advertisement
FYI

Media Beat: March 22, 2019

Juno viewership pulled close to 1M in overnights

Media Beat: March 22, 2019

By David Farrell

Juno viewership pulled close to 1M in overnights

Sunday’s 2019 Juno Awards, live from London, ON., drew an overnight, estimated 918,000 viewers on CBC.


While CARAS and the CBC have yet to release viewer metrics, TV columnist Bill Brioux has published the Numeris overnight numbers on his website. The holdback in official data is probably attributable to the network and CARAS wanting to focus on the Live Plus 7 metrics that reflect viewing done via DVR and VOD within seven days of the telecast's linear premiere. It’s expected that three streaming platforms will also contribute to a significant spike in the show’s all-in viewership numbers.

advertisement

Rogers Media sells magazines to St. Joseph

Canada’s largest privately-owned printing company has agreed to acquire seven Rogers Media’s print and digital magazine brands. Once the deal is finalized SJC will take ownership of Maclean’s, Chatelaine (English and French editions), Today’s Parent, Hello! Canada, Canadian Business and Flare.

Magazines already in SJC’s folio include Fashion, Quill & Quire, Toronto Life, Weddingbells, and it also is behind the daily email newsletter Twelve Thirty Six, a time-stamped weekday, digital digest featuring a roundup of Toronto news, culture, technology, business and entertainment stories spun with a whiff of irreverence by longstanding city scribbler Marc Weisblott.

"All current Rogers Media Publishing employees will be offered employment through the deal, which is expected to close in April 2019," according to a press release issued by the Rogers.

While it all sounds like good news, it should be noted that St. Joe’s is not a company lacking fiscal responsibility. Earlier acquisitions included Saturday Night, Elm Street, and Shift, which were mothballed after revenues and readerships tumbled.

Broadcasters want some of budget’s news media tax credits

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says it’s disappointed that the federal government has excluded broadcast media from journalism support tax credits announced in Budget 2019.

"Canadians want to be informed and they want a diversity of trusted, quality news sources from which to choose," said Lenore Gibson, CAB Board of Directors' chair. "The federal government's exclusion of broadcasters — the preferred source for news among Canadians — is arbitrary and unfair policy."

advertisement

New tax credits for news and journalism were announced in the 2018 Fall Economic Statement. Budget 2019 sets out eligibility criteria. The proposed tax credits would only be made available to newspapers: Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations (QCJO) must be primarily engaged in the production of original written news content. Moreover, the 25-per-cent refundable labour tax credit is not available for a QCJO "carrying on a broadcasting undertaking."

 "If the government is truly committed to recognizing the vital role media plays in helping citizens make informed decisions, it must find a way to include radio and television news outlets in this tax credit regime," said Gibson in a PRN Newswire released yesterday.

China’s influence in Canada

In the wake of Canada's Huawei diplomatic crisis, veteran foreign correspondent Jonathan Manthorpe tracks Canada's historical relationship with China, and the Communist party's efforts to exert influence in Canadian affairs. The Agenda’s Steve Paikin recently interviewed Manthorpe about his book, "Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada."

 

 

Canada’s immigrant incomes, by the numbers

New data from Statistics Canada profiles wages earned by immigrants admitted to Canada in 2015 and 2016, as follows:

advertisement

The immigrants admitted to Canada in 2015 earned the highest entry wages of any cohort admitted since 1981. The median entry wages of immigrant tax filers admitted in 2015 was $25,400 in 2016. The previous high was $24,800 for those admitted in 2014. Median entry wages are measured as the median wages one year after admission to Canada as permanent residents.

These findings are from the 2016 Longitudinal Immigration Database, which allows the analysis of immigrant groups over time and across different admission categories, such as economic immigrants, immigrants sponsored family or refugees.

advertisement

Immigrants with work permits before their admission in Canada have the highest entry wages

A rising proportion of immigrants have pre-admission experience in Canada, as evidenced by the fact that they held at least one non-permanent resident permit (for example, work permit, study permit or refugee claim) prior to their admission as a permanent resident.

For immigrants admitted to Canada in 2015, one-third had pre-admission experience, compared with 20% for those admitted a decade earlier in 2005.

For the 2016 tax year, among the immigrants admitted in 2015, tax filers without pre-admission experience had median entry wages of $19,800, compared with $34,400 for tax filers who had a previous work permit. As the proportion of immigrants with pre-admission work experiences in Canada rises, the entry wages of immigrants are increasing.

Wages rise with the number of years since admission to Canada

The wages of immigrants increase with the number of years spent in Canada across all admission categories. The median wages of immigrant tax filers admitted to Canada in 2006 were estimated at $19,100 in 2007, one year after admission. For the same cohort, wages increased to $25,700 five years after admission, and $31,700 a decade later. This was also true for refugees, where the median wages of those admitted in 2006 as government-assisted refugees were $8,200 one year after admission, $16,800 after five years and $21,000 in 2016, a decade after admission. In comparison, the median wages of privately sponsored refugees admitted in 2006 were $20,600 one year after admission, $22,900 after five years and $25,800 in 2016.

The 2015 Syrian refugees have comparable incomes to other refugees admitted during the same period

A recent wave of Syrian refugees fleeing political instability in their country were admitted to Canada starting in November 2015. Incomes for these immigrants provide an insight on their settlement progress. The latest Longitudinal Immigration Database includes information on these Syrian refugees admitted up to 2017.

advertisement

From 2015 to 2017, 50,920 Syrian refugees were admitted to Canada, 28,630 of which were 15 years of age or older at the time of their admission.

The Syrian refugees admitted in 2015 (6,010) had completed their first year in Canada in 2016, the latest tax year available in the Longitudinal Immigration Database. Among those aged 15 or older at admission, 2016 tax data were available for 94%.

The tax data show the median total income of the 2015 Syrian refugees was comparable to those of other refugees admitted during the same timeframe. Syrian refugees had a median total income of $15,400 in 2016, while other refugees had a median total income of $15,300.

Among the Syrian refugees admitted in 2015, 43% of those who had filed taxes in 2016 reported wages. Their median entry wages were $11,100. In comparison, 39% of other refugees from abroad who were admitted during the same period and filed taxes reported wages. Their median entry wages were $12,400.

The Longitudinal Immigration Database also provides details on the place of residence of the Syrian refugees who filed taxes. Most of the 2015 Syrian refugees who filed taxes were living in the census metropolitan areas of Toronto (31%) and Montréal (28%) in 2016.

advertisement

In the coming weeks, a Statistics Canada analytical paper entitled "Syrian Refugees Resettled in Canada in 2015 and 2016" will be released. The paper will present a broader socioeconomic portrait of the 2015 and 2016 Syrian refugees using 2016 Census data.

What it cost to live here, by the numbers

Last January, independent online research company LowestRates.ca published its second breakdown of what it costs a young person to live in Toronto. The research took the average costs of housing, transportation, groceries, phone and internet bills, as well as entertainment, and landed at $2,740.48/month, which works out to $32,885 annually.

This year, the monthly cost has jumped by almost $475.

It’s important to remember that these costs are tailored for a single employed person without dependents who doesn’t own property. That makes this is an average estimate. It’s possible people can live here for much cheaper while others may need much more to fund the sort of lifestyle they expect. – Lisa Coxon, LowestRates.ca

advertisement
SOCAN Music Revenue Hits a Record Half-Billion Dollar High
Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash
Business News

SOCAN Music Revenue Hits a Record Half-Billion Dollar High

While the live music industry recovered from the pandemic, the Canadian rights management association achieved record revenues in 2023 and distributed $442 million to music rights-holders — a 22% jump from the previous year.

Music revenues for Canadian rights-holders are hitting record highs.

SOCAN, the Canadian rights organization that collects and distributes publishing royalties for musicians and rights-holders, has announced that for the first time, it collected over half a billion dollars in revenue in 2023. The organization estimates that revenues grew to $523 million last year, with $442 million distributed to writers and publishers. That marks a distribution growth of 22% from 2022, which SOCAN attributes to increased revenues from digital and international sources.

keep readingShow less
advertisement