OTTAWA – Last year’s transition to digital transmission helped to cut Canada’s over-the-air television penetration to an all-time low of just 5%, says a new report by the Media Technology Monitor (MTM).
The report, entitled ‘Post-DTV Transition: Did Canadians Convert?’, found that there are now more Canadians who have opted out of television than there are those who use antennas. These “tuned-out” Canadians – people who choose to live without TV – increased from 4% to 7% of the population in just one year.
The conversion from analog to digital over-the-air TV broadcasting occurred in most markets in Canada on September 1, 2011. It required Canadians who received their TV signals over-the-air to change the equipment they used in order to continue receiving television.
“Pre-transition, many users of off-air TV told us they would not switch to digital and it appears they have not,” said Mark Allen, director of research and strategic analysis at CBC/Radio-Canada, in the report’s news release. “Post-transition, there are now more Canadians who have opted to tune-out of TV than receive TV off-air.”
“Tuned-out” Canadians typically watch only four hours of TV a week, split almost evenly between the Internet and out-of-home, according to the report. They are younger, highly educated, and are less interested in sports and entertainment. Furthermore, while TV does not factor significantly into their lives, the Internet does – they spend 25% more time on the Internet than the average TV viewer.
The MTM is the largest and longest running media technology survey in Canada. This report is based on 8,000 telephone interviews in the fall (4,000 Anglophones and 4,000 Francophones) and another survey of 4,000 Canadians in the spring (2,000 Anglophones and 2,000 Francophones).
