FEATURE: Is radio becoming obsolete to national advertisers?
Radio is still a cornerstone of many national media buys in Canada, but let’s be frank – it doesn’t deliver metrics that digital-first marketers are asking for. Broadcast Dialogue gathered a group of heavy hitters from Canada’s biggest agencies to talk about the state of national radio ad sales and the challenges and opportunities for clients and broadcasters alike. Joining our publisher Shawn Smith on this episode of Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast are Canadian Broadcast Sales President Gerry MacKrell; Omnicom Media Group Chief Strategy Officer Shane Cameron; GroupM Chief Investment Officer Lindsey Talbot and Glassroom General Manager Scott Stewart.
The 2024 Canadian Radio Awards jury has deliberated and we’ll announce this year’s winners this Friday, Dec. 6 in a livestream across Broadcast Dialogue’s Facebook and LinkedIn channels, as well as those of the Sound Off Podcast Network. Tune in Friday at 9 a.m. PT/10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT/noon ET when we’ll highlight this year’s winners, then head to CanadianRadioAwards.com where you can listen to this year’s winning audio.
REVOLVING DOOR:
Ruth Zowdu has announced she’ll be retiring as Senior Managing Director of CBC News, Toronto & the Ontario Region, in March. Zowdu has held the position for the last four years, previously serving as the Managing Editor for CBC Ottawa, the first woman of colour to run a local CBC newsroom.
Ann MacKeigan has transitioned to the new role of Executive Producer, Talent Development at CBC. She leaves the Executive Producer role she’s held for the last seven years on q with Tom Power, and Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud. With CBC since 1988, MacKeigan previously served as Director, Content Development and Production, Radio and Audio.
Lui (Luigi) Valente, Station Manager at multi-ethnic station CFMB Montreal is retiring after a 46-year career. Valente has held a variety of roles, navigating the station through two ownership changes, including its acquisition by Evanov Communications in 2014, when he was named Station Manager. Concurrent with Valente’s departure, CFMB will undergo management restructuring, with more details to come.
Emma Buchanan is now an Assistant Editor at The Logic. A freelance reporter and copy editor with bylines at The Local, CBC and Maclean’s, Buchanan most recently served as Interim Office Manager at The Walrus.
Michael Boyd has announced his retirement from Podcast Atlantic, the Dartmouth, NS-based podcast production company he’s run since 2018. Boyd, a former longtime Halifax Cable/EastlinkTV Program Coordinator and Master Control Manager, says he’s looking forward to helping non-profit organizations create their own podcasts in his retirement years. Podcast Atlantic will live on via Facebook, LinkedIn, X and Instagram.
Lindsay Doyle has joined Netflix Canada as Public Policy Lead. Doyle leaves YouTube where she served as Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Canada for the last eight months, and prior to that, held the same role with Google Canada for six years.
Nick Solowski, previously Senior Director, International Sales & Acquisitions, has been promoted at Blue Ant Studios to the position of VP, International Sales. Based in Toronto, Solowski has been an integral member of both Blue Ant Studios’ APAC and Americas teams, reporting jointly to Jon Penn, Managing Director, APAC, Blue Ant Media and Bryan Gabourie, SVP, International Sales & Partnerships, Blue Ant Studios, with a focus on Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, China and Canada. Solowski’s elevated role will see him focus on expanding the scope of existing content partnerships and cultivate new ones, especially with emerging platforms. Prior to Blue Ant Studios, he held distribution sales roles at Tricon Films & Television, Spafax Canada and Alliance Atlantis MPD.
Brent Johnston has been appointed the new CEO at Xplore. Geoff Lowe, Xplore’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who recently also served as Interim CEO, has been promoted to President & Chief Financial Officer. Johnston previously served as President of Wireless Services at Rogers Communications and spent more than a decade growing consumer markets nationally for both wireless and wireline products at TELUS. He also held the role of Senior Managing Director at Apple Canada. His appointment comes on the heels of Xplore’s completion in October of a comprehensive recapitalization, with more than C$1.6 billion of new funding committed through both private investment and federal and provincial government broadband programs.
RADIO & PODCAST:
Radiocount’s October/Fall 2024 survey shows a slight decrease in radio tuning among those 12+. During the Fall 2024 measurement period (reflecting listening from Sept. 2 – Oct. 27), an average of 17.7 hours per week was spent listening to radio, down 1.7% from Fall 2023. Average Weekly Cume however, increased 2.3% to almost 2.1 million listeners during Fall 2024. Radiocount says cume and radio tuning continues to increase among both the key adult 18-49 and 25-54 demos. Time spent listening by those age groups increased by 1.7% and 1.2% respectively, compared to a year ago, and was up 4.1% and 2.9% respectively when compared to Fall 2022. The most-listened to format during the Fall 2024 survey period were pop stations (AC, Hot AC and CHR), with over 9.4 million hours spent listening weekly. That was followed by Country with 5 million hours tuned weekly.
Signal Hill Insights and Ulster Media have released the 2024 Canadian Podcast Listener survey, indicating monthly podcast listening among Canadian adults, 18+, is up three points year-over-year, following two years of minor increases in 2022 and 2023. Daily listening is up from 7% to 8.8%, the largest increase since the study began in 2017. YouTube has surged as the preferred platform to consume podcasts, moving from 29% to 35% year-over-year. Spotify lost listeners, dropping from a high of 31% in 2023 to 28% this year. Read more here.
Canadaland’s COMMONS is coming to an end after six years and 13 seasons, as the podcast’s producers strike out on their own with a new project dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. The Hatchet, which has launched on Substack, is helmed by COMMONS producers Jordan Cornish and Arshy Mann, who also served as host. The first episode of the weekly podcast and newsletter dives into TD Bank, and by the bank’s own admission, its criminal history of being used to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money in the U.S. Like COMMONS – which has tackled issues from the emergency room crisis to hockey, cults, and the prison labour industrial complex – The Hatchet is a documentary-style, investigative deep dive. Read more here.
LISTEN: Arshy Mann joins Broadcast Dialogue – The Podcast to talk about going independent, his unvarnished thoughts on the state of Canadian media, and choosing to make a graceful exit from Canadaland.
LISTEN: Fred Jacobs from Jacobs Media is on the Sound Off Podcast, discussing Tech Survey, its AQ Study and what listeners come to radio for. He and Matt Cundill also touch on the lack of women in various radio roles, including on-air, and the need for more female program directors; the disconnect between AI and innovation; and some of the perceptions that “podcasting is taking over” when in fact, most radio P1 listeners are not that interested in the medium. They also discuss the financial struggles of public radio.
TV & FILM:
TVO has confirmed it’s laid off nine staff on its editorial team, but says it is not cancelling any journalism programming. John Ferri, VP of Programming and Content at the Ontario public broadcaster, confirmed in a statement released to Broadcast Dialogue that the layoffs impact five members of the web team, two managers and two other positions out of an editorial staff of 70. Ferri said the network continues to be committed to its documentary, podcast and digital video slates, but is making “a strategic choice to focus our website more on documentaries, video and podcasts than on text alone.” Read more here.
The CRTC has denied an application from Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) requesting an increase in its monthly per subscriber wholesale rate for AMI-tv and AMI-télé. The CRTC found that AMI did not demonstrate an immediate financial need for an increase and “did not propose clear and substantial programming changes that would significantly improve the services following a rate increase.” The commission noted it intends to consider “broader regulatory and systemic issues regarding the broadcasting system in upcoming public consultations to modernize Canada’s regulatory framework.” AMI’s application had sought an increase of $0.01 (to $0.21) for AMI-tv in anglophone markets and an increase of $0.02 (to $0.30) for AMI-télé in francophone markets. According to AMI, over the next two years (the remainder its licence terms), the requested rate increases would have generated approximately $1.33 million in revenue for AMI-tv and $1.29 million for AMI-télé.
FAIR, the Film & Television Alliance for Industry Responsibility, is a newly-formed coalition of Canadian film and television unions and guilds dedicated to ensuring accountable industry policy and responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Comprised of Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ), Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), NABET 700-M UNIFOR, Société des auteur.e.trice.s de radio, télévision et cinéma (SARTEC), L’Union des Artistes (UDA), and Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), the group has been lobbying Telefilm Canada to adopt the same policy in place at the Canada Media Fund (CMF) requiring producers to remain in good standing with industry unions and guilds to qualify for funding. FAIR says 27% of productions with budgets over $5 million aren’t signing collective agreements, while 65% of productions with budgets under $1 million sign with only half, or fewer, of the applicable unions and guilds. Read more here.
Ed Barreveld and Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin were recognized with the top documentary achievement awards at the 11th Annual DOC Institute’s Honours Awards, celebrating pioneers and visionaries in Canadian documentary filmmaking. Barreveld is this year’s recipient of the Luminary Award. The Storyline Entertainment CEO and Emmy-winning producer began his film career as unit administrator of the NFB’s Ontario studio in Toronto. After four years traveling the world as a documentary line producer, he co-founded Storyline in 2000. Koostachin is this year’s winner of the Vanguard Award. With a background in community work, social justice themes emerge in her films, alongside bravery, healing, connection and humour.
CTV’s 2024 holiday programming lineup includes new holiday specials. Jimmy Fallon’s Holiday Seasoning Spectacular (Dec. 18) sees the late night host explore a surreal and magical apartment building in New York where behind every door a different celebrity joins him for a comedic holiday musical performance. The one-hour special features Cara Delevingne, Dolly Parton, J.B. Smoove, Jonas Brothers, Justin Timberlake, LL Cool J, Meghan Trainor, The Roots, and “Weird Al” Yankovic. CTV will also air The Real Full Monty on Dec. 11. Inspired by the 1997 film, the two-hour special sees a daring group of male celebrities volunteer to bare all this holiday season to raise awareness of prostate, testicular, and colorectal cancer. Actor, comedian, and producer Anthony Anderson rallies a cast of male celebrities including Taye Diggs, NFL’s Chris Jones, Tyler Posey, Bruno Tonioli, and James Van Der Beek as they train and rehearse for the most revealing performance of their careers.
CTV Atlantic hosts the 61st Annual Christmas Daddies Telethon, starting at 11 a.m. AT on Saturday, Dec. 7 on CTV Atlantic, CTVAtlantic.ca, and the CTV app. One of the most anticipated annual charitable fundraising initiatives in the region, co-hosting this year in Halifax are Steve Murphy and Todd Battis, joined by CTV News at Five anchor Maria Panopalis alongside reporters Katie Kelly, Paul Hollingsworth, Kalin Mitchell, Brianne Foley, Emma Convey, Hafsa Arif, and Jesse Thomas. Additionally, CTV Atlantic reporters Laura Brown, Avery MacRae, and Alana Pickrell deliver updates from Glad Tidings Church in Moncton, alongside musician Ivan Daigle; local comedian Bette MacDonald hosts from the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay, Cape Breton; and comedian Jimmy the Janitor from the Carrefour School Theatre in Charlottetown.
Corus Entertainment has announced the Winter/Spring 2025 schedule for the debut of newly-rebranded lifestyle channels, Home Network and Flavour Network. The channels’ social platforms will be live Dec. 27, while Flavour Network and Home Network will continue in the current channel position of Food Network Canada and HGTV Canada on Dec. 30. Both channels will be available for free preview for two months, from Jan. 3 – Feb. 28, 2025. Viewers will also be able to stream full episodes from both networks on STACKTV.
imagineNATIVE has acquired Indigenous media creator database Kin Theory, an initiative of U.S. based non-profit, Nia Tero. The acquisition will see imagineNATIVE take over operations and connect Indigenous artists in the Kin Theory database with imagineNATIVE’s existing programming with a goal of increasing opportunities for Indigenous creators and their reach. The extensive database includes actors, writers, directors, and musicians currently working in the industry. As part of the acquisition, imagineNATIVE will seamlessly transition the database’s current members over to the imagineNATIVE network which will operate on the existing website. The database will be championed to the imagineNATIVE network through events like the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in June.
Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has released a new report on FAST channels, or Free Ad-supported Streaming Television. It finds about one-fifth of online Canadians (21%) have tuned into a FAST channel. Though not prevalent yet, these channels have experienced nearly 24% growth within a single year, rising from 17% in 2023 to 21% in 2024. Anglophone Canadians are more inclined to watch FAST channels – 23%, compared to their francophone counterparts at 13%. Off-air Canadians are the most likely to be watching FAST channels (43%). SVOD and YouTube viewers are only slightly more likely to watch FAST channels than the average online Canadian (23% versus 21%). MTM also found Canadian kids have adopted FAST channels more quickly than adults, with 30% reporting they watch content on these platforms. Boys (31%), younger kids (33%), anglophone children (33%) and those from lower-income households (37%) are more likely to be viewers. Tubi leads with 15% viewership among children, outpacing Roku, Pluto TV, and Samsung TV+, each with less than 10%.
ONLINE & DIGITAL MEDIA:
The Competition Bureau is taking legal action against Google, following an investigation into anti-competitive conduct in the online advertising technology space in Canada. Google owns four of the largest online ad tech services used in Canada: DoubleClick for Publishers, AdX, Display & Video 360 and Google Ads. It holds an estimated market share of 90% in publisher ad servers, 70% in advertiser networks, 60% in demand-side platforms and 50% in ad exchanges. The Bureau’s position is that Google unlawfully tied its various ad tech tools together to maintain its market dominance, distorted auction dynamics by giving its own tools preferential access to ad inventory, took negative margins in certain circumstances to disadvantage rivals, and dictated the terms on which its own publisher customers could transact with rival ad tech tools. The Bureau’s application to the Competition Tribunal seeks an order that would require Google to sell two of its ad tech tools (its publisher ad server, DFP, and its ad exchange, AdX); direct Google to pay a penalty in compliance with the Competition Act; and prohibit the digital giant from continuing to engage in anticompetitive practices. Read more here.
REGULATORY, TELECOM & MEDIA:
CBC/Radio-Canada, The Canadian Press, Torstar, Postmedia, and The Globe and Mail have come together to file legal action against OpenAI, alleging their content is being used to develop products like ChatGPT. Filed in Ontario Superior Court, the copyright infringement suit maintains that Delaware-based OpenAI is “unjustly enriching themselves” at the expense of the news media companies. The suit’s Statement of Claim says in order for OpenAI to obtain the significant quantities of text data needed to develop their GPT models, the company deliberately “scrapes” content from the websites of their news organizations, web-based applications, and/or third party partners, and then uses that proprietary content to develop its GPT models without consent or authorization. The claim says it is then continuing to augment its models on an ongoing basis by accessing, copying, and/or scraping content in response to user prompts. The suit seeks damages in an amount to be determined at trial, or alternately a settlement of $20,000 per work (or an amount the Court considers just), for the infringement, in addition to a permanent injunction prohibiting the direct or indirect use of its content. Read more here.
Bell Media is regrouping its Quebec content teams, bringing together its French- and English-language newsrooms into one unified entity. Bell Media Quebec journalists will now work as part of a collaborative newsroom that will include French-language service Noovo Info, including radio journalists from Rouge and ÉNERGIE; CTV News Montreal; CJAD; and the team from digital platform Noovo Moi. The network also announced that its Quebec music radio stations – CHOM, Virgin, ÉNERGIE and Rouge – are combining to create a single team. The unified team will be led by Suzane Landry, Vice-President, Content Development, Programming and News, Quebec. Read more here.
Seneca Polytechnic is creating a series of financial aid awards for students via a new donation from Sony Electronics and the Sony Global Social Justice Fund. Twenty new financial aid awards of $2,000 each, spanning the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years, will be created across four programs within the Seneca Film Institute and Seneca’s School of Media (Creative Advertising, Broadcasting – Television, Journalism, Event & Media Production): Sony Canada Seneca Film Institute CAB Award – Awarded to a student in the full-time Creative Advertising diploma program; Sony Canada Seneca Film Institute TV Media Award – Awarded to a student in the full-time Broadcasting – Television College diploma program; Sony Canada Seneca Film Institute Journalism Award – Awarded to a student in the full-time Journalism diploma program; and the Sony Canada Seneca Film Institute EMP Award – Awarded to a student in the full-time Event & Media Production diploma program. Based on financial need, preference will be given to students who are part of an equity-deserving group.
The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) is accepting applications for the 11th round of its mentorship program. The Autumn 2024 program once again sees 30 top Canadian journalists working in radio, television, digital, and print publications from across the country volunteer their time to provide guidance and expertise to colleagues in the early and middle portions of their careers. The roster of mentors for this round includes Patricia Bitu-Tshikudi – Morning radio show host, ICI Manitoba; Laurence Brisson Dubreuil – Video journalist, CTV News Montreal; Adrian Ghobrial – Senior correspondent, CTV National News; Paul Hunter – Journalist, CBC News; Tamara Khandaker – Podcast producer, Al Jazeera; Steve Lambert – Winnipeg correspondent, The Canadian Press; Geoff Leo – Investigative reporter, CBC News; Colin Perkel – Retired journalist, formerly with The Canadian Press; Saša Petricic – Senior foreign correspondent, CBC News; Aarti Pole – Network anchor, CBC News; Donna Sound – Reporter, CTV National News; Salim Valji – Calgary reporter, TSN; and Connie Walker – Investigative journalist. The deadline for applications is Dec. 6.
The #CAJAwards is now accepting entries for its 2024 competition. This year’s program features 18 categories, rewarding journalistic excellence published across all platforms: digital, print and broadcast. The competition also recognizes reporting excellence in several topic areas, including: environment and climate change, labour, and human rights. New for this year, the CAJ will award both gold and silver prizes in all categories. The deadline to submit is Jan. 14.
World Press Freedom Canada (WPFC) is accepting nominations for the 2025 Press Freedom Awards and the Career Achievement Award in honour of Spencer Moore. The awards recognize those whose public interest journalism has overcome challenges such as secrecy, legal maneuvers, political intimidation or other tactics designed to stifle their work or put their career or safety at risk. This year, WPFC will award two Press Freedom prizes, one for larger publications and a Press Freedom, Local Journalism Award for a journalist who works for a small-market news organization. WPFC will also present its second annual Student Achievement Award, which recognizes an outstanding student journalist who has demonstrated a commitment to press freedom. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 17.
Bell Craft and Services members have voted to ratify a new collective agreement that secures more full-time work and wage increases. The new four-year agreement includes a $4.80 per hour wage increase in all classifications over the lifetime of the agreement, which amounts to an average $10,000 increase. The deal also supports new workers by reclassifying all current Regular Part-Time workers to Regular Full-Time status. Unifor’s Bell Craft membership includes approximately 2,900 workers, united by their 32 local unions in Ontario and Quebec. They include technicians and testers and perform duties including cable repair for the Bell network, and maintenance and repair in the central offices of the network and business clients.
