OTTAWA – Operating revenues for Canada’s TV broadcasting industry totaled $6.5 billion (current dollars) in 2008, up 5.4% from 2007 totals, according to data from Statistics Canada.
The increase was due in part to a 13.2% advance in public and non-profit television revenues, while the upturn was largely attributable to advertising revenues from the Summer Olympics and a substantial increase in grants, the report detailed.
Operating revenues for private conventional television fell 1.8% to $2.1 billion in 2008 – the second annual decline in revenues in three years for this segment – due primarily to the loss of advertising market shares to the specialty television segment. Private conventional television captured 58.8% of the $3.4 billion advertising market in 2008, compared with 68.1% five years earlier.
The specialty television segment continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Operating revenues grew 6.5% to $2.3 billion in 2008, thanks to 5.4% increase in subscription revenues and an 8.1% growth in advertising revenues.
The pay television saw its operating revenues top $612.0 million in 2008, up 11.8% from 2007, due to growing interest in on-demand television. Revenues from on-demand services climbed to $269.6 million in 2008, up 36.3% from 2007.
Private television broadcasters were less profitable in 2008 than in 2007, as their profit before interests and taxes fell to $691.0 million from $763.6 million. Specialty and pay channels accounted for more than 99.0% of these profits.
The profit margin before interests and taxes surpassed 20.0% for the fourth consecutive year for specialty channels, and for the seventh straight year for pay television channels. Private conventional stations, on the other hand, generated a profit margin before interests and taxes of less than 1% in 2008, the lowest in 30 years. Nearly half of all private conventional stations posted losses before interests and taxes in 2008.
The data used in the report is from the fiscal year ending August 31st, and does not reflect the impact on the television industry of the economic downturn that began in the final months of 2008.
