Canadian online media
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Canadian online media is content aimed at a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
audience through the medium of the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
. Presently,
online media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. '' ...
can be accessed by
computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs ...
, smart-phones,
gaming consoles A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...
,
Smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features, which allows users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart TVs are a techno ...
s,
MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
s, and tablets. The characteristics of Canadian online media are strongly shaped by the Canadian communications industry, even though their statistics and findings are more often than not associated with American research. Large media companies are increasingly on the move to start up online platforms for news and television content. The exponential growth of Canadians' dependency on online content for entertainment and information has been evident in the recent decades. However, it has proven slow for Canadian online media to catch up with the constant increase of American online media. Regardless of medium, entertainment and information hubs are not solely focusing on satisfying the audience they have, but are also heavily expanding their reach to new global audiences.


Types of online media


News and magazines

As information is increasingly going digital, the Newspaper Audience Databank (NADbank) claims online readership for most Canadian newspapers have surpassed the numbers in print readership. However, there is also lack of evidence that newspapers are coming to an end in Canada. For some of Canada's larger newspapers, readership has increased in both print and online formats. After
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
's redesign, they claim to have fueled a 10.2% increase in both their print and online readers. Highlights from a 2010 study conducted by NADbank revealed the national newspaper readership remains high. Though the migration from print to online newspapers is still ongoing, print editions are still the most popular amongst Canadians. Many news writers are beginning to have an active
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
presence to communicate with their audiences. Large newspapers are urging writers to have a public persona on
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
s or Twitter. Instant connection is becoming more substantial, as journalists are encouraged to interact with the public. Canadians are also becoming active participants in the journalistic process as journalists are realizing citizens' ability to perform fragments of journalism, such as taking on-the-scene pictures, tweeting, commenting online or simply editing a Wikipedia entry. Alfred Hermida of the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
asserts that
participatory journalism Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...
reinforces the
public sphere The public sphere (german: Öffentlichkeit) is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. A "Public" is "of or concerning th ...
, while news specialization ironically undermines it.


Online-only news

Openfile.ca was an online-only newspaper that concentrated on community-powered news, with the intent of connecting people with reporters to cover specific communities. Launched in May 2010, OpenFile aimed to promote
citizen journalism Citizen journalism, also known as collaborative media, participatory journalism, democratic journalism, guerrilla journalism or street journalism, is based upon public citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, a ...
by enabling anyone to suggest a story to cover, and then a paid journalist would conduct research and produce a polished piece. Stories were also
geotagged Geotagging, or GeoTagging, is the process of adding geographical identification metadata to various media such as a geotagged photograph or video, websites, SMS messages, QR Codes or RSS feeds and is a form of geospatial metadata. This data ...
to improve accessibility to citizens who wanted stories in their immediate neighbourhoods. By 2012, the site saw about 400,000 unique visitors per month, but it was suddenly shuttered in September of that year due to reported financial problems. As of 2014, the Openfile website simply states, "on hiatus". Though news and magazine companies are increasing their presence online, publications such as ''Dose'' magazine have discontinued their print editions, but have gone on to develop their news website as it strategically targets a younger demographic.
Rabble.ca rabble.ca is an alternative, left-leaning English-language Canadian online magazine founded in 2001. It features podcasts, videos and a discussion board called ''babble''. History Judy Rebick and Mark Surman founded rabble.ca on April 18, 2 ...
, another online-only news site, is a
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
that publishes a mixture of original content and those of alternative publications. In 2008, they created rabbletv in an effort to branch out their multi-media presence. Rabble also hosts Babble, a forum pertaining mostly to political discussions, and most recently the Activist Toolkit, a
wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
project that aims to enable members of the rabble community to engage in
collaborative writing Collaborative writing, or collabwriting is a method of group work that takes place in the workplace and in the classroom. Researchers expand the idea of collaborative writing beyond groups working together to complete a writing task. Collaboration ...
of content. The Canoe Network is an online-only news site in Canada with a network of French and English news content, as well as sub-divisions of a job-listing site, TV programs, e-commerce and others. For right wing Canadians their
Rebel News ''Rebel News'' (also known as ''The Rebel Media'' and ''The Rebel'') is a Canadian right-wing to far-right political and social commentary media website operated by Rebel News Network Ltd. It has been described as a "global platform" for the a ...
, founded by a former staff from the Sun News Networks; True North, founded as a charity version of a news network.


Television

In the digital age, large media conglomerates are taking the opportunity to broaden their audiences by pushing to start up their own online platforms for multimedia content.
Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) *Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated community ...
, one of Canada's largest communication companies, made the move in 2009 to create its version of
Hulu.com Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...
, a popular on-demand streaming video service from the US. The concept was to provide free television programs in pursuance of promoting online content in Canada. It has also been noted as a way to secure Canada's future in broadcasting, as major cable companies were already losing customers to service cancellations in the United States. Much of the efforts to promote Canadian online content have proven to be difficult as the federal broadcast regulators are still in uncharted territories. Many satellite companies in Canada also own TV stations. In September 2011, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) decided against the hoarding of specific televised programs by such companies for fair competition.
Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
has made such offerings with
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
games on Bell's Mobile TV package, as well as select
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
and
CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
games on TSN.ca. Many communications companies compete to provide instant entertainment content. Launched in June 2011,
Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...
have received legal complaints that their online video-streaming consists of movies from major film studios, some of which aren't licensed to be broadcast through their video-streaming platform. The objective was to work towards a development that would adjust to the shifting viewer trends.


Entertainment and gaming consoles

Microsoft Corporation Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
plans to launch its on-demand and live TV service for the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
gaming console in the winter of 2011. The Canadian service would include MLSE, UFC,
Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...
, Rogers on Demand, Telus OPtik,
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, MSN Canada and the involvement of other companies.
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...
have started targeting specific
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
fans by supplying them with the major league team's live games online, regardless if they have cable or not.


Online content on other media platforms

On November 2011, Amazon released the
Kindle Fire The Amazon Fire, formerly called the Kindle Fire, is a line of tablet computers developed by Amazon. Built with Quanta Computer, the Kindle Fire was first released in November 2011, featuring a color 7-inch multi-touch display with IPS techn ...
, but it has not yet been released in Canada. For four days in October, the Canadian company
Research in Motion BlackBerry Limited is a Canadian software company specializing in cybersecurity. Founded in 1984, it was originally known as Research In Motion (RIM). As RIM, it developed the BlackBerry brand of interactive pagers, smartphones, and tablets ...
's BlackBerry Internet Service experienced a service outage. Research has also revealed more than 50% of Canadians are banking and shopping online. The demographics for these statistics no longer side with the younger generation, as older people are finding instant online transactions convenient.


Social media

American online content is popular in Canada. In the spring of 2011, the
Canadian federal election This article provides a summary of results for Canadian general elections (where all seats are contested) to the House of Commons, the elected lower half of Canada's federal bicameral legislative body, the Parliament of Canada. The number of s ...
was reported as the "Twitter election" by news media, as the result of the wide usage of online
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
for citizen discussions and for candidates' exposure. It was not possible to prevent the transmission of poll results to a district (in a different
time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...
) whose polls had yet to close. This objective is nearly impossible with the vast amount of instant blogging and sharing of information on the election.
Hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
s along the lines of #tweettheresults were being used by tweeters. Citizens discussed and deliberated that certain laws had to be changed to adjust to present day conditions. The 73-year-old law became the subject of debate with the advent of instant social media. Meant to prevent influencing citizens of the
West coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...
whose time zone is about four and a half hours behind the
East coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...
, bloggers had the possibility of receiving a fine of $25,000 for prematurely releasing the election results before all polls close. Under the
Canada Elections Act The ''Canada Elections Act'' (french: Loi électorale du Canada; full title: ''An Act respecting the election of members to the House of Commons, repealing other Acts relating to elections and making consequential amendments to other Acts'', full ...
, Section 329 applies to all forms of transmission regardless of the medium. In earlier days the Act was only directed towards television and radio outlets. Though a large amount of violation was anticipated in the 2011 Federal Election, only one case was prosecuted with a minimal fine. While some Tweeters and bloggers believe this is a violation of their freedom of expression,
Elections Canada Elections Canada (french: Élections Canada)The agency operates and brands itself as Elections Canada, its legal title is Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (). is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal electio ...
noted that results could be sent between individuals without breaching Section 329, though it was illegal to broadcast them on social media such as a
Facebook Wall Facebook is a Social network, social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are availabl ...
. Information technology specialists from Sequentia Environics and the Social Media Group have stated that people would not be able to conform to the policy conscientiously, and that enforcing confidentiality with the likes of Facebook and Twitter is nearly impossible. Other professionals have even stated there is no use of a law that cannot be enforced effectively. The numerous links and components to all growing social media platforms would necessite detailed examination of acceptable and prohibited sharing of election data. A recent study conducted by the
Print Measurement Bureau Vividata is a Toronto-based not-for-profit research organization that provides impact and marketing data on print media readership in Canada. Vividata resulted from a 2014 merger between the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB) and the Newspaper Audien ...
(PMB) on Canadians' social media usage patterns showed that one-third of Canadian social networkers are under the age of 25. Compared with the rest of the nation, social networkers are also twice as likely to visit online magazines, newspapers, television and radio. Social media use in agricultural and rural development sectors in Canada is rapidly growing in recent years. Facebook and Twitter are the most used social media tools by the stakeholders of agriculture and rural development. Although there are numerous research and development initiatives of social and collaborative media the interest about social media in agriculture has just grown recently. Some of the few researches done on this topic indicates that social media use is mainly realized as a linear communication flows among stakeholders of Canadian agriculture. Therefore, it is necessary to move beyond and include strategies and capacity building initiatives for dialogical and social interaction approach to support innovative practices of stakeholders in this sector.


Interactive media and advertisements

As a consequence of the increased online audience, the Canadian online ad revenue rose to $2.2 billion in 2010. Advertisers are now aiming to measure the attention of online users via
clickthrough rate Click-through rate (CTR) is the ratio of users who click on a specific link to the number of total users who view a page, email, or advertisement. It is commonly used to measure the success of an online advertising campaign for a particular we ...
. The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada reported that the online ad revenue surpassed newspapers ad revenues dramatically. Newspapers have always made revenue from advertisements, and not subscriptions, and in recent years, this has not changed. Online newspapers are keen on increasing their readership to be more valuable to advertising.


Ethnic online media

In Canada, immigrant minorities' access to ethnic media online serves as a source of news from their home countries. Multicultural marketing is growing in Canada, with advertisers hoping to reach the country's hundreds of ethnic communities. In 2009, a study by Solutions Research Group revealed that the Internet has become the preferred medium amongst
Chinese Canadians , native_name = , native_name_lang = , image = Chinese Canadian population by province.svg , image_caption = Chinese Canadians as percent of population by province / territory , pop = 1,715,7704.63% of the ...
and
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
n Canadians, two of the country's largest cultural groups. Community portals in particular are popular amongst Canada's ethnic groups. Web portal 51.ca is an example of a common online networking site for the Chinese community. In Canada, advertisers place geo-targeted ads in foreign and online newspapers like TimesOfIndia.com to reach local audiences. Though there is abundant web activity amongst the minority population, they remain loyal to traditional media that communicate in their native languages.


Canadian laws on online media

The
Canadian Radio and Television Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) had recently deliberated on revising broadcasting rights from the many incoming internet-based broadcasters from other countries. Video streaming sites such as
Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
are not available to Canadians because Canadian broadcasters have rights to programming, and controls on how they are broadcast. The request to conduct a formal review on TV content on the internet was turned down. Companies like
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
Inc. were criticized for posing a threat to the domestic broadcasting system, and accused of having a competitive advantage. Since the prolonged consultation revealed there is no evidence that these internet-based movie services are negatively affecting the Canadian broadcasting system, companies like Netflix aren't compelled to follow the same rules and regulations, and don't have to fund Canadian broadcasting content or face the same regulations as cable and satellite distributors.


Immediacy of communication and advanced connectivity

In the summer of 2011, a study by
Angus Reid Angus Reid (born September 23, 1976, in Richmond, British Columbia) is a former offensive lineman who played in the Canadian Football League. Reid went to Simon Fraser University and played for the Simon Fraser Clan. He began his career with the M ...
revealed that approximately one-half of online Canadians surveyed would give up cable service before they would give up the Internet. It is considered standard for digital home owners to spend over $100 per month for faster internet plans.
Fibre to the home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...
replaces the traditional copper telephone wires with
optical fiber cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...
, enabling it to surpass cable limitations. Well established in Asia, the infrastructure is being implemented in various parts of the United States but remains unrecognized to Canadians. In Ontario,
Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...
has strategically started selling internet packages called Fibre 6,12,16, and 25, despite not being a FTTH service. As usage of data and bandwidth is increasing due to the growing availability of high definition videos online, CRTC recently created a pricing model for ISP providers to follow. The model, which acts as a usage cap, allows for internet wholesalers to charge based on download speed and not by the volume of data, the latter proposed by Bell and declined by CRTC. Arctic communities in Canada have poor communication infrastructures. Due to the residents' geographical isolation, proper access to web content can act as their window to domestic affairs and global matters.


Specialization

Canadian telecommunications and media companies are also taking the opportunity to provide specialized content online as a means to cater to and attract specific audiences. Rogers Communications recently started making
Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
hockey games accessible on the web for their cable subscribers as a television on-demand service. The media company acquired the
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...
baseball team in 2000, anticipating an increase in on-demand viewership.


Criticism

In 2011
Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...
of ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' asserted that Canadians need to put more effort into producing online media content and not perceive it as a taboo. She claimed that news scoops that are posted immediately online have more effect than those being held for the front page the next day.


Future trends

As viewership steadily overtakes readership, a survey conducted by Rogers has revealed that Canadians' lives are continually becoming richer online and the sharing of photos are growing exponentially more popular. For the youth in Canada, digital media is the only media they have grown to know, and the Internet is the primary source of information and entertainment they have grown accustomed to. The research of journalism professor Alfred Hermida at the University of British Columbia shows a total of 17 million Facebook users in Canada. With social media, individuals tailor the news that comes to them as a means of efficiency, and share specific news to their immediate online community.


See also

* Demographics of the Canadian political blogosphere *
Media of Canada The media of Canada is diverse and highly regionalized. News media, both print and digital and in both official languages, is largely dominated by a handful of major media corporations. The largest of these corporations is the country’s nati ...
*
Internet in Canada Canada ranks as the 21st in the world for Internet usage with 31.77 million users as of July 2016 (est), making up 89.8% of the population. According to Harvard researchers, Canada has some of the lowest internet standards among OECD countries, a ...
*
Internet Marketing The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...


References


External links


Newspaper Audience Databank Inc.



Openfile.ca

Dose magazine

View the VIBE

rabble.ca



Jobboom

51.ca

VICE magazine

WanderEater Magazine

Democracy North
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Online Media Digital media