The 10 companies shortlisted for Media Player of the Year in Marketing’s Nov. 14 issue were at the top of their game in 2011. We’ll be featuring each one online as a lead-up to our January 2012 issue, where you’ll find out which media company will reign supreme.
CBC/Radio-Canada
The public broadcaster may have turned 75 this year, but did so with youthful vigour, staying fresh with viewers and marketers alike
If CBC/Radio-Canada were a grandparent, it would be the kind that tweets about the latest Coronation Street love triangle.
It’s a hard-to-strike balance of trendy and traditional, but CBC nailed it in 2011, keeping the public broadcaster on top of its game as it turned 75.
So while CBC.ca and Radio-Canada.ca get a total of more than 7.5 million unique visitors per month and Tou.tv, Radio-Canada’s French-language entertainment TV website, continues to build steam by generating more than 30 million video views since it launched last year, the broadcaster also puts its weight behind more traditional pursuits.
Take its recent joint bid for the exclusive media rights for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games with Bell Media (with no competing bids likely, CBC and Bell seem certain to win). Kirstine Stewart, CBC’s executive vice-president of English Services, says bringing such “nation-building events” to Canadians is an important part of CBC’s role. It’s also a large part of the broadcaster’s strategy to focus on using digital technology to deliver more local, relevant services to more Canadians, and to compete for marquee sports properties.
Dennis Dinga, VP, director, broadcast investments at UM Canada, thinks it’s a smart plan that bodes well for the future. “In the past, if CBC didn’t have enough money [to bid], they would just bow out. Not anymore. They understand the market and that if they want to play, they’re going to have to do stuff like this.”
In the meantime, CBC’s existing sports programming is on a winning streak—especially hockey. Hockey Night in Canada scores an average audience of more than two million on CBC Television and Game 7 of the last Stanley Cup won an average audience of 8.76 million and broke all viewing records for HNIC. “Their hockey audiences and deliveries have gone up,” says Dinga. “And with higher audiences come higher 30-second costs, which [bring] higher revenues.”
The proof certainly is in the profits. While its competitors’ revenues rise and dip more than the TSX composite index, CBC has increased its revenues by nearly 15%, or $83.2 million, compared to last year.
A major reorganization Stewart made at the executive level played a part. (Stewart herself was appointed to her current role in January 2011.) “I wanted a more streamlined management team to be flexible and agile enough to react to the changing needs of the media landscape and the changing role of a modern public broadcaster,” she says. While CBC was previously built around separate radio, TV and online silos, Stewart says today’s integrated structure focuses on “the kinds of experiences we are delivering as opposed to a specific media platform.”
The CBC’s internal sales team and management deserve credit for its improvements, adds Dinga. “I think they’re just doing everything right in the whole management, marketing, selling area,” he says.
There’s more! Check out the Nov. 14 issue of Marketing for the full profile, and subscribe to find out who will be named the Media Player of the Year for 2011
