The CRTC has unveiled its incentive program for rewarding TV broadcasters with extra advertising minutes per hour based on the amount of money they put into the production of English-language Canadian drama.
The incentive program was designed to increase the amount of original English-language Canadian television drama broadcast on Canadian television and the amount of the money going into the production. The CRTC began discussing the incentives this past summer with a call for comments issued in May.
The program includes:
Incentives to increase the production and broadcast of Canadian drama: Broadcasters will earn the right to broadcast between 30 seconds and eight minutes of additional advertising for each hour of original Canadian drama they broadcast. The exact amount of additional advertising is dependant upon such factors as the level of Canadian participation in the production, the budget required to produce the drama, the time of broadcast, and the source of the funding.
Incentive to increase viewing of Canadian drama: If broadcasters increase their audience share for Canadian drama by a pre-determined amount, they will be entitled to increase the total additional amount of advertising they broadcast by 25%.
Incentive to increase expenditures on the production of Canadian drama: If broadcasters increase their spending on Canadian drama by a pre-determined amount, they will be able to increase the additional amount of advertising they broadcast by another 25%.
Broadcasters that are part of large multi-station ownership groups are eligible for incentives when they broadcast more than the baseline 26 hours a year of original drama and for programming not funded by the Canadian Television Fund. Broadcasters are not limited to the amount of reward minutes they can accrue but will still be required to air no more than 14 minutes of advertising per hour.
In announcing its incentive program, the CRTC estimated that each ad minute within U.S.-produced primetime shows are worth $80,000 to the big broadcasters. U.S. programming is produced to allow for at least 15 minutes of advertising an hour but because of the 12-minutes per hour advertising limit in Canada, broadcasters have been allowed to fill these additional minutes with PSAs and the promotion of Canadian programs.
Most broadcasters routinely stretch these guidelines according to clutter studies conducted by the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA). In some cases, broadcasters have gone as high as 22 minutes of non-program content per hour.
Although it is the foremost critic of ad clutter, the ACA supported the CRTC proposal but expressed the need for a cap of 14 minutes of ad time per hour, including the incentive reward minutes.
Broadcasters wanting to participate in the CRTC’s incentive program are required to apply for conditions of license to allow them to broadcast additional minutes of advertising if they meet the incentive criteria.
The CRTC will be issuing another public notice that will explain the measures for maintaining original French-language drama in peak viewing hours.
