Speeches and Interviews

April 3, 2001

Convergence: Is it a Big Deal?

Speech by Robert Rabinovitch, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada to the Canadian Media Director's Council Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario

Good morning.

First of all I want to express how pleased I am to have been asked to speak at this year's conference. Convergence is a subject that obviously affects us all, not only in this room, but also across the country.

As it takes on a life of its own, it is also a term of some confusion that begs some important questions to those of us in the communications and entertainment industries.

For example, is the concept evolutionary or revolutionary? Will it really affect the way we do business, and in particular, will it affect the way in which we reach our audience?

To help understand convergence, I would like to suggest that we look at two types of convergence. Both are driven by another important revolution, namely digitalization.

The first is technical convergence, i.e. the merging of the various delivery technologies by which content reaches the consumer — radio, conventional broadcasting, satellite, cable, fibre optics, wireless operations, the Internet, and so on.

Content convergence, on the other hand, is the formatting and use of content, aided by the flexibility afforded by digitalization, to present the same information, stories, etc., on different platforms and in different ways. It is often referred to as re-purposing the same information. This allows us to speak to audiences on platforms relevant to them.

CBC/Radio-Canada is firmly positioned in the world of content convergence. Why? Because our expertise is creativity, and our emphasis is on enhancing and furthering our primary role and ability as a content creator and provider. We provide content on the platform and in the form that best suits our audience.

In some ways, convergence is just the logical extension of merged delivery systems. In that sense, CBC/Radio-Canada has already proved the value of content management across various platforms. We have moved beyond just talk. Content convergence is the way we approach business for all major broadcast properties.

At CBC/Radio-Canada, we view the phenomenon of content convergence as being critically linked to brand building. We believe the starting place is not in infrastructure, not in bundling sales across different platforms nor in simply aligning media properties.

We believe the fundamental opportunity and value for our business partners and clients…for Canadian consumers….and for our networks…begins in the all-important area of brand building and brand differentiation — something that effective content management accomplishes.

For CBC/Radio-Canada, technical convergence is merely a powerful development in the communications field that serves as a tool for extending the availability of our experience to all Canadians. It is a vehicle by which our programs can be communicated clearly and consistently with vast accessibility.

We use technical convergence to help achieve our goals. We see no need to be involved in the technical side except as a user. We believe as well that the culture of creativity and the culture of technology development are fundamentally different.

We also believe the paradigm of advertising effectiveness has fundamentally changed: it is not how many people see an ad at a particular time slot, but rather how many people are reached over various platforms over a period of time by a particular message.

For our business partners and advertisers, CBC/Radio-Canada's movement towards a clearly differentiated and valuable multi-media brand brings with it an extraordinary opportunity to communicate to consumers.

Our strategy is to intelligently make use of every one of CBC/Radio-Canada's 15 media platforms, being sensitive to the nuances of each, while being dedicated to maintaining the consistency and quality of the message.

Whether Canadians choose to use our national English or French main television networks, our radio services, Newsworld, RDI, Télé des Arts, Radio 3, Internet, wireless news transmission or any other of our existing platforms, they will experience the distinctive look and role of the public broadcaster.

Let me say a few words about CBC/Radio-Canada — where we've been, where we're heading…and how we're going to get there.

In the past, CBC/Radio-Canada has been a series of English and French services, not really linked by a common vision or strategy.

Our largest component, English Television, was an apparent mix of conventional light entertainment programming and public service programming. The result was confusion on the part of Canadians as to what our role was, especially in this rapidly changing world.

We are meeting these challenges and perceptions by linking all our components with a common vision, and developing a strategy for each. We firmly believe that CBC/Radio-Canada is greater than the sum of its various parts.

We are developing, at CBC/Radio-Canada, a new "Public Service" brand…a brand with a clear, distinctive and unique positioning. The CBC/Radio-Canada brand will be driven by a series of highly relevant program genres: Children's Television, News and Current Affairs, Arts and Entertainment, Sports, and Major Nation-Sharing Events.

On all of its platforms, CBC/Radio-Canada will be an environment that stands apart by the obvious lack of clutter. Today's clutter continues unabated. This, despite the fact that research shows that clutter creates confusion, and where confusion thrives clarity suffers.

For example, the average Canadian receives about 4,000 brand messages a day. Just think how many he receives every year. In this cluttered world, we must ask ourselves: What is going to register with consumers? What message is actually absorbed? What is processed? And most challenging, which message affects behavior?

Technical convergence will only intensify and increase this clutter. What's the inevitable result of this increasing clutter? Ad recall suffers. Ad effectiveness decreases. That's the news about convergence that none of us should be happy to hear.

It is against this backdrop that I want to emphasize our goal to build and communicate an uncluttered CBC/Radio-Canada brand with clarity and consistency, and by doing so, provide advertisers with a unique avenue to reach audiences and build relationships with consumers.

Is convergence a big deal? Perhaps from a consumer's point of view there should be two questions. Is technical convergence a big deal? And…is content convergence a big deal?

The answer to both…is probably yes. But the first only serves the second. We believe that the infrastructure of technical convergence only serves to build the arenas in which programs can reach and speak to the viewers — the consumers.

For our advertisers and business partners, content convergence and its inherent connection to effective brand building is where real opportunity lies. Consumers don't relate to the cold verticals of varying technologies. Consumers relate to content.

What technical convergence is allowing us to do is to extend CBC/Radio-Canada content and brand across relevant platforms and increase accessibility and reach to more Canadians. This is happening at CBC/Radio-Canada, not only through our existing owned and operated platforms, but also through joint ventures, strategic partnering and alliances.

A new and exciting media landscape is being created where traditional competitors are now partners — where combined strengths and increased exposure outweigh traditional isolationism.

For example, CBC/Radio-Canada is partnering with Corus in a joint venture to launch two new Tier 1 digital services — the Canadian Documentary Channel and a channel called Land & Sea. We are also partnering with BCE and ARTE from France to create a new arts channel Télé des Arts in French. And of course, our relationship continues with TSN and RDS in carrying the Olympics through 2008.

These are exciting partnerships that align our resources and abilities with those of our traditional competitors in a combination that greatly expands exposure across many media platforms.

In the print arena, CBC/Radio-Canada has recently entered into strategic alliances with La Presse and Torstar to develop several new content driven initiatives. This builds upon years of alliances with print entities such as The Globe and Mail, The National Post and Maclean's, and we fully anticipate that these will continue.

The presentation of the Olympic Games further illustrates the integrated approach that I've described.

Last year, the Sydney Olympic Games were carried by more media lines… from more media partners… to more Canadians… than ever before. — That's an example of the future.

Canada: A People's History is another example of how CBC/Radio-Canada is using content convergence to enhance and increase content's exposure and accessibility.

That's the beauty of content convergence and its powerful link to brand. Simply put, associating with a clearly-communicated brand results in message clarity and lasting impact.

As CBC/Radio-Canada moves forward, it will create a united, powerful communication environment in this country — one that is firmly established with a disciplined brand strategy, and one that carefully and effectively communicates its products on a host of new platforms.

Convergence is a big deal….especially if you understand both of its components, and if you approach the technical aspect as a tactical tool.

As an advertiser, look for a content provider that understands the importance of content management across these new and diverse platforms, and who is putting that knowledge to work in a visibly integrated and less cluttered way.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, our advertisers and business partners, for your involvement in CBC/Radio-Canada. We look forward to a mutually productive and successful future together.