Canadian Screen Awards viewership numbers down from last year and pre-pandemic times

TORONTO – Preliminary ratings suggest fewer people watched the pre-taped Canadian Screen Awards on CBC than last year, with numbers plunging by more than half of those in pre-pandemic times.

The public broadcaster shared overnight data from Numeris that reports an average audience of 136,000 for Sunday’s hour-long telecast compared to 2022’s show, which averaged 146,000 viewers.

The overnight numbers refer to viewers over the age of 2, but among the coveted advertising age group of 25-to-54 year-olds, the show averaged 31,000 viewers compared to 14,000 the year before.

The public broadcaster would not release live viewership numbers for its streaming service CBC Gem.

This year’s Screen Awards show offered comedy bits and highlights of seven non-televised galas where practically all of the awards were handed out in the days prior, including the top film prize for Clement Virgo’s drama “Brother,” and top TV prizes for CBC’s drama “The Porter” and comedy “Sort Of.”

The non-televised Toronto bashes presented special awards to comedy veteran Catherine O’Hara, Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds and news anchor Lisa LaFlamme but their appearances were whittled down to short clips in Sunday’s broadcast.

The CBC special included additional taped segments with O’Hara, Reynolds and TV-turned-film star Simu Liu, who also got a special award for making waves globally.

Organizers with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television declined to provide an interview Tuesday about the ratings.

In an emailed statement, the Academy said it will review data “representing all Canadian Screen Week 2023 activities, and assessing the impact from everything that occurred throughout the week, including our seven in-person shows, social media feedback, and member-focused initiatives, in addition to the broadcast show.”

In the weeks before it aired, the unusual format drew criticism from some industry notables including O’Hara’s longtime comedy collaborator Eugene Levy, who said Canadian creators deserve their moment on stage, at a live celebration.

The awards show that aired April 10, 2022 was also a pre-recorded one-hour special but it included live announcements of the marquee categories and acceptance speeches.

This year’s audience drop was even steeper compared to pre-pandemic times, when the awards bash was a two-hour live event. Numeris data shows the Screen Awards that aired March 31, 2019 had an average audience of 335,000 and an average 25-to-54 audience of 84,000.

That show also tried something new by eschewing hosts entirely and incorporating pre-taped comedy bits amid a “crisis” of declining ratings, according to Beth Janson at the time, then-CEO of the Academy.

Even more experimentation was on display this year.

Canadian comic Samantha Bee hosted Sunday’s special from New York, opening the show with a stroll through the streets of Manhattan. She described her surroundings as “definitely in Canada,” even as shots of the skyline showed the Chrysler and Empire State buildings.

The Academy confirmed Bee taped her segments in New York, weeks in advance of the awards.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2023.

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