TIME WITH RADIO ON THE DECLINE Grant Robertson – Globe and Mail Canadians are spending less time listening to radio, but the number of stations across the country is rising.
As broadcasters chase advertising dollars in robust consumer markets such as Alberta, 29 more radio stations sprang up last year, bringing the total to 1,252, as dozens of new operating licences were awarded.
The growth came as Canadians spent an average of 18.6 hours a week listening to the radio in 2006, a drop of half an hour from 2005, according to annual statistics reported by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Average weekly listening time - which includes mornings, at work and while driving, the three points of the day when most people tune in - has fallen substantially from eight years ago, when Canadians averaged 20.5 hours of radio a week, the regulator said. "Since 1999, the overall per capita weekly radio listening levels decreased by almost two hours," the regulator said.
"The most notable decreases have been in the teen demographics and for adults aged from 18 to 34, where weekly listening levels have decreased three to four hours."
But demand for new stations remains strong despite the declines. The CRTC issued 72 licences for new stations in 2006, representing nearly a third of the 233 licences awarded in the past four years.
The new licences outstripped the 68 given out in 2003, the most recent high-water mark for the industry.
Increasingly broadcasters have been looking to tap Canada's more robust advertising markets, such as those in Alberta where high oil prices have been driving consumer spending. The CRTC issued five new licences for FM radio stations in the Calgary area last summer, increasing the number of commercial stations on the dial in that city to 14.
It was one of the largest one-time increases for a single market that the regulator has contemplated. The move was driven by demand from advertisers there for on-air commercial time.
The report, issued yesterday, also said 22 per cent of Canadians said they listened to radio over the Internet, while only 6 per cent watched television on the Web.
Advertising on the Internet reached $1-billion in 2006, up nearly 80 per cent from the previous year.
Time spent watching television also dropped, falling to 27.6 hours per week on average, a half-hour decline.
Revenue for conventional television, which has been painted as the most distressed segment of the Canadian industry at regulatory hearings over the past year, was $2.6-billion, up $100-million from 2005.
Most notably, revenue for specialty TV, pay TV, pay-per-view and video-on-demand channels hit $2.5-billion, an increase of $300-million that illustrates the rapid expansion that sector is enjoying compared with the slowdown in conventional network revenue.
A proliferation of digital set-top cable boxes is causing the trend as consumers purchase expanded TV packages through bundled channel offerings. Cable subscribers rose nearly 9 per cent last year to 7.4 million. That includes 5.8 million digital cable subscribers, an increase of 10 per cent.
By comparison, satellite TV subscriptions rose 4 per cent to 2.6 million.
Internet subscriptions also increased 6 per cent, with 70 per cent of Canadian homes having online access. The percentage of homes with high-speed Web access climbed to 60 per cent, up from 51 per cent last year, the CRTC said.
RADIO
Canadians listened to an average of 18.6 hours a week in 2006, down from 19.1 hours in 2005.
TELEVISION
Canadians spent an average of 27.6 hours in front of a television last year, down from 28.1 hours in 2005.
INTERNET
Seventy per cent of households subscribed to the Internet in 2006, a 6-per-cent increase over 2005. Twenty-two per cent of Canadians listened to radio over the Internet. |