Canadian Heritage tried very hard to find parameters to measure viewership across all of the platforms. It is a complex task because the information providers are very diverse. However, several of them fall under the CRTC's purview, which helps the department have access to data before preparing its annual report.
The method developed by Canadian Heritage seems to be the closest to reality. However, in the study entitled Seen on Screens: Viewing Canadian Feature Films on Multiple Platforms 2007 to 2013, released this week by that department, there is a footnote which, unfortunately, we are going to see increasingly often, because we are going to have more and more trouble having access to that information. The problem is that the VOD, video on demand data only comes from businesses that have a CRTC licence. There are many businesses, and new ones are being created every day both in Canada and abroad that provide services that consumers adopt. We have no information on those businesses.
Last fall during its hearings, the CRTC tried as best it could to obtain information on Netflix, for example, but it was unable to do so. In the course of the “Let's Talk TV” review last March 14, hybrid VOD services were exempted from the policy. It is reasonable to think consequently that we will not have access to that information, and that is worrisome for you as decision makers, and for stakeholders like ourselves, who must direct policy and understand how consumers are going to act in this very fluid, constantly evolving environment.
Things used to evolve quite slowly before this. Now there is an extremely rapid evolution in consumption because of the rapid development of technology. Unfortunately, it will be increasingly difficult to know where Canadians are getting their films and videos.