Canada's CRTC releases 2014 specialty, pay, PPV and VOD TV stats

CRTC releases 2014 financial results for specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand television services

OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today released statistical and financial information on Canadian specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand television services for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2014.

In 2014, revenues from these services increased by 3.1% compared to the previous year, rising from 4.1 to 4.2 billion dollars. This increase is largely attributable to an increase in subscription revenues of $160.3 million (or 5.9%) compared to 2013, which more than compensated for the drop of $53.6 million (or -4.2%) in national advertising revenues.

A major driving force for growth in specialty service revenues was sports services (such as TSN, Sportsnet and RDS), which saw their revenues increase by $124.2 million (or 13.6%) in 2014.

Specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand television services invested $1.5 billion in the creation of new television programs produced by Canadians, an increase of over 12% compared to the $1.3 billion invested the previous year. Again, this increase is largely attributable to sports services, whose Canadian programming expenditures increased by $132 million (or 32%) compared to 2013.

Each year, the CRTC compiles financial data on the Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. The data compiled in the reports issued today were drawn from the annual returns of specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand television services.

In recent weeks, the CRTC has published the financial results for conventional television stations and cable and satellite companies. Financial results for AM and FM radio stations will follow shortly. Following the publication of these reports, the CRTC will issue its annual Communications Monitoring Report.

These annual reports help interested parties to stay informed about the state of the Canadian communications industry and to participate in the CRTC’s public consultations.

Quick facts

• In 2014, 230 Canadian specialty, pay, pay-per-view and video-on-demand television services generated revenues of $4.2 billion, a 3.1% increase over the $4.1 billion in revenues from the previous year.
• The increased revenues in 2014 are largely attributable to an increase in subscription revenues ($160.3 million or 5.9%), which more than compensated for the 4.2% drop in national advertising revenues.
• Though revenues continued increasing in 2014, expenditures increased faster, rising from $2.9 billion in 2013 to $3.1 billion in 2014. As a result, profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) dropped from $1.1 billion to approximately $1 billion, and the PBIT margin from 26.5% to 23.7%.
• Bilingual and English-language services yielded a total of $3.5 billion, and French-language services produced revenues of $678.4 million.
• On an individual basis, sports services (such as TSN, Sportsnet and RDS) were among the specialty services with the highest increase in revenues, which increased by $124 million (13.6%).
• Pay and video-on-demand services reported revenue decreases of 2.1% (or 9.4 million) and 1.3 % (or $3.2 million) respectively in 2014.
• Canadian programming expenditures reached $1.5 billion in 2014, an increase of 12.6% compared to 2013. Expenditures in the “sports” programming category showed the largest increase: $132 million.
• Of those investments, $432 million went to independent Canadian producers, $376 million of which came from specialty television services.
• Expenditures related to foreign programming increased from $528 million in 2013 to $574 million in 2014, $389 million of which came from specialty services.