OTTAWA — Internal CBC/Radio-Canada performance data obtained through an access-to-information request reveals that the public broadcaster spent approximately $8.3 million producing 634 digital articles and video segments that each received fewer than 500 views, with 211 of those pieces receiving under 100 views each. The content, produced between 2021 and 2024, included commissioned long-form investigations, branded podcast episodes, and interactive web features. Several segments cost more than $30,000 to produce individually. The data was released with heavy redactions but enough remained to allow for cost-per-view calculations that, in some cases, exceeded $2,000 per viewer.
The figures come as CBC lobbies the federal government for an increase to its $1.4 billion annual Parliamentary appropriation. A CBC spokesperson stated that engagement metrics alone do not capture the value of public interest journalism. Similar spending and viewership data have been the subject of previous parliamentary committee hearings. The broadcaster has not published a breakdown of per-content production costs or minimum viewership targets for commissioned pieces.
The figures also show that CBC management paid out over $1.1 million in performance bonuses to senior executives in 2023, a year in which the broadcaster laid off 141 journalists and cut several regional programs. An executive vice-president received a $74,000 bonus in the same quarter that CBC closed its Charlottetown bureau and reduced Newfoundland coverage to three days per week. The CBC board declined to comment on specific bonus figures, citing employee privacy. The access-to-information request that produced these results took 17 months to process and was initially refused entirely before a Federal Information Commissioner order compelled partial release.