Record 9.23 Million Canadians Watched 2015 Super Bowl

Photo Credit: Rawlings

Super Bowl XLIX was best defined as the game New England Patriots fended-off a late game charge to win over the Seattle Seahawks 28-24. While the players of one team left the field victorious with the ultimate prize of being NFL champions, the football game was a massive win for television stations broadcasting the game. In the United States, NBC quickly sold 30-second commercial spots for 4.5 million dollars ahead of the Super Bowl and recorded consistent viewership of 114.4 million Americans watching the close, suspense-filled match. An all-new record for a Super Bowl broadcast, the 2015 game's peak viewership topped out at 120.8 million through a late New England Patriots drive for a touchdown. In Canada, the 49th annual football game was also a ratings blockbuster.

Between CTV and the French-language RDS sports channel, Super Bowl XLIX drew an average audience of 9.23 million viewers according to Bell Media making it the most-watched edition of the game ever in this country. The 2015 game breaks the 8.18 million audience that watched the 2012 Super Bowl tournament between the New England Patriots and New York Giants.

While the majority of Canadian audiences were accounted watching CTV, there was a million Francophone viewers alone. Over the course of the Super Bowl telecast in this country, 19.3 million unique members of the Canadian population watched the game at some part in the Sunday evening. The total number of viewers meant roughly 55 percent of Canada's total population watched the Super Bowl. Bell Media also noted that the event's halftime show drew 12.2 million in this country consisting of Katy Petty singing alongside guests Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott.

Once again, Canadian viewers of "The Big Game" lost out on seeing a majority of the highly-produced commercials created for the NBC airing of the game. Leading up to this year's Super Bowl, a CRTC ruling decried after 2016 that Canadian broadcasts could no longer replace the American advertisements with others supplied through the telecast provider in this country. Called simultaneous substitution, this is a common practice exercised in Canadian broadcasting for almost any broadcast from the United States shown as the same time in Canada. For Super Bowl XLIX, the result was commercials from Canadian Armed Forces, Tim Hortons, Government of Canada, PC Financial and Home Hardware making it to air on CTV.

Explained as a response to the CRTC's public consultation Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians, the plan to outlaw simultaneous substitution has not sat well with Bell Media and its parent company Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE). Bell owns the rights to the Canadian broadcast of the Super Bowl and would lose autonomy in distributing their ad space. Days following the ruling, the notion of discontinuing simultaneous substitution was greatly argued by pundits (many against the CRTC coming from Bell-owned media companies). BCE noted the influence of sponsors in their press release saying, "Last night's record audience proves once again there is no better opportunity for Canadian advertisers to strike a chord with Canadian viewers than the Super Bowl.". Bell Media properties also received considerable ad time throughout the 2015 game.   

After the record 2015 Super Bowl, 1.35 million Canadians remained on CTV to watch the season 2 premiere of Masterchef Canada.

Canadians Consumed Growing Amount of Media in 2011: CRTC Report

Photo Credit: CNW Group/BELL ALIANT INC.

As citizens of a massive land mass separated by hills, mountains the occasional waterway, Canadians have existed in a society that historically connects us through extraordinary means. From the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed through the late 19th century, the 20th century embraced wide telecommunication and broadcasting networks that integrated a country that could have otherwise been isolated by geographic separation. Combined with Canada's typically trying weather during the winter seasons, the allure of media content has allowed Canadians spanning across age groups to explore and surrender a few hours. According to a recently-published annual report by government-supported regulator CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), 2011 tends to indicate English as well as French speaking Canadians have realized an increased amount of content across radio, television, Internet and mobile platforms. 
While a pop song once popularized the phrase "Video Killed the Radio Star", the "Spirit of Radio" (perhaps not unlike the one Canadian rock band Rush sang about in 1980) remains a part of 21st century life in Canada. In 2011, the CRTC has computed the average Canadian listened to 17.7 hours of radio per week. A slight increase from the previous year, it is possible some listening is incidental in restaurants and stores.

In terms of Canadian viewing habits with television, the appetite remains strong for so-called "Couch Potatoes". In 2011, the average Canadian television viewer watched 28.5 hours of content (up from 28 hours in 2010). Despite the increase access to on-line sources for entertainment and information, improvements to television content delivery such as video-on-demand as well as digital cable has kept the medium popular among media consumers in Canada. While the average subscription cost has increased by $2.13 per month in 2011 compared to the previous year, paid television remains a popular option. With 11.8 million Canadians subscribed to television broadcast services, cable leads over satellite accounting for 70 percent in the category compared to 24 percent. The CRTC also notes a 6 percent present of telephone line-based television content delivery.

A source for decades, radio and television have been sharing an increasing amount of the media landscape with forms of new digital media. Through digital media, consumption along English-language Canada has shown a remarkable raise in 2011 over the previous year. Rating the average Canadian spending 18.2 hours a week engaging in digital media content during 2011, it is almost an increase of a full hour from 2010. Average French language Canadian spent 13.1 hours a week with digital media content.

CNW Group/Bell Canada

When it comes to experiencing the Internet at home, 78 percent of Canadians have a subscription to the vast virtual world that stretch beyond the country's borders. Of those customers of Internet, 54 percent utilize connections that involve a minimum of 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) Internet download speeds. In 2011, the typical Canadian watched 2.8 hours of Internet television content per week according to the annual report from the Canadian telecommunications regulator. The CRTC has also realized that a modest 4 percent of the Canadian public now absorb content exclusively through on-line sources. Music streaming through radio or as downloadable content is also recorded as modest. English-speaking Canadians usage was accounted at 22 percent while 17 percent French-speaking users in the country utilize the Internet for accessing music or other audio programs.

The annual report of 2011 also recognized the smartphone and tablet technology many Canadians have been embracing more each year. Accounting that 38% of Canadians use a smartphone and 10% had a tablet computer at the time of the study, the CRTC identified the smaller devices as possessing a smaller piece of the media puzzle. With only 4 percent of Canadians watched television on tablets and 3 percent watched the similar content on smartphones. With the rapid advance of technology, the data for smartphones and tablets is more than likely set for an increase within annual reports going forward.

Showing that no single platform is ultimately conquering Canada's media spectrum, radio, television and new media should paint a diverse culture for citizens to absorb content. The CRTC annual report for 2011 also makes several mentions of enhanced technologies (LTE and over 5 Mbps Internet) that should insure the sprawling of the landscape could be as ambitious as the far-reaching lands we have built a country.

CBC Takes the TV Podium for 2014 and 2016 Olympic Coverage

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy

With the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games underway, CTV has been beaming the accomplishments of Canadian athletes. While lacking the same pomp or nationalistic enthusiasm as the Vancouver Games that brought the grand land of Canada so close together in 2010, an audience of millions can still be accounted upon to tune in to cheer on the red and white. While CTV stations (with a partnership between Rogers Communication) have relished what appears to be two memorable games, the broadcasting reigns are being turned over to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) for the next two Olympic festivities in Sochi, Russia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

CBC's renewed involvement for the future Olympic Games brings a rich Canadian broadcasting relationship back to the forefront. Televising the Olympic Games for the first time in 1960 when cameras were taken Squaw Valley, California for the Winner events, a total of 19 Winter and Summer Olympics have been recorded, broadcasted as well as commentated upon by CBC personnel.

Understandably, the news of the 2014 Winter Games and 2016 Summer Games coming to CBC made for a momentous day at their Front Street headquarters. CBC/Radio-Canada President Hubert Lacroix was quited as saying, “This is excellent news for Canadians across the country who will once again experience the Olympic tradition with their public broadcaster. We've promised Canadians signature events on all our platforms that create opportunities to connect with each other and the country" On the event side, IOC (International Olympic Committee) President Jacques Rogge declared that, “Canada is a sports loving nation and Canadians are big fans of the Olympic Games. CBC/Radio-Canada has a wealth of experience in broadcasting sports and the Olympic Games and we are pleased that we will once again be joining forces with them in the future.” 

Bell Media's president Kevin Crull was gracious on CBC's successful effort in winning the 2014 and 2016 Olympics saying, "Congratulations to CBC/Radio-Canada on their successful bid,". Crull added "We look forward to CBC/Radio-Canada building upon the high standards and expectations that we have established in Vancouver and London. We wish them the very best and offer them our complete support in presenting the next two Games."

The Canadian Olympic team issued a statement shortly another the new broadcast partnership was affirmed. President of the Canadian Olympic Committee Marcel Aubut declared, “CBC/Radio-Canada has been an unwavering champion of amateur sport and our nation’s best athletes. “. Another bode of support to CBC came from the Canadian Paralympic Committee "CBC/Radio-Canada has a strong history of supporting Canada's amateur sport athletes and the Paralympic movement, most recently through their broadcast of both Athletics and Para-Athletics events last month at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in Calgary." said Henry Storgaard, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Paralympic Committee adding "We look forward to working with them to help tell the stories of our incredible athletes at the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games in Sochi and the 2016 Summer Paralympic Games in Rio."

As can be expected, the digital cable news channel Sun News Network were none too pleased with the notion of the Olympics returning to government subsidized CBC. Commanding a long-running vendetta to have the public broadcaster stripped of operating funds from the federal government, they naturally took issue that taxpayers money is being used on purchasing rights of an expensive event. Making note that CBC nor the International Olympic Committee would announce the price paid for the coverage, the Sun media collective acted swiftly to dishonour the honour with an alleged cover-up.

While true the cost for the licensing was not announced, on-line media news website Cartt.ca uncovered a source claiming the Olympics were acquired for under half the cost that CTV had to pay for the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the current London Summer games. By the numbers, the CBC deal for the next two Olympics is estimated to cost around 70-80 million dollars.

The distribution of the Olympic programming on the CBC family of networks and any on-line coverage is still to be determined how Canadian as well as other world athletes will be broadcasted into homes.