Accountability Plan

Our Performance - MEDIA LINES

We use Media Lines reporting to measure performance against our operational targets, which mostly focus on audience reach and share through our various platforms and self-generated revenue across all our services.

While the Corporation continues to monitor the performance of its specialty television channels, we have not reported our subscribers’ results for competitive reasons.

CBC HIGHLIGHTS

DIVERSE AND DISTINCTIVE CANADIAN PROGRAMMING

Television launched a programming lineup showcasing a uniquely Canadian slate of new and returning original programs popular with our audiences, including Alias Grace, Burden of Truth, The Great Canadian Baking Show, Frankie Drake Mysteries, Dragons’ Den and Kim’s Convenience. The Rick Mercer Report concluded a record-breaking run with the CBC after 277 episodes, and was presented with the Academy Icon Award for its contribution to the media industry.

This was another successful year for multiplatform signature programming, including the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games, Canadian Country Music Awards, The Giller Prize, Canadian Screen Awards, News Year’s Eve, Canada Day 150! from Coast to Coast to Coast, and the JUNO Awards, bringing Canadians together in moments of national pride, celebration and reflection.

Furthering our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we showcased the incredible voices and talent of under-represented groups through the Breaking Barriers Film Fund, supporting feature films produced by women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. Three new feature films were selected for funding in the fall of 2017: Audience of Chairs, Level 1 and Red Snow. The first-ever Indigenous Screen Office was launched in collaboration with eight federal agencies and media industry organizations to support the development, production and marketing of Indigenous content. Coverage of the Toronto 2017 North American Indigenous Games was an opportunity for all of Canada to share the triumphs of Indigenous athletes competing for excellence. CBC also fostered an open discussion about sport and homophobia through Can I Play? Sports and Homophobia, showing the importance of access to sport for youth from the LGBTQ+ community. The diversity of voices was not limited by platform, with acclaimed programs like Unreserved and Out in the Open on radio, podcasts like Seat at the Table and Finding Cleo, and CBC Short Docs Queer (Self Portraits) and Twilight Dancers.

Commited to owning the Canadian music experience, CBC Radio 2 became CBC Music, seamlessly integrating music offerings across our platforms. This year CBC’s talent contest Searchlight, which seeks out fresh new musical talent from across a broad spectrum of musical genres, helped undiscovered musical stars catch a break. Finally, our JUNO 365 coverage, culminating in the JUNO awards, showcased more well-known Canadian acts.

CBC News provided leading coverage of Canadian news events and continued to enhance our foreign coverage with a uniquely Canadian perspective, including live coverage from Adrienne Arsenault inside the Raqqa ruins. Peter Mansbridge, one of Canada’s most revered journalists, retired and was recently presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Following his departure, The National moved into a new era, re-launching as both our flagship evening newscast and a digital and social enterprise, complemented by the launch of the CBC News feed.

DIGITAL AND MULTIPLATFORM

CBC maintained our digital momentum through investment in new and returning digital series, including The Amazing Gayl Pile, CRAWFORD and But I’m Chris Jericho. Content is more accessible than ever after the launch of the CBC TV App and other improvements to enhance CBC’s robust digital services. CBC Radio built on our podcasting success with new and returning original series, including Seat at the Table, Personal Best, Missing and Murdered, and the widely popular Someone Knows Something.

CBC’s ongoing expansion into southwestern Ontario saw the launch of CBC London. The new, digital-first local station deepens our community ties, delivering breaking news and stories all day and into the evening, online and through social media.

The increasing availability and ease of access of CBC content across platforms positions CBC as a forward-focused broadcasting leader, providing Canadians with the best content now and in the future.

CBC 2017-2018 RESULTS

Radio – new indicators starting 2017-2018

It was a strong year for CBC Radio, with audience shares either meeting or exceeding targets, driven by the high audience levels of CBC Radio One, CBC Music local morning shows, and network programs such as The Current, q and Drive.

Reach for CBC Radio One and CBC Music met their respective targets.

Television

Due to Canadian programming success in new original series during the regular season such as Frankie Drake Mysteries, The Great Canadian Baking Show and Burden of Truth, as well as the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, CBC TV’s prime-time audience share ended the year well above target at 7.6%.

CBC News Network’s performance softened in the latter half of the fiscal year, resulting in audience share dipping below target despite strong audience levels in the summer from coverage of the British Columbia wildfires and the Canada 150 events.

Regional

Audience levels for the TV local 6 PM news ended the regular season below target and prior year due to softening across markets, most notably in Toronto and Vancouver.

Our local digital performance was below target and prior year due to industry-wide impacts of reduced referral traffic from third party social media sites. There was also an increase in consumption of local news through an App vs desktop which is currently not included in this measure of unique visitors.

Regional – new indicators starting 2017-2018

During the morning when CBC Radio One offers the most local content, radio share and reach were well above and on par with targets, respectively, contributing to the overall positive performance of the network. CBC Radio morning programs were #1 in 20 out of 27 markets.

Digital

Despite year-over-year growth in many aspects of our digital offer, the number of monthly average unique visitors was below target due to industry-wide impacts of reduced referral traffic from third party social media sites that specifically impacted news publishers. These were partly offset by the diversification of our digital offering such as the December launch of the CBC TV App, as well as Digital Radio.

Revenue

Results ended the year below target due to the continued softening of the advertising market and declines in subscriber revenues due to the ongoing cord-shaving trend.