Down from 2017-2018, which were already down from the year before.
Ratings for CBC’s flagship news program The National continue to tank.
According to CBC data provided to The Hill Times, CBC ratings are down 14% in 2018-2019, when compared to 2017-2018.
Hilariously, CBC tried putting a positive spin on the obvious decline:
“Despite these decreases we have seen growth in specific segments of our audience on [CBC’s main network],” CBC’s head of public affairs Chuck Thompson told The Hill Times in an email. “Specifically, 18-34 year olds and viewers from Vancouver both account for a bigger portion of overall audience than they have over the last five years.”
To get a sense of how bad The National’s numbers are, consider their competitors.
While The National averaged 401,000 viewers, CTV National News had more than double that number, with 993,000 tuning in.
Notably, CTV National News and other CBC competitors are able to beat CBC in the ratings without the benefit of taxpayer dollars.
CBC has the advantage of being able to benefit from private sector advertising, and government funding, yet they can’t even get close to their top competitors.
Conservative MP Peter Kent – who had a long career in journalism – says CBC should be shifted to more of a truly public broadcaster:
“I believe firmly that Canada needs a national public broadcaster, not a semi-private national broadcaster,” said Mr. Kent. “I would remove all commercials from the CBC, and I would also remove all commercials from the digital platform that the CBC has developed without a mandate.”
Canadians are clearly rejecting the format, and the pro-government biased perspective of The National. The people of this country want to see those in power challenged and held accountable. But instead, The National often either ignores big Canadian issues, puts a pro-Liberal spin on those issues, or simply presents the same coverage you can find on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, or any other American network.
As the ratings show, that approach is failing miserably.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Twitter
***
