Neither C stands for Communication

Sometimes I work at the CBC. I am always a fan of the CBC, not a fan of everything the Corp does, or every show they put on but certainly a fan of the CBC itself. Speaking strictly as a viewer of the CBC, one of my chief problems is a lack of information. Sadly, the Corp seems better at informing people about new IT security procedures than new program offerings. It is not enough to say, the information is there for those who are interested. You cannot expect your audience to dig for information.

I am more in the loop than most people when it comes to the CBC but entire programs have come and gone without my hearing anything about them. So, if there were to be something special about a particular episode there is very little chance I would hear about it. Say, for example, that the Tragically Hip were going to be on the Hour, I probably wouldn't know unless it was after the fact.

Personally I sometimes get emails, phone calls or find out in casual conversation about these things. The only place I ever actually see advertising for them though is on the CBC's own air or occasionally on the Toronto subway. So, if I were a person who didn't watch or listen to the CBC regularly or if I were a person who was simply very busy and hadn't watched or listened in several days there is absolutely no way I would find out what was coming up.

I know that the CBC doesn't have alot of money and I know that if they spent alot on external advertising there are alot of people who would get very angry. But the employees of the CBC demonstrated very effectively in the 2005 lockout that it doesn't take alot of money to generate buzz. The reality is that in 2005 word of mouth is the most effective, cost efficient form of advertising there is and the CBC is a in a stronger position to generate this kind of advertising than any of the commercial networks.

Getting your audience to do some of your advertising is known in marketing circles as 'viral marketing'. But viral marketing isn't accessible to everyone. You cannot, for example, get people to generate buzz about the big mac. People do not like to feel as if they are being used for commercial purposes. In other words, they don't want to be used to make money for someone else.

In order to do this though, the CBC must build more of a sense of community around their programs. This doesn't mean just talking to the audience, but listening to them, getting feedback from them and responding to that feedback. (How many at the CBC can name 10 of their audience members whom they don't know personally?) By having an ongoing, two way conversation with members of the audience the CBC can make the audience feel a part of the show. If the audience feels a part of the show then, like those who work on the actual production, they will be likely to talk about the show with friends and family and to feel a personal stake in the show's success.

It is obvious from the ratings numbers that CBC television needs to build their audience. While I don't like all of the new programming, none of it is as bad as it's numbers would imply. As I said at the start though, if the only way people can find out about this programming is by watching the CBC, and people aren't watching the CBC the numbers are unlikely to go up regardless of what is put on the air. New viewers need to be lured in by approaching people one at a time if necessary.

I would strongly encourage the CBC to invest heavily in blogs (blogs with feeds and that allow comments.) after all, to alot of people Ouimet has become the official spokesperson of the corp. To me he/she is at least a ray of hope for the future of the CBC. Blogs, and not just show blogs but personal blogs by employees should be strongly encouraged. Additionally, newsgroups, bulletin boards, and social networking sites should all be utilized to find, and communicate with current and potential audience members.

This is not something that can be outsourced. In order to communicate effectively the people doing all this must be directly in touch with show creators. It may be necessary to bring in extra people to facilitate this - but it is still less expensive and more effective than a mass advertising campaign and I fear that without it the downward spiral of ratings will only get worse.

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