When it comes to social-media news engagement, CBC draws just 11% of traffic across the country — the poorest of any Canadian TV network — according to new data cited by Blacklock’s Reporter.
This despite the public broadcaster getting $1.4 billion in annual subsidies and 1,000 employees posting content online.
Researchers said five Canadian newsrooms — three of them broadcasters — dominated 65% of all news engagement on social media in Canada.
“We find the top five Canadian media outlets that attract the most engagement are CTV, Global News, CBC, the Post Millennial and Rebel News,” they wrote.
The report said CTV News had 25% of relevant social-media traffic followed by Global News (12%), the CBC (11%), the Post Millennial (10%) and Rebel News (7%).
“Conservative voices dominate the online Canadian conversation,” wrote researchers in an inaugural Canadian information ecosystem report, a monthly scan of internet content regarding “politics, media and democracy in Canada.”
“Engagement with politicians in Canada is currently very unequal with elected officials of conservative parties receiving more engagement and being more central to the Canadian conversation than those of other major party families in Canada.”
The CBC has 1,000 of its 6,262 employees posting internet content, the largest of any newsroom in Canada.
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Jennifer McGuire, then-chief editor, disclosed this number at House of Commons heritage committee hearings in 2016.
“Altogether, we have 350 news gatherers in our local stations who work alongside 650 writers, editors, producers and hosts,” testified McGuire.
“All of them work in an integrated way to present our radio and television programs, plus our continuous publishing of digital content.”
The latest report didn’t analyze why CBC content fared so poorly among social-media users, but the average Canadian spends about three to five hours on social media, according to a 2023 Privy Council report.