1 Introduction 2020 was already a busy year for the Canadian Media Industry ... The biggest news of the year was the launch of even more digital video services, including direct-to-consumer streaming services from international players. These services further accelerated market pressure on Canadian providers. On the legislative front, the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Review Panel released its report in January. It seeks to address policy governing broadcasting in Canada. … And then things changed dramatically ... The world began to take notice of a virus that was having devastating impacts in regions around the world. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic virus in mid-March. Authorities quickly began rolling out emergency practices and protocols. Most countries enforced strong lockdown procedures, for citizens and businesses. Consumption of media - across all platforms - spiked in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown, as Canadians were stuck at home consuming news and entertainment services. Media companies around the world stepped up and acted as trusted lifelines, sharing important health and safety information with audiences, communicating key facts, and sharing rapidly changing policy measures from all levels of Government and from public health authorities. Consumers also flocked to entertainment content. The impacts of the pandemic on some industries have been existential (e.g. travel, accommodations, restaurants); while other industries struggled to meet unprecedented demand for their services (e.g. grocery, technology, medical manufacturing). Many industries scaled back discretionary expenditures - including advertising - to focus on basic operations and the health and well being of customers, employees and the community at large. In this context, the media industry found itself in a unique space - ever increasing demand for services coupled with declining advertising revenue to support their operating models. Streaming services got an uplift in subscriptions. In addition, policing events in North America and around the world pushed the issue of systemic racism, especially anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, to the forefront. Again the media industry was called upon to act, not only to inform, but also to address its own shortcomings with respect to diversity and inclusion. Throughout, CBC/Radio-Canada focused on its mandate, “to inform, enlighten and entertain”, and increased its efforts to reflect and represent the realities of Canadian society. 2 Table of Contents Introduction 2 Consumption Trends during COVID-19 Digital 5 Video 7 Audio 9 Trusted News 10 Innovation 12 A Complex Media Environment Economic Uncertainty 14 Advertising ​Slump 16 Content in High Demand 18 Employing Data-driven Analytics 21 Forward Looking Legislative System 23 CBC/Radio-Canada Licence Renewals 24 Focus on Diversity and Inclusion Diversity of the Canadian Population 26 Addressing Systemic Racism 28 CBC/Radio-Canada Diversity and Inclusion 30 Resilience During COVID-19 Serving Audiences 32 Supporting the Cultural Sector 34 Promoting the Safety and Well-being of Employees 34 International Successes 36 An Employer of Choice 37 Who We Are 38 3 4 Digital In April 2020, during the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, News and digital platforms experienced significant increases in usage as consumers Information shifted online for work, play and connecting.1 Websites Variations ● Canadians increased their time spent online by close to 25%. ● Even with many people living and working from home, mobile devices continued to be the most used, accounting for about three-quarters of the time spent online. ● More Canadians turned to news and information websites to stay up to date on the latest COVID-19 developments. Other industries were highly impacted by COVID-19 as people and companies pivoted to facilitate work from home, resulting in major changes to daily routines and lifestyles. This was especially the case for all home networking services as video conferencing exploded. Other Website Categories with Significant Variations in Online Time Spent Comscore, February vs April-May2 1Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, total audience (desktop 2+, mobile 18+), variance in time spent online between February and April 2020, Canada. 2 Ibid, February vs April-May average. 5 Usage of top digital properties surged during the first months of COVID-19. CBC/Radio-Canada’s digital properties jumped to become the fourth most used destination online in Canada, just behind the foreign digital giants, Google, Microsoft and Facebook. Government of Canada sites also saw unprecedented growth, as Canadians sought information on health, economic plans, travel advisories, and wage and business subsidies. Top 10 Digital Properties by Reach3 Unique Visitors (000) Q1 2020 Q1 2019 % Variation Q1 2020 vs Rank Digital Properties APR-JUN 2020 APR-JUN 2019 Q1 2019 1 Google Sites 31,716 30,847 3% 2 Microsoft Sites 28,324 28,163 1% 3 Facebook 27,139 26,506 2% 4 CBC/Radio-Canada 24,122 20,944 15% 5 Bell Media 23,951 21,837 10% 6 Amazon Sites 23,155 23,281 -1% 7 Verizon Media 21,916 22,369 -2% 8 Apple Inc. 19,717 18,579 6% 9 Government of Canada 18,105 11,915 52% 10 eBay 17,961 18,825 -5% Digital communication platforms such as Facebook Messenger and Zoom experienced significant growth throughout the spring of 2020. Just over six in ten online Canadians made online video calls during COVID-19, which is more than double what it was five years ago.4 3 Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, total audience (desktop 2+, mobile 18+), average of monthly unique visitors, Q1 2019 - Q1 2020, Canada. 4 MTM ​Sneak Peek​ – Spring 2020. 6 Video Distribution of TV Canadians turned en masse to television sources to get relevant Consumption by Genre and trustworthy information during the pandemic. In March and During COVID-19 and Pre-COVID-19 April, at the onset of the crisis in Canada, the overall time spent ) Periods (2+​ viewing news and information on television increased by 78%. All age groups contributed to this trend, including teens (12-17 years old) with time spent watching TV news grow by 63%. This increase in news consumption was more pronounced in the Quebec Francophone market (+117%), than the Anglophone market (+65%).5 Recognizing the importance of ensuring Canadians had immediate access to essential health and safety information, key media players, including CBC/Radio-Canada, collaborated to offer their 24/7 news channels at no cost to Canadians. In fact, Canadian specialty news channels represented over 60% of all the Canadian news consumption during that period (+10% over pre-COVID period). With lockdowns in place, schools closed, and social activities on hold across the country, Canadians turned to media to pass their time. Even though some programming genres like live sports were not available, overall audiences and subscriber-on-demand (SVOD) customers increased as Canadians sought new ways to be entertained. One quarter (25%)6 of all Canadian SVOD subscribers added an additional SVOD service during the Spring 2020, in order to access more programming. Number of SVOD Subscriptions per Household7 Online Canadians 18+ The number of Canadians who subscribe to 3 or more SVOD services has ​grown by 58% during COVID-19. 5 Numeris TV PPM, Total Canada, 2+, Total Minutes, March 16 - April 26,2020 (COVID-19) and March 18 - April 28, 2019 (Pre-COVID-19). 6 MTM ​Sneak Peek​ – Spring 2020. 7 ​Ibid. 7 Families in lockdown quickly learned that TV and digital video content could facilitate children's learning from home. For kids aged 2-17 years, time spent consuming online video on desktop devices increased by 46%.8 During the initial weeks of the pandemic, with a third of the school year remaining, children and youth turned to formal education programs (+20% increase) to supplement their learning. ​Curio.ca​, CBC/Radio-Canada’s educational platform for all grade levels from primary through post-secondary, was made available for free until June 2020 to help support families to the end of the school year. Educational Tools Used for Homeschooling During COVID-199 Canadian Parents of Kids Aged 7-17 | % Tools Used Educational Videos on YouTube 26% Educational Content on Video Streaming Services 23% (e.g. documentaries on Netflix) Education Programming on TV 17% Canadians with kids living at home were 63%10 more likely to have subscribed to an additional SVOD during the initial months of the COVID-19 period, in order to provide them with additional content to watch. 8 Comscore Video Metrix® Desktop, audience aged 2-17, April-May 2020 vs February 2020, Canada. 9 MTM - Spring 2020. 10 Ibid. 8 Audio As Canadians transitioned to working from home, tuning behaviours 76% changed. Overall, radio listening decreased 17% during the initial stages of of online COVID-19. With fewer people commuting, morning and afternoon drive Canadians listen times saw the biggest impact (-25%). Talk radio stations were less to some type of impacted (-4% vs -24% for musical stations). Not surprisingly, in-home online audio12 listening increased during this period, accounting for 68% of total tuning (+45% vs pre-COVID-19).11 31% Digital audio content was also impacted by COVID-19. As with traditional of online AM/FM radio which is heavily linked to the commute, digital audio is Canadians own a commonly enjoyed by commuters. As a result of fewer people in transit, smartspeaker13 there was a decline of 29% in podcasting usage from Fall 2019 to Spring 2020 (20%) similar to streaming audio services. Music streaming on YouTube did increase during this time, however, as did a number of video-related activities. Usage of Online Audio During COVID-1914 Online Canadians Past Month Usage, 18+ | % 11 Numeris Radio PPM, Total Canada, 2+, Total hours per week, March 16 - April 19, 2020 vs January 27 - March 1, 2020. Note: Music and Talk radio formats as per CBC/Radio-Canada classification.