OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Despite competition from satellite, online and mobile services, revenues at Canada’s 695 commercial radio stations held firm for the 2014 broadcast year, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for this sector released Monday.
Commercial Radio 2010–2014: National Statistics, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Markets said that total revenues for AM and FM stations dipped 0.52%, from $1.623 billion in 2013 to $1.614 billion for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2014. These revenues enable commercial radio stations to offer a variety of programming to Canadians, to support established and emerging Canadian talent, and to provide employment to over 9,900 individuals.
Over the past year, the CRTC report says commercial stations increased their expenditures by $19 million, for a total of $1.27 billion. As a result, profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) decreased from $328 to $299 million, resulting in a decline in the PBIT margin, which went from 20.2% to 18.5%.
Revenues from the sale of local advertising for AM and FM radio stations decreased by 2.86% from $1.12 billion in 2013 to $1.09 billion in 2014, while national advertising sales increased by 4.4% from $476.3 million to $497.4 million.
Canada’s FM radio stations continued to generate the majority of total revenues at $1.32 billion, down slightly from $1.33 billion in the previous year. Twelve new FM stations were added in 2014, bringing the total operating in Canada to 568.
Revenues for English-language FM stations decreased by 1.1%, from $1.05 billion to $1.04 billion, while those for French-language FM stations increased by 2.4%, from $253.2 million to $259.2 million. Revenues for ethnic FM stations grew 1.3%, to reach a total of $21.3 million.
There were 127 AM stations in Canada in 2014, and their total revenues decreased by 1.3%, from $294.6 million in 2013 to $290.9 million in 2014.
CBC radio services operating under the Espace Musique and Radio 2 brands generated $1.1 million in national advertising sales, however, despite that additional source of revenue, total revenues for the 82 radio services operated by CBC dropped 5.6% to $287.6 million in 2014. The decrease is predominantly due to a decline in the parliamentary appropriations directed to the public broadcaster’s radio services, which went from $295.5 million in 2013 to $277.3 million in 2014. The costs incurred by the public broadcaster’s radio stations amounted to $274.7 million in 2014, a decrease of 3% from the previous year.
