OTTAWA – The profit position for Canada’s film, television and video post-production industry improved slightly in 2006, according to Statistics Canada. Even though operating revenues edged down, the industry’s operating expenses fell at a faster pace.
The industry reported total operating revenues of $822 million, down 1.9% from 2005, says the report on the industry released Wednesday. However, firms managed to reduce their operating expenses by 2.6% to $769 million, largely because of a 10.6% decline in the cost of goods sold. The cost of goods sold and salaries, wages and benefits remained the industry’s principal expenses.
As a result, operating profits totaled $53.1 million, up from $48.6 million in 2005. The industry’s profit margin rose from 5.8% to 6.5%.
The film, television and video post-production industries consist of establishments primarily engaged in providing post-production services to the motion picture and video industries. They include specialized motion picture or video post-production services such as editing, film/tape transferring, subtitling, creating credits, closed captioning, and producing computer graphics, animation and special effects, as well as developing and processing motion picture films.
Ontario firms continued to dominate the post-production industry, accounting for 48.8% of total operating revenues in 2006. Quebec firms represented 38.6%, and those in British Columbia, about 11%.
However, post-production houses in British Columbia and Quebec were more profitable than their Ontario counterparts. Quebec firms had an operating profit margin of 6.8%, just above the national average, while those in British Columbia reported 6.3%. Both were higher than Ontario’s 6%.
Businesses providing post-production services in Alberta and British Columbia were among those showing the strongest growth in 2006, despite their small size.
Alberta had barely more than 1% of Canada’s post-production businesses. But the few firms operating there saw revenues rise 84% to $8.9 million in 2006. They also posted a profit margin of 10.6%, one of the highest in the country.
In contrast, operating revenues in British Columbia increased 22.4% to $89.5 million in 2006, while those in Ontario declined by 6.7% to $400 million.
Results in the rest of this release are based on establishments whose combined revenues accounted for about 95% of the industry’s total revenues. This survey portion represents 353 post-production companies.
