Overnight, for Radio-Canada, Canada’s public broadcaster, a social ecosystem on Meta, including more than 106 Facebook accounts and 63 Instagram accounts, were paralyzed, making content inaccessible. The unilateral decision deprived the 83% of French-speaking Canadians who come to the Radio-Canada platform daily from the community and content they consume via these pages.

It’s a cataclysm for all media. The loss of Meta as a traffic referent is critical for certain media, particularly local ones, and affects their chances of survival in an environment where competition has never been on a level playing field. Since then, according to the Canadian Digital Media Research Network, over 212 local media outlets – some 30% of those previously active on social media – are now inactive, having an impact far beyond just the business itself.

Reactivity and a strategic adaptation

Faced with this unprecedented situation, Radio-Canada needed to react quickly to adjust its broadcasting, distribution and marketing strategies on social platforms. As a public medium and key information player, it’s imperative to establish clear guidelines to maintain a solid and direct connection with readers, despite the blockage. In the same vein, and because “buying is voting”, CBC/Radio-Canada also ceased all investment in the platform. Meta’s actions are worrying because they restrict access to reliable local sources of information for Canadians, particularly those in the North, in French-speaking minority communities, and in rural areas. In response, we have joined other news publishers and broadcasters in filing a complaint with the Competition Bureau.

The immediate impact on overall traffic was relatively low, thanks in part to the acquisition of new audiences for our RC Info and RC Ohdio applications. For four years now, as a result of algorithmic changes, we have been observing a gradual and marked decline in referral traffic from Meta, which at its peak accounted for a significant proportion of traffic before 2021. This downward trend accelerated, reaching 0% in the summer of 2023 at the time of the block. The duplication of visitors between our Facebook pages and our website also played a mitigating role, indicating that a portion of users were already diversifying their sources of information. 

An offensive campaign and things looking up

To counter the effect of the Meta blocking, Radio-Canada has launched several offensive advertising campaigns starting in July 2023. Clear, direct messages were broadcast to encourage users to find their information directly on our digital platforms. Among the slogans used: “Don’t wait for someone to block access to your local news” and “Download the Radio-Canada Ohdio app”.

The results of these campaigns were impressive. Between July 3rd and September 3rd, the RC Info app recorded a 166% increase over the previous period. The RC Ohdio app, meanwhile, saw an 83% increase in downloads. These figures, combined with increased visibility on our websites, show that our reorientation strategy has paid off.

Anonymous-to-known: prioritizing reader authentification across platforms

With the urgent need to maintain a direct link with our audiences, the organization has realized the importance of leveraging content consumption on our owned web and apps spaces. The major loss of digital assets on Meta, via the freezing of pages, only amplifies this desire for independence. 

Having top-quality, activatable first-party data, in addition to in-depth knowledge of our audiences, was already on the radar and identified as a high-value strategic action, particularly in the wake of the “cookie apocalypse”… which ultimately won’t happen as we thought it would. The blocking of Meta in Canada only highlights the need to accelerate this shift. 

As a result, a vast strategy of mandatory authentication. Registration, i.e. account creation and login, across all Radio-Canada Group applications, was developed and rolled out in July 2024 to accompany the Paris Olympics. 

With this move, Radio-Canada becomes the first public broadcaster to require authentication on its flagship news app product, notably out of a public service conviction that by being in control of our data, it is possible to manage it more responsibly and ethically than any major global player, while offering a more personalized and engaging experience. 

At the time of writing, Radio-Canada has just passed the milestone of 2.6 million citizen accounts, representing an unrivalled digital asset and enabling the organization to maintain a privileged and direct link, without intermediaries, with its audiences.

> Pins, commenting and seamless login: Graham media, CBC and Toronto Star share registration success stories

Analyzing the long-term impact

One year after Meta was blocked, analyses show that the impact on our overall traffic has remained under control. The loss of traffic from Facebook had begun well before summer 2023, but direct visits, notably to our apps, and those from search engines have increased, more than offsetting the decline. 

In addition, diversifying advertising investments towards other platforms such as TikTok, Google, Amazon, Reddit, Snapchat, to name but a few, has enabled us to capture a younger audience by embedding more on their daily platforms, while maintaining engagement with our products through direct consumption. But it’s not just American platforms. The stalemate has also enabled us to reassess our contribution to the media ecosystem and set more ambitious targets for Canadian investment, particularly in local media, as well as re-evaluating our buying methods in order to keep as much of the investment as possible in publishers’ pockets.

It just goes to show that there are no small gestures, and that we need to stand united against these digital giants.

Towards redefining our relationship with social media platforms 

Today, as the impact of the Meta blockage continues to dissipate, Radio-Canada is resolutely looking to the future. The redefinition of our relationship with social media is underway, and we are pursuing our mission to inform the Canadian public while adapting our strategies to meet the challenges of an ever-changing digital landscape.

To put it another way, existing outside a mass medium like Meta is a bit like taking an unpleasant-tasting medicine to cure an illness. It’s not pleasant at first, but it’s necessary to regain your health and feel better in the long term. Even if the move was abrupt, we have to admit that it was probably the best scenario for breaking free and reinventing oneself.

As we continue to evolve in this new world, fundamental questions arise for the future of our democracy

How can we preserve a healthy public space where truth and informed debate prevail? Where do we draw the line between freedom of expression and state control in a democracy living in the digital age? How can we regulate platforms that know no borders, to avoid undue manipulation of information?

What is ethical responsibility in the digital world? How can we get the technology giants to assume their responsibility towards society in the same way as other media?

What does it mean to inform and be informed in 2024? In a world where anyone can become a media outlet, where the boundaries between content and source are blurring, and where the definition of information is increasingly subjective, the role of the media is undergoing a radical transformation. How can we reinvent dialogue to overcome the prevailing mistrust and win back the trust of citizens? 

At Radio-Canada, we are exploring various initiatives to address these issues and continue to fulfill our mandate: to inform, enlighten and entertain French-speaking audiences across the country. Through these efforts, we are committed to staying close to our audience, while adapting our approach to evolving uses and new audience expectations. 

On stage:

• Dustin Block, Audience Development Lead at Graham Media Group
• Elliot NG, Director Customer Experience & Loyalty at CBC
• Ashley Hawley, Head of Product at Toronto Star

Graham Media Group

The context: Graham Media Group is a local TV/broadcasting brand in the US.

An audience role was only formally established in 2018 where the focus was on large, unknown audiences. But Dustin asked, so what? What does this translate to in a meaningful way?

The strategy: actually engaging audiences, prioritizing data to focus on better understanding audience behavior

The solution: build a membership program, something that was pretty unheard of in TV/broadcasting at the time

The goal was to develop a strategy that took dependency off other platforms to prioritize audience engagement and community building. Users would be encouraged to create an account via the registration wall to move through the funnel towards being ‘insiders’ who come back regularly to the site, attend events and contribute to User Generated Content, including:

• Comment sections and community, which has turned into a huge source of value for readers, especially when journalist are in the comment section, responding to readers
• Community Help Desk where audiences can file tickets with information that the newsroom needs
• ‘Pins’ photo and video sharing platform​

Pins: looking at social media platforms for inspiration

Learning from these explosive growth companies, the team wanted to create an addictive quality, something that users wanted to keep coming back to and thought of first when an event happened. So, they launched ‘Pins’, a photo and video sharing platform, reserved for registered users. This content that then be seen by other members and shared in broadcast and digital stories.

For instance, below is an example of photos sent in during a hail storm in Texas. 500 users posted a pin.

Building internal confidence in Pins

One essential in Pins’ success was the focus on internal buy-in:

• Launched a ‘10×10’ product sprint to update the platform (10 updates in 10 weeks) and put out release notes everyday to build enthusiasm around the platform. Before this sprint, they averaged at 77 pins shared across the group. Today, they average at 145 pins shared per day. The goal for 2024 is 175 pins per day.
• Used an “Ideas” portal so anyone in the company could send product feedback to win internal support needed to promote the tool (personal advocacy behind ideas)
• Releasing an update each week with improvements

73% of “Pins” users in the past year remain​ engaged with their local GMG brand. ​

The next goal is to take this a step further by training insiders as Citizen Reporters with Pins​.

Building products for registered users adds value, deepens engagement, and supports retention

The value of registration and adding value to this membership product has been proven time and time again.

• Nearly 600,000 registered users ​
• 30,000 daily logged-in users​ (an essential new KPI)
• Insiders are 15x more valuable than an average user
•  10%+ conversion rates on targeted marketing​ for high-value outcomes
•  Built a consumer revenue stream​ around events
•  Shifted strategic focus to loyal and engaged audiences

> You’ll also enjoy: A single account across Switzerland: how OneLog is changing the registration game for digital publishers and readers

CBC

The context: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is the Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. They have a split funding model from the government and commercial revenue.

The strategy: boost daily active users on CBC Gem (their on-demand streaming platform) and focus on post-registration end-to-end funnel optimization

The solution: content windowing strategy (registration wall) with a new, seamless login and improved product experience

In implementing this login strategy to CBC Gem, the team identified 4 key considerations:

• Customers: What’s changing? What do I have to do to keep watching? How can I login seamlessly? How can I continue to watch on my Smart TV?
• Data: How many customers do we have? How to segment?
• Legal: What’s within the Canadian anti-spam compliance law?
• Sales: What’s the quickest way to get anonymous customers to login without losing ad impressions?

The solutions:

• Login seamlessly – make sure customers know that they can login with their previous CBC login methods

• Eliminate surprise – inspired by BBC’s authentification approach, the CBC team chose to communicate the change ahead of the change. Tactics included email, in-product modal, targeted video ads, employee comms, roadshows and additional CX training
• Drive Connected TV viewing – use advanced analytics to connect marketing campaigns to Connected TV stream

Toronto Star

The context: Toronto Star is a Canadian daily newspaper owned by Torstar Media Group. They’ve had registration on their site for quite some time, and these members have proven to be 15x more likely to subscribe. But there was some disconnect for users in terms of what they were getting. Why should someone register? What would they get as a result of this action?

The strategy: an exploration into the functionalities and experiences that should be unlocked for registered users to drive engagement

The solution: unlocking commenting for non-subscribers, notification bell and AMAs

Commenting

Commenting below articles proved to be a solution to 2 issues:

• Tying commenting to registration ensured that all commenters were de-anonymized and agreed to the publisher’s code of conduct. This helps to create a higher quality comments section and safer, more valuable community environment that users feel enticed to partake in.
• Commenting could help to both drive registrations and provide an experience that wasn’t available to anonymous users

Using commenting to drive registration growth

Previously, commenting was behind the paywall, reserved for subscribed. The first decision made was to open the comments section up, creating a sense of FOMO whereby readers feel like they’re missing out on the value in the article and eventually want to subscribe.

If a user tries to like a comment, share a comment or reply to one, they’re immediately encouraged to register. Almost immediately, this had a hugely positive impact on conversions and engagement:

• Time Spent within the commenting section increased 30%
• 26% increase in new commenters
• 55% increase in anonymous comment readers
• 71% increase in users clicking to other “Active Conversations” (Recirculation)
• Registrations increased 72% and now account for 25% of all registrations
• 405% increase in logins

Using Viafoura’s community suite and working with their moderation team has also been fundamental in this success.

Notifications bell and menu

Taking this engagement further, and to bring value directly to commenters, the team integrated a notifications bell and menu into their logged user’s header bar.

When commenters arrive on the site, they’re immediately alerted of replies and brought back to the content to continue the conversation. This has proven to be very valuable for recirculation purposes – people return to the content, whether it was evergreen or not, to continue the conversation.

They’ll also receive a notification email, which has a 24% CTR, bringing them back to the platform to engage further.

• Volume of comments increased by 60%
• Comments per article increased 21%
• Likes/Dislikes on comments increased 63%
• Replies to comments increased 79%
• Clicks on “More Active Conversations” increased 40% (this user is already engaged in the comments section, so this allows them to get involved in other conversations on the site)
• Time Spent in Comment section increased 51% when compared to period after launching below paywall

Ask Me Anything

The Toronto Star has seen great success with the Billionaire Murders podcast, but the majority of this engagement was off-platform. The question was ultimately how can these audiences be brought back to their own platform? How can The Star create unique experiences for these users that they’re not getting already with the podcast?

The solution was a masterpiece collaboration between product, marketing and the newsroom – an Ask Me Anything feature. Following every new episode release, users can submit questions that Kevin (the podcast host) would answer in the comments section.

With its success, these AMAs are evolving, with versions for election coverage and now video stream AMAs with a journalist and moderator. These unique experiences draw users back to the publisher’s own platform.