Growth and Upheaval in the Network Media Economy in Canada, 1984-2019
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Growth and Upheaval in the Network Media Economy in Canada, 1984-2019 www.cmcrp.org The Canadian Media Concentration Research project is directed by Professor Dwayne Winseck, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University. The project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council between 2012 and 2018, after which the Faculty of Public Affairs at Carleton University stepped in to provide bridge funding for the next two years of the project. The overall objective of the CMCR Project is to develop a comprehensive, systematic and long-term analysis of the telecoms, Internet and media industries in Canada to better inform public and policy-related discussions about these issues. Professor Winseck can be reached at either [email protected] or 613 769-7587 (mobile). Open Access to CMCR Project Data CMCR Project data can be freely downloaded and used under Creative Commons licensing arrangements for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution and in accordance with the ShareAlike principles set out in the International License 4.0. Explicit, written permission is required for any other use that does not follow these principles. Our data sets are available for download here. They are also available through the Dataverse, a publicly- accessible repository of scholarly works created and maintained by a consortium of Canadian universities. All works and datasets deposited in Dataverse are given a permanent DOI, so as to not be lost when a website becomes no longer available—a form of “dead media”. Acknowledgements Special thanks to Ben Klass and Han Xiaofei, both doctoral students in the Ph.D. program at the School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, for helping enormously with the data collection and preparation of this report. Ben wrote key aspects of the wireless section and helped immensely with the online games, gaming downloads and apps and in-game purchases section of the report. Sabrina Wilkinson, a graduate of the MA Program at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University and currently a Ph.D. candidate at Goldsmiths University in the United Kingdom, has also made valuable contributions to the sections on the news media. Agnes Malkinson, another Ph.D. candidate in the Media and Communication program at Carleton University, is responsible for the look and feel of the reports, does all the visuals, and keeps the project’s database in good working order. Recommended citation: Winseck, Dwayne, 2020, “Growth and Upheaval in the Network Media Economy, 1984-2019”, https://doi.org/10.22215/cmcrp/2020.1, Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, Carleton University. Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................. i Summary of key findings and insights ..................................................vii The Network Media Economy in Canada: Contemporary Trends and Ongoing Policy Debates ......................................................................... 1 The Telecoms and Internet Infrastructure Sectors: Bandwidth is King, Not Content ............................................................................................ 7 Mobile Wireless .................................................................................... 9 From Plain Old Telephone Service to Broadband Internet Access and Internet Protocol TV ������������������������������������������������������������������12 Broadband Policy, Politics and Public Interests: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? ................................................................................19 Traditional and Digital Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS): From Ad- Supported Content Media to Fast Growing Subscription-based Digital Media .................................................................................................... 21 Internet Advertising ���������������������������������������������������������������������������22 As Internet Advertising Soars, Total Advertising Spending Slumps ............................................................................................................27 The Rumoured Death of Television is Much Exaggerated .................... 33 Broadcast TV and Radio ....................................................................34 Pay and Specialty (Subscription) TV ������������������������������������������������37 Online Subscription and Download Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������39 The Total Television Landscape in Perspective ...............................42 Digital Audiovisual Media Services, App Stores and Internet Advertising: Growth, Upheaval and Transformation of the Network Media Economy in Canada ................................................................................................... 48 Remaking the Music Industry: From Ruin to Recovery ...................... 52 Newspapers and Magazine Publishers in Peril ................................. 57 ANALYSIS - Some Reflections on Journalism, Public Subsidies and Public Goods ........................................................................................ 62 Some Concluding Observations on the Political Economy and Power of Communication and Culture Policy ........................................................ 66 Figures and Tables Figure 1: The Network Media Economy in Canada—What the CMCR Project Covers ����� ii Table 1: The Growth, Stagnation and Decline of Media within the Network Media Economy, 2019 �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� iii Figure 1: Key Sectors of the Network Media Economy in Canada, 2019 ��������������������������1 Figure 2: Development of Telecom & Internet Access Services vs Digital and Traditional Audiovisual Media, 1984-2019 (current $, millions) ..........................................................3 Figure 3: Separate Media, Distinct Evolutionary Paths and the Network Media Economy, 1984–2019 (current $) ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5 Figure 4: Revenues for the Telecoms and Internet Infrastructure Sectors, 1984-2019 (current $, millions) ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8 Figure 5: OECD Wireless Broadband Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by Technology, December 2019 ...................................................................................................................10 Figure 6: Household Adoption to Information and Communication Technologies by Income Quintile, 2017 .........................................................................................................11 Figure 7: High-Speed Internet Adoption by Income Quintile, 2017 ���������������������������������13 Figure 8: The Growth of IPTV Subscribers in Canada, 2004-2019 ..................................14 Figure 9: The Growth of IPTV Revenues in Canada, 2004-2019 ......................................14 Figure 10: Cable & Satellite Provider vs IPTV Revenues, 1984-2019 (current $, millions) ..............................................................................................................................................15 Figure 11: The Price of Communication Services and Devices vs the Consumer Price Index, 2002-2019 �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������16 Figure 12: Percentage of Fibre Connections Out of Total Broadband Subscriptions (December 2019) ................................................................................................................18 Figure 13: Facebook’s Revenue (millions$) and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) Soar, 2011-2019 ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 Figure 14: Rising Revenues for the Content Media Industries, 1984-2019 (current $, millions) �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Figure 15: The Rise and Fall of Advertising-funded Traditional Media, 1984-2019 (millions, current$) ..............................................................................................................28 Figure 16: The Stagnating Advertising Economy, 2004-2019, I—Advertising Revenue for Television, the Internet and “All Media” (real $ 2019, millions) .......................................29 Figure 17: A Ceiling for Ad Spending?: Advertising Spend per Capita, 2004-2019 (real $ 2019, millions) ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������30 Figure 18: Ad Spend as a Percentage of the Network Media Economy, 2004-2019 ......31 Figure 19: Ad Spending as a Percentage of Canadian Gross Domestic Income, 2004- 2019 .....................................................................................................................................32 Figure 20: Online Video Subscription and Download Services in Canada, 2019 (current$, millions) ..............................................................................................................40 Figure 21: Growth & Upheaval in the Canadian Television Landscape, 1984-2019 (current$, millions) ..............................................................................................................42