With the next edition of the annual Communications Monitoring Report expected shortly, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) has released commercial radio and the CBC’s financial data for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2014.
Here are some of the highlights:
- In 2014, there were 695 commercial radio stations, with 12 new stations reporting this past year.
- Despite competition from sources like satellite radio, online and mobile services, radio revenues were relatively stable. Total revenues for both AM and FM stations decreased to $1.614 billion from $1.623 billion in 2013 (-0.52%). The CRTC reports that commercial radio provides employment to over 9,900 Canadians, while offering a variety of programming and supporting Canadian content.
- FM Radio continues to account for most revenues – the 568 FM stations in Canada generated $1.32 billion in 2014.
- There were 127 AM stations in Canada last year, with $290.9 million in revenues (down 1.3% from 2013’s $294.6 million)
- Local advertising sales for both AM and FM radio stations decreased from $1.12 billion (2013) to $1.09 billion in 2014 (-2.86%)
- Conversely, national advertising sales increased for AM and FM stations increased by 4.4% in 2014 to $497.4 million.
- Profitability also decreased (as measured by PBIT) from $328 million in 2013 to $299 million due to an increase in expenditures ($19 million increase, $1.27 billion total). Accordingly, the PBIT margin decreased to 18.5% from 20.2%.
- Unsurprisingly, the CBC experienced a 5.6% decline in revenues for its 82 radio services in 2014 – mostly due to the decrease in parliamentary appropriations.
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News Release: CRTC Releases 2014 Financial Results for Commercial Radio