to the average of 18.3% of the 721 commercial radio stations.

In terms of regional distribution, 46% of the revenues of the commercial radio stations in the News/Talk format were garnered by the 8 stations in Quebec. These stations reported an average revenue per station of $7.9 million in 2018 compared to $3.1 million for the 24 stations outside Quebec.

Link directly to v. CBC/SRC radio v. CBC/SRC radio

Long description

	All CBC/SRC radio stations	CBC/SRC AM radio stations	CBC/SRC FM radio stations
Number of reporting stations	66	14	52
Revenues	$327 M	$53 M	$274 M
2017-2018 Revenue growth	10.9%	5.6%	12.0%
Parliamentary appropriations (% of total revenues)	97%	97%	96%
Operating margin	10.9%	10.8%	10.9%
Tuning share	18.0%	3.7%	14.3%

Market	Format	Tuning share in the French-language market	Tuning share in the English-language market	Overall Tuning Share
French-language	ICI Radio-Canada Première	19%	n/a	3.8%
French-language	ICI Musique	5%	n/a	1.1%
French-language total		24%	n/a	4.9%
English-language	Radio One	n/a	15%	10.7%
English-language	Radio Two	n/a	3%	2.4%
English-language total		n/a	18%	13.1%
CBC/SRC total	All formats	24%	18%	18.0%
All markets	Total (all formats)	n/a	n/a	100%

Source: CRTC data collection, Numeris

The CBC/SRC is Canada’s public broadcaster. Its 14 AM stations and 52 FM stations reported revenues of $327 million in 2018, an increase of 10.9% from 2017. This growth is mainly attributed to a similar rise in parliamentary appropriations which represented 97% of the CBC/SRC’s radio revenues.

From 2014 to 2017, national advertising sales for CBC/SRC stations represented a modest source of income. At their height in 2015, they represented 0.5% of the public broadcaster’s total revenues. Since 2017, the CBC/SRC ceased receiving revenues from national advertising sales.

ICI Radio-Canada Première and its English counterpart, CBC Radio One, are popular talk radio services. ICI Radio-Canada Première, is the second most popular radio format, with 19% of French-language tuning share, while CBC Radio One is the most popular English-language radio format with 15% of English-language tuning share. Within the context of the total radio market, CBC/SRC’s combined talk and music radio programming (in both languages) garnered 18% of the total tuning shares in 2018 (4.9% for French-language stations and 13.1% for the English-language stations).

CBC/SRC French- and English-language radio services are available, over the air, in every province in both official languages. In many places they are the most important source of over-the-air radio services for Canadians in official language minority. Without CBC/SRC stations and rebroadcasters, population in official language minority in Canada would lose 68% of radio services in their first official language spoken.

The CBC/SRC operates the majority of all radio stations and rebroadcasters serving populations in an OLM situation, particularly in Prince Edward Island, British-Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (for more information, see the section “Over-the-air radio serving the Official Language Minority population in Canada”).

Link directly to vi. Non-commercial radio vi. Non-commercial radio

Long description

	Campus	Community	Indigenous	Religious	Total
Number of reporting stations	48	119	31	28	226
Revenues	$10.7 M	$37.9 M	$18.6 M	$9.4 M	$76.6 M
Average revenues per station	$223,000	$319,000	$599,000	$334,000	$339,000
2017-2018 Revenue growth	-2.7%	2.1%	4.7%	0.6%	1.8%
2014-2018 Average annual revenue growth rate	2.3%	3.4%	6.1%	2.5%	3.8%
Advertising revenues (% of total revenues)	9%	47%	23%	31%	34%
Government/Corporate grants (% of total revenues)	8%	14%	20%	5%	14%
PBIT margin	-0.6%	2.7%	-1.6%	12.8%	2.4%
Tuning share	0.3%	1.5%	0.3%	0.3%	2.3%

Source: CRTC data collection, Numeris

Non-commercial radio stations play an important role in the communities they serve and in the broadcasting sector as a whole. In 2018, there were 226 reporting non-commercial radio stations, falling under four categories: campus, community, Indigenous and religious. Total reported revenues of these stations in 2018 was $76.6 million, with community stations garnering approximately half of those revenues (49%), and Indigenous stations garnering almost one quarter (24%).

In 2018, advertising revenues represented 34% of the total revenues of non-commercial radio stations (82% of which were from local advertising) whereas government grants represented 14% of total revenues. Based on average revenues per station, of all non-commercial radio stations, Indigenous radio stations generated the highest revenues per station. Conversely, Indigenous radio stations’ profitability margin is the lowest of all non-commercial radio stations. Nearly 55% of Indigenous radio station revenues are derived from alternative sources and fundraising activities (e.g., 20% of total revenues are from government grants).

Campus radio station revenues are also mainly derived from alternative sources and fundraising activities. In 2018, government grants represented 8% of those stations’ revenues, while advertising revenues represented 9% (93% of which were from local advertising).

Although their mandates are similar, community radio stations differ from campus radio stations in regard to revenue sources. In 2018, advertising revenues represented 47% of community station revenues, with 78% coming from local advertising. Government grants represented 14% of community station revenues.

As is the case for other non-commercial radio stations, in 2018, alternative sources of funding were an important revenue source for religious radio stations (59% of total revenues). Advertising revenues represented 31% of total revenues (88% of which were from local advertising). Syndicated production sales represent 6% and government grants represented 5% of religious radio station revenues.

From 2014 to 2018, of all types of non-commercial radio stations, religious radio stations reported the highest profitability margin (12.8%), followed by community radio stations (2.7%).They are the only two station types with a greater profitability margin than the non-commercial stations combined (2.4%).

Link directly to Revenues Revenues

Although the number of non-commercial radio stations decreased slightly from 2014 to 2018 (from 230 to 226 stations), their overall revenues increased on average by 3.8% per year over the same period. The total revenue share for each type of non-commercial radio station in 2018 was similar to that for the period 2014-2018, with community radio stations garnering the greatest share of total non-commercial radio revenues, at approximately 50% (compared to 24% for Indigenous radio stations, 14% for campus radio stations, and 12% for religious radio stations).

Revenue sources for non-commercial radio stations range from air-time advertisement sales, syndicated production, government/corporate grants, and other, non-radio related revenues. In 2018, revenues from government/corporate grants represented nearly 14% of total revenues. Although they declined by 13% compared to the previous year, these contributions increased at an average rate of 3.1% each year from 2014 to 2018. Revenues from syndicated productions represented a negligible amount of total revenues.

Advertising revenues represented 34% of total revenues. Advertising revenues can be broken down based on local and national advertising revenues. Much like local stations, non-commercial radio stations share the distinction of being hyperlocal, with 82% of their total advertising revenues coming from local advertising revenues (compared to 64% for commercial radio stations).

Link directly to vii. Internet-based audio services vii. Internet-based audio services

Internet-based audio services are a growing means by which Canadians access audio content. Different types of services are available, which can be categorized under two main types of business model:

• Download-based audio services are offerings that allow consumers to download audio files in exchange for a one-time fee (for example, iTunes).
• Streaming audio services refer to Internet-based services that allow users to stream audio content that either contains advertising, or that is done in exchange for a subscription fee (for example, Spotify).

Long description

	Download-based audio services	Streaming audio services	Total
2018 Estimated revenues in Canada	$79 M	$344 M	$423 M
2017-2018 revenue growth	-23%	33%	17%
Revenue CAGR 2014-2018	-16.8%	78.3%	20.7%
Share of the estimated revenues of Internet-based audio services	19%	81%	100%

Source: Revenue estimates from Ovum

Estimated revenues in Canada for Internet-based audio services grew by 16.6% from 2017 to 2018, reaching $423 million. Compared to the $1.8 billion in revenues of Commercial and CBC/SRC radio stations, Internet-based audio services still only represent 23% of the regulated radio sector revenues.

Whereas estimated revenues of streaming audio services increased, those of download-based audio services declined. In 2018, streaming audio services garnered 81% of the estimated Internet-based revenues in 2018, while download-based services garnered 19%.

In 2014, the revenues of Internet-based audio services were driven by download-based audio services, which garnered 83% of estimated revenues. Since then, download-related revenues declined on average by 16.8% each year, while revenues garnered by streaming-based services rapidly increased over the same period, with an average year-over-year growth of 78.3%. Streaming services garnered estimated revenues of $344 million in 2018, suggesting that Canadians are shifting from downloading audio content to streaming such content.

Link directly to viii. Availability of radio services and other audio services viii. Availability of radio services and other audio services

The following table lists the type and number of radio services and audio services that were authorized to broadcast in Canada in 2017 and 2018. The list includes commercial AM and FM radio stations, non-commercial AM and FM radio stations, satellite subscription radio services, specialty audio services and pay audio services.

In 2018, 1,120 radio services and audio services were authorized to broadcast in Canada. Private commercial radio stations accounted for almost two thirds of all radio services and audio services in Canada, while community stations, the second most numerous type of radio service, represented 12% of all radio services and audio services in 2018.

Link directly to Type and number of radio services and audio services authorized to broadcast, by language of broadcast, 2017 and 2018 Type and number of radio services and audio services authorized to broadcast, by language of broadcast, 2017 and 2018

Source: CRTC internal database, as of 31 December 2018

This table shows the number of radio services and audio services approved by the Commission. Not all are necessarily in operation. “Over-the-air radio services” exclude radiocommunication distribution undertakings, rebroadcasting transmitters, and radio services that are exempt from licensing requirements.

Link directly to Over-the-air radio serving the Official Language Minority population in Canada Over-the-air radio serving the Official Language Minority population in Canada

Canadians who are part of the OLM population^{Footnote 2} can be found in all ten provinces and in the main urban centres of the northern territories. Over 2.1 million Canadians are considered part of this population group, over half of which (52%) is located in Quebec. While another 26% of the total OLM population can be found in Ontario, the greatest concentration resides in New Brunswick, with over 31% of that province’s population being regarded part of the OLM population.

Of the 1,000 over-the-air radio services operating in Canada, 85 are licenced to operate in French in provinces/territories other than Quebec or in English in Quebec. When factoring rebroadcasting transmitters, the number of available transmitters serving the OLM population in Canada in their first official language spoken at home (hereafter, serving the OLM population) increases to 257.

CBC/SRC operates 68% of all radio transmitters serving the OLM population. In regards to the number of radio transmitters serving this population group, CBC/SRC leads in every province, with the exception of New Brunswick. For example, CBC/SRC operates 100% of radio transmitters serving the OLM population in Prince Edward Island, 93% in British-Columbia, 89% in Saskatchewan and 89% in Manitoba.

Community radio stations – the second most important in terms of number of transmitters – are present in every province except Prince Edward Island. Notwithstanding their absence in that province, community radio stations have an important presence in Atlantic Canada, making up 38% of radio transmitters serving the OLM populations in New Brunswick, 33% in Nova Scotia’s, and 29% Newfoundland and Labrador.

Yellowknife (Northwest Territories) and Iqaluit (Nunavut) both have a local francophone community radio station. Yukon did not have a francophone radio service or transmitter at the time of the compilation of this report, despite having a larger number of overall radio services than either the Northwest Territories or Nunavut.

Private commercial stations serving the OLM population (20 services) are found exclusively in Quebec (8), Ontario (7) and New Brunswick (5). Those operating in Quebec are all in the Montréal region, whereas those operating in Ontario and New Brunswick are scattered throughout both provinces, in smaller areas. There are 6 Indigenous non-commercial radio transmitters serving the OLM population in Canada and are all based in Quebec. These are broadcasting from five locations: Kahnawake, Listuguj, Restigouche, Maniwaki, and Kanesatake.

Figure 5.13 shows the presence of radio transmitters serving the OLM population as a percentage of the total number of available radio transmitters in each province and territory, along with OLM population in each province and territory as a percentage of the total population, in 2018. Across Canada, 6% of the population in 2018 was considered to be part of the OLM population, whereas 11% of the country’s radio stations and rebroadcasting transmitters served the OLM population. This does not imply that 100% of the OLM population has access to a radio service in its first official language, given that members of the population could reside outside the radio service coverage areas. Further, this figure shows that the population of Yukon does not have an over-the-air traditional francophone radio service.

The aforementioned services are available to Canadians via traditional radio broadcast. Other, different types of radio and audio services are also available to Canadians, notwithstanding their geographic location. These include network radio, specialty, pay, satellite, and Internet audio services. Furthermore, exempt services, such as radiocommunication distribution undertaking services, may offer services to the OLM population, possibly in their language of choice.

Link directly to Number of public/community-based and private radio services authorized to broadcast over-the-air in Canada, by province and language of broadcast, 2018 Number of public/community-based and private radio services authorized to broadcast over-the-air in Canada, by province and language of broadcast, 2018

Source: CRTC internal database

This table shows the number of radio services that currently have Commission approval to Operate in Canada. Non-commercial, tourist information and emergency radio services, as well as rebroadcasting transmitters, are excluded. All are not necessarily in operation.

“The North” refers to Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.

Link directly to Number of new over-the-air radio stations licensed by the Commission from 2014 to 2018, by language of service, licence category, type of service, and licensing process Number of new over-the-air radio stations licensed by the Commission from 2014 to 2018, by language of service, licence category, type of service, and licensing process

Source: CRTC decisions issued from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018

Under “Licensing category,” ”Other” includes not-for-profit stations, such as those operated in French and English by the CBC/SRC and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Link directly to ix. Methodology ix. Methodology

Link directly to CRTC data collection CRTC data collection

The CRTC data collection has sourced its statistical and financial data from the annual returns provided by commercial and CBC/SRC radio stations for the broadcast year ending 31 August 2018.

Annual returns for the broadcast year ending 31 August 2018 were required to be filed with the Commission by 30 November 2018. Data received subsequent to the compilation date is not reflected in this publication. The data reported for previous years has been updated to reflect any additional or adjusted information received by the Commission subsequent to the date of prior years' publications.

In total, 721 commercial private radio stations reported operational activity for the broadcast year ending August 2018. In the 2017-2018 broadcasting year, 10 stations reported for the first time. In addition, as of the date of the compilation of this report, 4 stations that held an active license (i.e., CFNV Montréal, CFOR-FM Maniwaki and CFQR-AM Montréal, Quebec, and CJVN-FM Ottawa, Ontario) failed to provide their annual returns, which constitutes a violation of the Radio Regulations, 1986.

Link directly to Media Technology Monitor (MTM) Media Technology Monitor (MTM)

MTM measures Canadians’ media technology adoption and use at two points in time to monitor changes in media penetration and use over the year. Telephone interviews are conducted with a regionally representative sample of Canadians who have a landline telephone service and those who rely solely on cell phone service. The fall survey includes 8,000 Canadian adults (4,000 Francophones and 4,000 Anglophones). Of those 8,000 respondents, 2,976 also completed an online survey introduced in the fall. An independent sample of 4,000 Canadians (2,000 Francophones and 2,000 Anglophones) is surveyed in the spring.
www.mtm-otm.ca

The CMR uses data collected from the fall survey unless stated otherwise.

Link directly to Ovum Ovum

Download-based audio services

Revenues of download-based audio services are estimated based on publicly available data such as company annual reports in addition to the country’s other media revenues such as physical music album sales and live music attendance revenues. These estimates are further refined using data about online audio subscriptions in the market as a benchmark.

In some cases where information is unavailable, Ovum based its revenue estimations on the service provider’s market shares and revenues in a country similar to the one subject to analysis.

Streaming audio services

Streaming audio services comprise different business models for which different methodologies apply. The total revenues of subscription-based digital streaming, advertisement-based digital streaming, and video (audio) streams are added to determine total revenues of streaming audio services.

• Revenues of subscription-based digital streaming services (such as Spotify) are estimated based on publicly available data on the number of subscribers and service rates/pricing such as company annual reports and news articles. These are then used to estimate an average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber considering all available service plans from a given provider and distributed to the estimated number of subscribers. The estimated average monthly subscription revenue per subscriber is then multiplied by the subscriber estimate.
• Revenues of advertisement-based digital streaming and video streams are estimated based on publicly available data about traffic, advertising load and pricing as well as video traffic and digital advertising forecasts. These estimates are further refined based on each entity’s performance in other video segments.

Link directly to Numeris Numeris

Audience measurement data is important not only to industry stakeholders, who use the data to help sell air time to advertisers, but also to the CRTC, which uses the data to assess the effectiveness of its policies by understanding the reach of programming across the country and across various demographics.

• Audience measurement data is compiled by Numeris through the use of portable people meters (electronic devices that records listenership data) and diary surveys (written logs of listenership). National figures are based on diary surveys only. All Numeris-related data for previous years have been restated to align with methodological changes.
• Audience measurement data is based on Numeris radio diary data from the fall surveys across Canada, Monday to Sunday from 5 am to 1am, with participants aged 12 or older.

As of fall 2016: Online Radio Diary (ORD) was implemented in all radio diary markets^{Footnote 3}. For the first time, participating households were provided the choice of completing the day diary by using either the traditional paper form or the new online form. The introduction of ORD affects the data collection methodology and therefore, fall 2016 results may not be comparable to those of previous years with high precision.

Link directly to Official language minority population Official language minority population

For the purposes of this report, the official language minority population is data used and defined from the 2016 Census as: “The official language minority population of Quebec includes all individuals with English as a first official language spoken and half of those with both English and French. The official language minority population of the country overall and of every province and territory other than Quebec includes individuals with French as a first official language spoken and half of those with both English and French.”

Transmitters serving OLM population

A radio transmitter serving OLM population is defined as an over-the-air radio transmitter (stations and rebroadcasting transmitters), licensed to operate in French in provinces/territories other than Quebec or in English in Quebec.

Link directly to Definitions Definitions

Canadian content development (CCD) contributions are financial contributions made by radio broadcasters to support the development and promotion of Canadian musical and spoken word content for broadcast.

PBIT refers to profit before interest and taxes.

Contents of the Report

1. Communications Services in Canadian Households: Subscriptions and Expenditures 2013-2017
2. 2018 Communications Services Pricing in Canada
3. Communications Industry Overview: Telecommunications and Broadcasting
4. Broadcasting Overview
5. Radio Sector
6. Television Sector
7. Broadcasting Distribution Sector
8. Telecommunications Overview
9. Retail Fixed Internet Sector and Broadband Availability
10. Retail Mobile Sector

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• Full table of contents
• Full list of infographics, figures and tables