DHX Media’s long-running satirical news and sketch comedy program This Hour Has 22 Minutes has returned for its 26th season, but this year it’s also adding a new digital-first format.

In addition to its weekly broadcast episodes, the show will roll out Dailies – 10-minute standalone segments that will be released four times a week exclusively on the CBC TV streaming app. The new segment aims to provide timely takes on news of the day. The show will continue to be filmed in front of a live-studio audience, with elements of the Dailies segments used to build the half-hour TV broadcast.

This Hour Has 22 Minutes has been building its online presence over the years, finding new audiences through social media. Last season’s “Pot Sobriety” sketch, for example, got 39 million views on Facebook, while last year’s “Dietary Restrictions” was shared 21,000 times on the platform. On linear, season 25’s average minute audience was 647,000, according to data provided by CBC.

The show has also added two new national correspondents, Second City alum Ann Pornel in Toronto and stand-up comic Graham Clark in Vancouver.

While 22 Minutes is adding new faces, longtime cast member Shaun Majumder announced this summer that he would not return, telling CBC News that he had been let go as a result of creative differences with the show’s producers.

Starring Mark Critch, Cathy Jones, Susan Kent, and Trent McClellan, 22 Minutes is now the longest-running comedy in Canadian history. It is produced by DHX Media, with Michael Donovan and Peter McBain exec producing and Jenipher Ritchie, Mark Gosine and Anne Loi producing.

From Playback Daily