Movies have been a staple of TV networks since the dawn of TV. I fondly remember spending Saturday afternoons in the early 1950’s at my grandfather’s house watching old westerns on CBC TV. Granddad was the only one on the block with a TV and we lived just down the street, so I never missed a Saturday. When we got a TV a few years later the only show it seem to pull in was Bishop Sheen, the first TV evangelist. Because it seems old fashioned there are some TV network honchos, who we'll keep nameless, who think movies on TV are passé and people are no longer interested in watching movies on TV networks. Well, what do the people have to say about this?
CMRI has tracked public opinion about what types of TV programs people are interested in for the past decade. We present a list of 40-45 different genres of programs to people, depending on the year, and ask them to tell us how interested they are in each genre. Not surprisingly, local news has always come in first when ranked against all other types of program. Infomercials have finished last every year. Drama series score quite high with about 60% of viewers saying they are very interested/interested and the results have been consistent over the past ten years:
CMRI has tracked public opinion about what types of TV programs people are interested in for the past decade. We present a list of 40-45 different genres of programs to people, depending on the year, and ask them to tell us how interested they are in each genre. Not surprisingly, local news has always come in first when ranked against all other types of program. Infomercials have finished last every year. Drama series score quite high with about 60% of viewers saying they are very interested/interested and the results have been consistent over the past ten years:
But Hollywood movies get even higher scores with over 70% reporting they are interested in seeing Hollywood Hollywood movies are the highest ranking fiction genre in our surveys year after year. What's more, about 1 in 4 viewers say they are very interested in Hollywood fare, significantly higher than the proportion saying they are very interested in TV series:
Now for the bad news. The percentage of Canadians saying they are interested in Canadian drama programs is well below that of drama in general or Hollywood movies. Under 40% of people express interest in seeing Canadian drama, a problem that has been addressed here:
There's a silver lining, however. For the past 5 years we have asked about Canadian movies on TV and, interestingly, Canadian movies fare better than Canadian drama series. On average over the past five surveys, approximately 60% of people say they have an interest in seeing Canadian movies on TV. That is equal to the interest in all drama series, including U.S.
Perhaps people instinctively feel that the quality of Canadian movies is greater than Canadian series. A movie or mini-series often takes more risk and is less subject to bureaucratic funding rules and creative interference from networks.
So the representative sample of 15,000 or so people we have interviewed over the past decade say they are more interested in movies on TV than TV series. The TV network honchos might be well advised to spend some time talking to actual viewers before jumping to conclusions about what people want.
So the representative sample of 15,000 or so people we have interviewed over the past decade say they are more interested in movies on TV than TV series. The TV network honchos might be well advised to spend some time talking to actual viewers before jumping to conclusions about what people want.
The 2011 survey results are from CMRI's Media Trends Survey conducted November-December 2011 among a representative national sample of approximately 900 Anglophone respondents aged 18-plus. Margin of error +/-3.3%. The Media Trends Survey has been conducted for ten consecutive years and has surveyed over 15,000 Canadians in total. In our analysis we usually only report Anglophone results. Both Anglophones and Francophones have been surveyed in this period, using questionnaires in each respective language. Francophones have been surveyed in 5 of the 10 years. To compensate for poorer response rates among younger adults results are statistically weighted in keeping with industry standards. It is the only survey to have measured media use and attitudes continuously over this decade. The Media Trends Survey is not sponsored by any one industry or affiliated with a media company.
Nice work! After the blasting you gave CBC as I was reading this I kept thinking....'oops, where's the methodology!', good to see it at the end. On the topic between movies and TV, when people here "canadian tv show", they automatically think of a show specifically designed by bureaucrats to meet their expectations of what they think 'canadian' is. It may be urban legend, but I still remember how it was said that CBC executives in Toronto were embarassed that their highest rated show was "Rita MacNeil and Friends" and were pretty anxious to axe it as it didn't fit their idea of 'Canada', which was more 'Toronto' (don't know whether that is true, and given the nature of the CBC, probably never will).
ReplyDeleteIn canadian movies one typically thinks of independant filmmakers, because there really are not others. Lions Gate used to be canadian, maybe still is, but certainly doesn't make content that makes one think of Canada.
Finally, being 'interested' in something doesn't actually say much. I am 'very interested' in Hollywood movies, because thats where most movies come from. But I'm full well that the quality is usually lacking and 'hollywood movies' is almost a catch all that means little. Hollywood movies are 'bad', but at least they meet a certain level of production that separates them from home movies. Although I'm convinced that if you spliced up the 'best of youtube' you could easily make a show that people would watch. And I don't think the public broadcaster should even be looking at such issues. Do we want to simply show american movies on CBC because people say they want it. On that note, CBC should have programs that are aimed for purchase by schools, thats a good way to rationalize the costs.
Nice work! After the blasting you gave CBC as I was reading this I kept thinking....'oops, where's the methodology!', good to see it at the end. On the topic between movies and TV, when people here "canadian tv show", they automatically think of a show specifically designed by bureaucrats to meet their expectations of what they think 'canadian' is. It may be urban legend, but I still remember how it was said that CBC executives in Toronto were embarassed that their highest rated show was "Rita MacNeil and Friends" and were pretty anxious to axe it as it didn't fit their idea of 'Canada', which was more 'Toronto' (don't know whether that is true, and given the nature of the CBC, probably never will).
ReplyDeleteIn canadian movies one typically thinks of independant filmmakers, because there really are not others. Lions Gate used to be canadian, maybe still is, but certainly doesn't make content that makes one think of Canada.