CMF triggers $1.4B in production activity, says annual report

Toronto, August 30, 2016 — The Canada Media Fund (CMF) released today its bilingual annual report for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. The report outlines the CMF’s role in supporting Canada’s audiovisual industry, as a driver of Canada’s growing digital economy. Click here to access the 2015-2016 CMF Annual Report.

As detailed in the report, the CMF provided $371.7M in funding to Canadian television and digital media projects in 2015-2016. A total of 541 television and related digital media productions were supported through its Convergent Stream, and 104 innovative and interactive digital media projects through its Experimental Stream. This investment in Canada’s audiovisual content industry triggered a total of $1.4B of production activity, an 8.4 per cent increase from the previous year.

“In the face of rapid evolution in the content industry, the CMF has demonstrated its ability to adapt with agility to new and changing realities. The CMF’s commitment to remain responsive has enabled it to pursue approaches that build on its many successes, while achieving its mandate in support of increasingly popular Canadian audiovisual productions," says Alain Cousineau, Chair of the Board of Directors, CMF. “Attesting to the success of our funding programs are the outcomes of the program evaluation of the CMF undertaken by Canadian Heritage, an independent review process led by its Evaluation Services Directorate. The findings were extremely positive for the CMF and demonstrated that, as the single most important source of financing for television and digital media content in the genres supported by the CMF, the CMF program is relevant and responsive to the needs of Canadians.”

“Key performance indicators reveal that the CMF’s funding programs succeeded in providing valuable support for producers as they create compelling content for Canadian and world audiences. This level of support was made possible thanks to the continued commitment of our funding contributors, the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors,” adds Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “Ongoing promotional efforts, coupled with our in-depth industry research on current and upcoming trends, have continued to benefit Canada’s content producers by fostering a positive environment for Canadian productions.”

In 2015-2016, the CMF pursued with its objective of developing international opportunities for Canadian producers by renewing or developing new international incentives encouraging codevelopment and coproduction of content between Canadian and international producers. Agreements were renewed with Belgium, Brazil, and New Zealand, while new agreements were developed with Australia and Italy.

In addition to its financial support, the CMF continued to provide valuable industry intelligence to stakeholders. In 2015-2016, the CMF published 10 research reports, as well as 67 blog posts on CMF Trends.

The annual report also provides information on a number of CMF initiatives designed to promote the success of Canadian content, including national red carpet events throughout the country and international partnerships and participation at events in Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The CMF, along with Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Producers Association, continued their support of the Eye on Canada initiative by building on the content available to Canadian and international audiences through Eyeoncanada.ca.

The online annual report has a feedback section, inviting visitors to the site to share their views and comments on the report. This valuable input will help shape the way the CMF reports on its activities.

About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca.