Radio Owners' Share in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal (Fall 2012)

Tweet

With BBM topline data, we can do more than just calculate the changes in listeners or market share of each radio station over a year. One thing we can do with the data is to compare how each media company fares in the large markets. So, let's take a look at these large markets of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal.

In the Toronto market, Rogers is in the lead with a share of 28% thanks to the popularity of CHFI and 680News. The Fan 590 is Rogers' lowest rating station, but its share is 3.4%.

The under-performing TSN Radio (0.4) and the low listenership of Urban music station FLOW 93.5 are keeping Bell Media far away from Rogers and Astral in the ratings game.


Vancouver:

The Vancouver market appears to be just as competitive as Toronto. Corus has a one percentage point lead over Bell, while CBC and Rogers each have nearly the same size of the pie (estimates are rounded).


Calgary:

Corus is also #1 in the share of hours tuned in Calgary. Roughly 4 percentage points separate four media corporations: Rogers, Astral, CBC and Newcap. Bell's lone station in the Calgary market, Kool 101.5, isn't enough to compete with the other major media players.

By the way, Harvard is Harvard Broadcasting based in Regina, and not a group associated with the prestigious university in Massachusetts.


Edmonton:

Corus also takes the #1 spot in Edmonton with Newcap and Rawlco trailing, not far behind, by 4 percentage points.

CBC has a mere 8% share, which is the lowest for any market being measured with the PPM.

Bell Media does not own any radio stations in Edmonton. Even if the Astral purchase receives approval, Bell says they will be looking to auction off the English radio stations as part of the deal.


Montreal Anglophones:

With Astral having nearly 60% of the hours tuned to their stations, there are those who are concerned about Bell Media having too much power if it were to keep those English Astral stations. Bell Media currently has a 2.3% share in the English Montreal market.

Based on the pie chart, Montreal appears to be more of a concentrated market than the previous ones.

Rogers radio has no presence in Montreal.

And, Montreal Francophones:

Cogeco, with half of the share in the French listeners market, has a 20 percentage point lead over Astral.

Despite having only one French station, Astral still managed to pull in a 30% share with the help of their English stations, CHOM and Virgin, which both play popular music.


Only two media companies have radio stations in all five of these cities: CBC and Astral.


Source: BBM Canada