Canada’s Screen Agencies Want Your Audience Data

Five public screen bodies have hired Léger to survey how producers, distributors, broadcasters, cinemas and festivals use audience data, with findings promised in early 2027.

By Andrew Lovesey October 13, 2026 3 min read

Photo: Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Canada’s public screen agencies have spent years funding stories without a shared picture of who watches them. That is the gap the National Audience Data Consortium wants to close, and it now needs the industry’s help to do it.

In a release dated 6 October, the consortium, made up of the Canada Media Fund, CBC/Radio-Canada, the Indigenous Screen Office, the National Film Board of Canada and Telefilm Canada, said it is “moving into a new phase of its work to strengthen the Canadian audiovisual sector’s understanding of audiences.”

What the survey asks

The research firm Léger is running an independent online survey. According to the release, it will “gather insights on current audience data practices, organizational capacity, available tools and sources”, and explore the challenges organizations face in accessing, analyzing and applying audience information.

The survey is not an open call. Léger began contacting selected professionals and organizations directly on 8 October, drawing from production and creation, distribution, broadcasting, exhibition and festivals. If you work in any of those areas and an email from Léger has landed in your inbox, this is what it is.

The consortium says it expects to share key findings, plus an update on its progress and next steps, with the industry in early 2027.

Where this started

The partnership was first announced on 21 August 2025 by Telefilm, the CMF, the ISO and the NFB, as one of several projects to come out of the federal audiovisual leadership table working with Canadian Heritage. CBC/Radio-Canada is named as a member in this month’s release.

At launch, the partners set out to standardize how audience data is measured and collected, to build audience-centred strategies for Canadian and Indigenous film, television, documentary and animation, and to improve the visibility of that work on digital platforms and in cinemas. Telefilm says the effort builds on its own consultation with more than 50 industry companies and partners.

The agency heads framed it plainly at the time. Valerie Creighton, president and CEO of the CMF, said: “By modernizing how we gather and share audience insights, we will ensure the viability of Canadian content in an era of rapid broadcast and digital change.” Kerry Swanson, CEO of the ISO, said stronger data would help the sector “better understand how Indigenous stories are discovered, shared and watched.”

Since then, according to this month’s release, members have agreed a shared vision and mission and begun mapping their internal audience data resources, measurement tools and practices.

Why it matters to viewers

The release puts the case simply: meaningful audience insights help organizations understand “how audiences discover and engage with stories.” For viewers, the practical question is why a Canadian film or series can be funded, made and released and still be hard to find. Funders that cannot see how audiences actually find titles across cinemas, broadcasters and streamers have little to go on when deciding where to put marketing and distribution money. A common baseline is the first step; what the agencies do with it in 2027 is the part to watch.

What it means for you

Industry professionals: if Léger contacts you, your answers feed the baseline every one of these funders will plan from. Participation details come directly from Léger.
Producers and distributors: expect audience evidence to carry more weight in future funding conversations as these agencies align how they measure it.
Cinemas and festivals: exhibition is named in the survey’s scope, so box office and attendance data are part of the picture, not an afterthought.
Viewers: nothing changes on your screen yet; the first findings are due in early 2027.