CBC unveils 2015-16 slate

CBC has unveiled the full schedule of its 2015-16 programming following up on its initial announcement regarding new shows. In continuation of its promise to host rich and original Canadian content, the channel’s lineup includes 11 new productions. It has also unveiled CBC Arts, a cross-platform art space with television and digital programming.

New dramas include This Life, a family drama based in Montreal about the journey Natalie Lawson (Tori Higginson), a columnist in her early 40s, whose terminal cancer diagnosis brings a tight-knit family together as they prepare for a life without her. There is also When Calls the Heart, a drama set in a 19th century western frontier coal-mining town about Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow), a new school teacher who leaves behind a privileged upper-class lifestyle to arrive here, in the midst of a coal-mining accident and gets to know town constable, Jack Thornton (Daniel Lissing).

Other dramas include Banished by Bafta-winning writer Jimmy McGovern of Cracker; Love Child, which is based in a Sydney boarding house circa 1960s; Jekyll and Hyde and the already-announced The Romeo Section. 

New comedy offerings on CBC’s slate include Fool Canada, in which MADtv’s Will Sasso travels across Canada armed with a team of comedians and hidden cameras, poking fun at all things Canadian. Young Drunk Punk moves to CBC from Rogers and there is also Please Like Me, a dramatic comedy starring Josh Thomas about a day in his life when everything goes wrong. Finally, there is Raised by Wolves, about a mother and her six home-schooled children.

The CBC Arts showcase offers a diverse portfolio of Canadian content. Crash Gallery is a four-person talent competition, Exhibitionists is a 30-minute series on average citizens creating art, and Interrupt this Program, is about political art in underbelly of traumatized cities like Beirut, Sarajevo and Port-au-Prince.

The Collective is a collaboration with Toronto’s Secret Location and allows artists from collectives across the country to produce content for the show. Two webseries - Canada in the Frame and The Re-Education of Eddy Rogo revolve around a pop-up-art gallery and an art collector who challenges himself to change things up a bit.

The CBC slate also includes a new series for comedy portal Punchline called Body Buds, about two former fitness personalities and the previously announced Riftworld: Chronicles, a sci-fi/fantasy series starring Erin Karpluk and Tahmoh Penikett and Munro Chambers.

The schedule also includes three new factual programming shows: Still Standing, about comedian Jonny Harris’ travels across Canada as he mines his experience to produce content for stand-up shows in small towns. Keeping Alive Canada, a six-part series on the Canadian healthcare system and Hello Goodbye, on emotional reunions and farewells at Toronto’s Pearson airport hosted by Dale Curd.

The slate also includes a new docs strand called First Hand that will showcase the best of Canadian documentary work.

CBC will be also be broadcasting the Pan Am Games between July 10 and 26. 

Returning hits include Dragons’ Den, now entering its 10th season, Coronation Street, Schitt’s Creek, Mr. D, Rick Mercer Report and the Winnipeg Comedy Festival. 

How will radio - Local Auto Media Spend Trending

Radio’s share of local auto dollars to remain above 10%: report. The average auto dealer will spend more than $640,000 on local advertising this year, according to a new report from BIA/Kelsey. Combined with what the carmakers will spend in the local market, it projects $11.3 billion will be spent on local media across all automotive sectors — or more than one out every 10 dollars spent in local advertising. While more dollars are shifting to digital and mobile, the vast majority of automotive ad budgets are earmarked for traditional media. BIA/Kelsey forecasts 77% will go to tried-and-true advertising outlets this year. Radio’s share is estimated at 11.6% for 2015, slipping a point to 10.6% by 2019. “Radio is still an important part of an advertising mix and even as the average quarter hour numbers decrease a little bit, radio still reaches a very sizable portion of Americans,” BIA/Kelsey chief economist Mark Fratrik says. “If you have a local auto dealer with a 72 hour sale this weekend they can be pretty sure he can reach a larger number of people if he does an advertising buy across the top three to five radio stations.” Online radio remains a bit player. The report pegs its share at 0.6% this year, forecasting it to inch up slightly to 0.8% by 2019. That’s in contrast to the rest of digital ad spending, which is forecast to grow 12% a year over the next five years. As a result, BIA/Kelsey estimates 30% of all local auto ad dollars will go toward digital by 2019 compared to 12% today. “Broadcasters can play in this game in a big way by showing that multimedia campaigns are complementary and better than just going straight TV, radio or online,” Fratrik says. 

Why radio is different from newspapers for car dealers. Over the next five years local newspapers are projected to lose a third of their auto-related advertising dollars. BIA/Kelsey forecasts their current share will fall below radio, shrinking to 9.9%, down from their current 14.7%. “There’s an interesting contrast,” BIA/Kelsey’s Mark Fratrik says. “Newspapers will not maintain their share like radio and TV because they play a different type of role.” More consumers are heading to the internet to gather information for their car buying research, which he believes has supplanted the role of the local newspaper for car dealers. “TV is an image with beautiful women and good looking guys driving fancy cars, and radio is a complement to that by providing information about local dealers and sales,” Fratrik says. “I think that has a lot to do with the advertising mix.” That’s backed up by National Auto Dealers Association data which shows local dealers boosted radio spending 14.5% in 2014 to $1.16 billion. As more is spent on digital, the analysis points to most of the new dollars flowing into mobile advertising which Fratrik expects will resemble TV strategies with mobile video dominating. The BIA/Kelsey report — the latest in its series on various advertising verticals — also points out there’s more to the overall auto ad sector than just car dealers. There are also auto parts stores, tire dealers, and motorcycle and RV dealers. Not to mention gas stations, which AdMall estimates spent an average of $29,000 per location on local advertising last year.