Canadian National Study on Kids TV

A National Study on Children’s Television Programming in Canada

A Content Analysis Conducted for the

Alliance for Children and TelevisionL’Alliance pour l’enfant et la télévision

by / par

The Centre for Youth and Media StudiesLe groupe de recherche sur les jeunes et les médias

Département de communicationUniversité de Montréal

Research Team

Dr. André H. CaronDr. Letizia CaroniaDr. Jennie M. HwangDr. Boris H. J. M. Brummans

Research Assistants

Geneviève Bourret-RoyAlexandre Caron Pierre-Luc ChabotCatherine DuludeGabrielle Fontaine-GirouxMarc-André Gauthier

Technical Assistants

Jeremie NoletYvon Bergeron

Contact details

Dr. André H. CaronDirector of the Centre for Youth and Media StudiesGRJM/CYMS, Département de communication, C.P. 6128, succursale centre-villeMontréal QC Canada H3C 3J7Phone: 01 514 343 7828Fax: 01 514 343 2298Email: [email protected]

Centre for Youth and Media Studies/ Groupe de recherche sur les jeunes et les médias

Département de communication, Université de Montréal

A National Study on Children’s Television

Programming in Canada

Background

For 35 years, the Alliance for Children and Television (ACT-AET) has been monitoring the quality of Canadian chil-dren’s television and all screen-based content, and actively contributing to the vitality of the industry. The ACT-AET also actively undertakes research projects to advance understand-ing of children’s television and multi-platform issues. Working with the CRTC and other government agencies, the ACT-AET continues investigating issues concerning screen-based content for children in Canada.

The current national study on children’s television program-ming in Canada, sponsored and supported by the ACT-AET and CTVglobemedia (CTVgm) through the CTVgm/CHUM tangible benefits, provides a unique and timely analysis of children’s programming in Canada at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. This groundbreaking national content analysis study was led by a team from researchers of the Centre for Youth and Media Studies at the Département de Communica-tion at the Université de Montréal, under the supervision of Dr. André H. Caron, Ed.D.

4 © 2010 GRJM/CYMS, All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Background 4Table of Contents 5Introduction 7Sample 8Results 9 Children’s Programming on Canadian Television: What Is Available and When? 9 What Are the Countries of Origin of Children’s Programs on Canadian Television? 10 What Are the Program Characteristics? 11 What Are the Main Character Attributes? 11 A Closer Look at Cultural Activities and the Use of ICTs in Children’s Programs 13 Is There Diversity in Children’s Programming? 13

Comparing Program Characteristics 15 Do Children’s Programs Differ in Terms of Types of Television Broadcasters? 15 Is the Content of Animated Children’s Programs Different from Live-Action Ones? 18 What Are the Differences between English- and French-Language Children’s Programs? 19 How Are Preschool Programs Different from Those Scheduled for 6-12 Year Olds? 20 Are There Gender Differences between the Main Characters in Children’s Programming? 21 To What Extent Do Canadian Productions Distinguish Themselves from Those of Other Countries? 22

Are Canadian Productions Scheduled in Kids’ Prime Time? 26

Analysis of Audience Reception Data 27 Top 100 Children’s Programs 27 Top 10 Children’s Programs 28 Final Notes on Audience Reception Data 30

Conclusions 31References 32Appendix A : Methodology 33 Content Measures 33 Coding Procedures and Reliability 35

Appendix B : Top 100 Children’s Programs, English Canada 2-6 Year Olds 36Appendix C : Top 100 Children’s Programs, English Canada 7-11 Year Olds 38Appendix D : Top 100 Children’s Programs, French Canada 2-6 Year Olds 40Appendix E : Top 100 Children’s Programs, French Canada 7-11 Year Olds 42

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Introduction

The Alliance for Children and Television (ACT-AET) established a partnership with the Centre for Youth and Media Studies (GRJM/CYMS) at the Université de Montréal to conduct a study of television programming for Canadian youth (children 2-12 years old). The current project has been pre-sented at the Children, Youth & Media Conference at Toronto, November, 2009, a special invited session at the CRTC in Janu-ary, 2010, and will be presented at the Karlstad World Summit meeting on children and media in June 2010 in Sweden.

With approximately 5.6 million children between 0-14 years old, young people comprise more than one sixth (17.5%) of Canada’s total population. Almost half (48%) of the 8 to 15 year old Canadian children have their own televisions (Canadian Teacher’s Federation, 2003). Canadian preschoolers (2-6 years old) are estimated to spend approximately 19 hours (18.8) per week watching television, and this number is in the same range for older children (7-12 years old) (BBM Canada, 2009). Young Canadians are not only our future but will also give television a future on whatever platform the content will be viewed. For these reasons, children’s television programming should be a central priority of the broadcasting industry and the funding and regulatory institutions.

Canadian children’s programming has been widely recognized for its high quality, but what is the state of this programming in 2010? To address this issue, the current study went beyond the focus of traditional studies on television violence and stereo-types, and looked at other relevant questions for understanding the new media landscape. For example, are Canadian produc-tions different from productions from other countries? Consid-ering Canada’s new demographic realities, how are visible mi-norities and/or Aboriginal people being portrayed on children’s TV? Are seniors present in children’s programs? What is the overall level of well-being of the characters presented? Do they engage in cultural activities? Do they read, play music, or paint? Are they environmentally conscious? How much of Canadian culture is really present? Do Canadian children prefer Canadian productions?

Questions like these guided this nationally representative con-tent analysis of children’s programming in Canada, whose re-sults are reported here. Content analysis is designed for media studies that uses systematic, replicable techniques for com-pressing large numbers of texts (visual content included) into content categories based on explicit coding rules. The results of the content analysis in this report provide the industry with an overall portrait of where children’s programming stands, what its strengths are, and what new paths could be consid-ered. However, this report goes one step further by providing an analysis of audience viewing behavior. This allows us to see what programs young Canadians are actually watching, at what time, and what are the most popular shows. Detailed methodo-logical information, such as the development of specific content measures that were unique to this study, and matters related to

inter-coder reliability will be discussed at the end of the report.

The second phase of this study, which will be conducted in the coming year, will focus on the ways children and parents ap-propriate media and media content. This research will further explore the role of media content in young people’s lives based on their media usage (including the Internet) and the meanings they give to media during daily social interactions with family and friends.

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Sample

In the week of March 30 to April 5, 2009, over four thousand (4,102) children’s television programs were broadcast by the major Canadian television broadcasters and recorded for this study. In total, these programs included more than one thousand (1,065) hours of children’s programming across nineteen broadcasters. These television broadcasters included ACCESS, APTN, BBC Kids (CANWEST MEDIAWORKS), CBC, CFTO/CTV, Discovery Kids, Family Channel, Knowledge, SRC, SCN, TELETOON English, TELETOON French, Treehouse, TQS, TVO, TFO, Télé-Québec, VRAK, and YTV.

During a four-week period in June 2009, the research team of the Centre for Youth and Media Studies (CYMS/GRJM) at the Université de Montréal systematically developed a coding scheme. The coding scheme organized these 4,000 plus pro-grams based on the network and the number of program series that were broadcast. It allowed the team to create a nationally representative sample for the content analysis.

The first criterion for selecting a representative sample was the program unit. The sample included all individual programs and at least one episode of each of the series broadcast. The second criterion was the length of the program. The content analysis focused on programs that were at least five minutes in length.1 Thus, the final representative sample included close to 200 hours (196 hours and 22 minutes in total) and more than 500 (563) programs.

1 Of the more than 1,000 hours of recorded programs, about 30 hours were excluded. These programs were either less than five minutes in length or feature movies of 2 hours or more.


Results

Children’s Programming on Canadian Televi-sion: What Is Available and When?

Children’s television programs were broadcast in Canada throughout the week (i.e., 69% during weekdays and the rest during weekends) and were available throughout the day from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. More than half (54%) of them were broadcast in the morning between 6:00 – 11:59 a.m., and the rest were broadcast in the afternoon and early evening (34% and 10%, respectively).

Regarding programs’ target audiences, more than half (55%) of the children’s programs targeted 6-12 year olds; 42% of the pro-grams targeted preschoolers; and 3% targeted other audiences (e.g., 13+ teens). Looking at the program schedule and target audience together, preschool programs were mostly broadcast in the morning, while programs targeting 6-12 year olds were aired more in the afternoon (see Table 1).

Furthermore, several cues (e.g., viewer advisories and on-screen ratings) are available to help parents control children’s TV viewing. For instance, one can watch the on-screen rating appearing in the top left-hand corner of the screen at the be-ginning of each TV program and after each commercial break. These content ratings for children’s programming are provided by Canadian broadcasters. Our analysis shows that 85% of chil-dren’s programs showed specific ratings (e.g., C, C8+, G, and PG) to indicate age appropriate content. Another indicator that al-lows young viewers and their parents to determine whether a program is a Canadian production is to look for a small icon of a Canadian flag in the opening scene. Accordingly, we found that less than 5% (4.5%) of children’s programs were identified as such, and all were provided by the same TV broadcaster. More information about Canadian productions will be provided later.

Generally, four types of TV broadcasters are present in the Canadian broadcasting industry: educational, specialty, public generalist and private generalist. Both educational and spe-cialty broadcasters accounted for more than 90% of children’s programming in Canada (41% and 49%, respectively), followed by public (9%) and private (1%) generalist broadcasters (see Ta-ble 2).2

2 Only two private generalist broadcasters were included in this study and the rest informed us that they did not broadcast programs for 2-12 year olds.Table 1 Children’s Program Schedule by

Target Audience

Weekday Preschool 6-12

Morning 74% 37%

Afternoon 22% 48%

Evening 4% 15%

Night 0% 0%

Weekend Preschool 6-12

Morning 67% 57%

Afternoon 29% 31%

Evening 4% 10%

Night 0% 2%

Note: n = number of programs

Table 2 Type of TV BroadcastersType of TV Broadcasters n %

Educational 232 41%

Public Generalist 50 9%

Private Generalist 6 1%

Specialty 275 49%

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Our study also investigated the degree to which Canadian chil-dren were exposed to specific cultural elements of their coun-try. The results showed that about one in six (16%) children’s programs depicted a number of Canadian identities/references (e.g., the Canadian flag, Québec flag, CN tower, Québec City, bilingual signs). Looking more closely at these programs, we found that one out of three (34%) were Canadian productions.

In terms of other types of identities/references, such as reli-gious symbols in children’s programs, only 6% of the programs contained or mentioned such examples. They included Christ-mas holidays, the Christian cross, and yin and yang (taiji).

What Are the Countries of Origin of Children’s Programs on Canadian Television?

In addition to a complex network of TV broadcasting, Canada has a distinctive communication system that reflects its dual cultural origins as well as other ethnic groups through differ-ent broadcast languages. Among the 563 children’s programs analyzed, about two thirds (67%) were broadcast in English, and the rest in French (30%) and other languages (1%; Aboriginal languages3). Most children’s programs (97%) did not include any subtitles.

When it comes to the country of origin of children’s programs, over thirty countries of production were found in our sample. Specifically, close to half of the children’s programs on Canadian television were Canadian productions and Canadian co-produc-tions (36.4% and 11.5%, respectively); 8.9% were Canadian and American co-ventures; 23.6% were U.S. productions; and the rest (19.6%) were other foreign productions (UK, France, Aus-tralia, Japan, etc.).

3 The Aboriginal languages that were present in our sample included Cree, Inuktitut, Innu, Ojibway, and Tlingit.


What Are the Main Character Attributes?

Who Are the Main Characters and Where Do They Appear in Children’s Programs?

As mentioned earlier, over sixteen hundred main characters were identified in our sample. Looking at the main characters on children’s television in Canada, human-type characters were seen the most (63%), followed by animal-type characters (22%), supernatural creatures (9%), and other types of characters (6%). In terms of gender, 61% of the main characters were male and 36% female; 3% of them were gender unspecific.

Many of these characters were introduced to the storyline in a home setting (34%, living room, backyard, etc.) as well as in nature (19%, such as beach, forest) and public space (19%, in-cluding street, square, etc.) (see Figure 3). More than one in four (28%) of them appeared to have family and nearly nine in ten (89%) maintained a good relationship with their family members.

What Are the Program Characteristics?

Having presented the context of children’s programming on Canadian TV, the following section focuses on specific program characteristics and relevant character attributes in children’s programs. In our sample, over sixteen hundred (1,613) unique main characters were identified.

What Kinds of Program Genres Are Found in Children’s Programming?

Among the 563 children’s programs analyzed, animation (59%) was the most dominate genre on Canadian television, followed by live-action (26%), mixed genre (combination of previous gen-res mentioned, 13%), and puppets (2%) (see Figure 1). Within animation programs, 2D and/or traditional animation (70%) were the most used techniques (besides stop-motion or 3D ani-mation).

Looking at the time period in which the program took place, more than nine in ten (93%) were in the present; 3% were about the past; 1% about the future.

What Are the Most Prevalent Program Categories in Children’s Programming?

Different types of program categories were analyzed to clas-sify the format of children’s programs. These included action/adventure (i.e., action-oriented rather than dialogue, usually involving exciting experiences), comedy, drama, formal educa-tion (i.e., subject-matter curriculum), informal education (i.e., recreation & leisure activities to develop skills and knowledge), and mixed category (combination of previous mentioned cat-egories). Most of the 200 hours of children’s programming were either some form of informal education or action/adventure (39% and 29%, respectively) (see Figure 2).

Live-action26%

Animation59%

Puppets2%

Mix13%

Figure 1 Program Genre

Figure 2 Program Category

Figure 3 Context of Character’s First Appearance

Action/Adventure29%

Comedy8%

Drama10 %

Formal Education4%

Informal Education39%

Mix and Other11%

Home34%

School10%

Work10%

Public space19%

Nature space19%

Other8%

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How Do the Main Characters Feel about Them-selves in Children’s Programs?

All main characters were evaluated in terms of their roles and their relation to others in the storyline. Close to nine out of ten (88%) were good in nature and only about one in ten (9%)

Specifically, when it comes to human-type characters, their so-cial age, race, apparent height and weight, and interracial/in-tercultural interactions were analyzed (see Table 3)4. The results showed that there were more adult characters (39%, ages 18 to 64 years) than teens (30%, ages 13 to 17 years) and elementary school children (25%, 6-12 years). Few were babies/toddlers (0-5) and seniors (65+) (3% for both age groups). Most human-type characters in our sample were of average height (93%) and weight (95%).

Regarding the race of human-type characters and their inter-racial/intercultural interactions, nearly eight in ten (78%) were identified as European white, less than one in ten (8%) as Black, 6% as Asian, 5% as Aboriginals, 2% as Latinos, and 1% as Middle Eastern.

In terms of their interracial interactions, about half of them (48%) interacted exclusively with people from the same race/culture, and the other half (52%) interacted with people from their own and different race(s)/culture(s). Nonetheless, charac-ters with a disability were rarely seen in our sample (0.3%).

4 The number of human-type characters varies in the following analysis. This variation is due to missing data for different variables. Overall, the maximum number of cases was used.

Table 3 Profile of Human-Type CharactersSocial Age % Height %

Baby/toddler 3% Short 3%

Child 25% Medium 93%

Teen 30% Tall 4%

Adult 39%

Senior 3%

Race % Weight %

European white 78% Thin 1%

Middle Eastern 1% Medium 95%

Black 8% Heavy 4%

Aboriginal 5%

Asian 6%

Latino 2%


Is There Diversity in Children’s Programming?

As suggested in the introduction, the current study used new approaches to examine the inclusion of several unique elements in children’s programming on Canadian TV, such as measures of diversity, positive program issues and human social values.

Based on previous analysis of human-type characters’ races and their interracial interactions, we learned that although the ma-jority of them were European white, they also interacted with other people from different racial or cultural backgrounds. This observation was further examined by looking more closely at another program variable, the presence of visible minorities and/or Canadian Aboriginal people. We found that about four out of ten (42%) children’s programs presented such characters. Moreover, when it comes to references to human social values in children’s programs, close to one in four (22%) of the pro-grams emphasized “friendship with people from other races/cultures.”

By examining the dominance of positive program issues, to which explicit reference of several positive program issues was made in the storyline, we also found that more than two-thirds (70%) of children’s programs explicitly addressed “encouraging positive social values,” more than half (54%) explicitly demon-strated “understanding about the world we live in,” and more than one in three (36%) specifically stimulated “reflection, crea-tivity and interactivity in the viewer.”

All these program characteristics, along with the results of char-acters analysis, showed that children’s programming on Cana-dian TV exhibited quality content in terms of diversity and posi-tive values.

What Are the Themes Addressed in Children’s Programming?

Next, our analysis focused on program themes and other rel-evant information related to this variable. The program theme refers to a specific and distinct message or concern of a chil-dren’s program. In our sample, more than one in three (34%) of the programs focused on social relationships, followed by close to one in four (23%) on learning and 18% on action/adventure (see Figure 4). These results actually match our previous find-ings of program categories: most of the children’s programs were categorized as either educational or adventurous, and their central theme reflected the nature of the informative and entertaining aspects of the storyline.

However, two program themes were found to be less prevalent in our sample. First, only 2% of the children’s programs focused on environmentalism. Similar findings showed that only slightly more than one in ten (13%) children’s programs made explicit references to “respect for the environment and nature.” Also

played the role of bad (even villainous) characters. When ex-amining characters’ relation to others, the results were similar; that is, more than eight in ten were protagonists or supporters of protagonists (49% and 35%, respectively), while just one in ten were antagonists or supporters of antagonists (9% and 1%, respectively); the rest were neutral (6%).

Not surprisingly, most of these main characters in children’s programs were good-natured. Looking a little closer at their emotional well-being5 in the ways they feel and react in most social interactions, we found that these characters exhibited relatively strong pleasant feelings (the average was 5.71 on a seven-point scale), which reflected high ratings in terms of be-ing positive, good, pleasant, interested, happy, contented, lov-ing, and joyful.

Overall, based on the above results, main characters in chil-dren’s programs were quite good, happy and positive.

Do the Main Characters Go to Movies or Visit a Museum? Do They Use Computers? – A Closer Look at Cultural Activities and the Use of New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Children’s Programs

The current study aimed to understand cultural appreciation in children’s programming through characters’ daily activities. In addition, we were interested in knowing the current depiction of the use of new ICTs in children’s television.

We found that one out of four (27%) of these main charac-ters engaged in cultural production (painting/drawing, writ-ing, dancing, etc.) and more than one in ten (13%) characters engaged in cultural consumption activities, including reading, visiting an exhibition, museum or zoo, and going to the movies.

In light of the growing popularity of new ICTs in people’s daily lives, it was surprising that only a little more than one in four (28%) of the children’s programs showed a number of such technologies, including desktop/laptop computers, cellular phones, or futuristic gadgets. Furthermore, when looking at the program characters, we found that more than one in ten (13%) used new ICTs in the programs.

We also analyzed whether a program website or a URL was presented to young television viewers, because multiplatform delivery of media content has been used by TV broadcasters for various purposes, like informing their audiences about upcom-ing programs, providing additional entertainment, and so forth. Only 6% of the programs provided such information within the programming.

5 Over one thousand (1,062) main characters were analyzed for their emotional well-being.

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SummaryThe results of this first part of our analysis help us answer some key questions about the overall content of children’s television in terms of program genre, diversity, type of characters and gender representation, as well as characters’ overall level of well-being and cultural activities.

The findings of our study indicate that Canadian children are offered high quality content with positive values, but that some broadcasters are not contributing as much as they could in terms of number of programs (few were offered by the private generalists), diversity of genres (i.e., high prevalence of anima-tion with less comedy and drama) and amount of Canadian pro-ductions (on average 50% of Canadian productions in the late 1990s vs. 36% today). In the next part of our report, we will fur-ther examine the differences between types of TV broadcasters in relation to different program genres.

Our analysis also shows that with respect to the issue of di-versity, almost half of the programs depicted visible minori-ties and/or Canadian Aboriginals; about a quarter of the main characters engaged in cultural production and more than one in ten engaged in cultural consumption. Although the majority of the human characters in children’s programs were European white, these characters interacted with people from different cultures as well as their own. Specifically, more than two-thirds of children’s programs explicitly addressed “encouraging posi-tive social values,” and more than half explicitly demonstrated “understanding about the world we live in.” One question to investigate in more detail based on these findings is how Ca-nadian productions distinguish themselves from those of other countries. Hence, a detailed analysis of different countries of origin will be provided in the next section of the report.

As far as the main characters are concerned, the results show that more than 60% were humans, and the rest were animals (22%) and supernatural creatures (9%). In addition, the repre-sentation of males and females was not equal (i.e., more male than female characters were shown). Based on these results, it will be interesting to examine main characters’ gender differ-ences in relation to their types. It will also be worth investigat-ing gender differences in relation to other characters attributes, such as their emotional well-being and cultural activities.

Interestingly, very few senior and disabled people appeared in the programs we analyzed. In this regard, we may question why Canadian children are not more exposed to such realities of Ca-nadian society.

looking at main characters’ ecological practices, less than one in ten (8%) of the characters engaged in such behavior (or dem-onstrated this awareness or concern). Recycling was often the most observed behavior.

Second, we found that fighting/violence (6%) was rarely a central theme in children’s programs. This finding was further examined in terms of specific violent behaviors of the main characters. Past content analysis measures of violence often investigated merely the sheer amount of violence on chil-dren’s television. However, we found it more important to also focus on the type of violence in use and its consequences. In our study, only about one in ten (12%) of the main characters engaged in violent behaviors, whereas most of the characters were not aggressive toward each other either physically or ver-bally. With such small numbers of violent incidents, it became trivial to report the types and consequences.

Despite the small amount of violence in children’s programs, we were interested in the ways main characters solve major con-flicts they encounter. Hence, we analyzed their problem solving/management style. We found that more than two-thirds (73%) of the main characters did not encounter any major problems or conflicts. The rest of the main characters either solved the problem by competing (19%) or collaborating (4%) and accom-modating (1%); 3% decided to avoid the problem completely.

Fighting, violence, conflict

6%

Social relationships34%

Environmentalism2%Play, games

9%

Adventure18%

Learning23%

Other7%

Figure 4 Program Theme


Comparing Program Characteristics

Do Children’s Programs Differ in Terms of Types of Television Broadcasters?

As we know, there are four types of television broadcasters that air children’s programs in Canada. They are educational, public generalist, private generalist, and specialty broadcasters. The comparison* presented here will only include educational, public generalist and specialty television broadcasters, given that the number of programs private generalists provided was extremely limited.

How do types of TV broadcasters differ in terms of their program target audiences?

First of all, children’s programs for our two distinct target audi-ences (i.e., preschoolers and the 6-12 year olds) were compared among the three types of TV broadcasters. This relationship was found to be statistically significant (p < .01). Both educa-tional broadcasters and public generalist broadcasters sched-uled more than half of their children’s programs for preschool-ers (55% and 62%, respectively), whereas more than two-thirds (70%) of the specialty broadcasters’ children programs targeted children between 6-12 years old (see Figure 5).

How important is the animation genre?

The relationship between program genre and types of TV broad-casters was also found to be statistically significant (p < .01). Within public generalists, more than eight out of ten (82%) pro-grams were animation. Although educational broadcasters also scored high in animation (53%), the next most prevalent genre was live-action (32%). Specialty broadcasters had the second highest percentage of animation (61%), followed by live-action (25%). Interestingly, the overwhelming presence of animation in public generalist programs leaves very little room for much diversity in their programming (see Figure 6).

After having looked at the general landscape of chil-dren’s TV, we will now look at comparisons between specific program characteristics and character attributes. As mentioned earlier, this advanced analysis will show detailed information about the differences between two measures and it helps to ex-plores questions, such as: Can we find differences in children’s programming in terms of types of television broadcasters? How are the preschool programs different from those scheduled for 6-12 year olds? Is the content of animated children’s programs different from live-action ones? Are there gender differences be-tween the main characters in children’s programming? What are the differences between English and French language chil-dren’s programs? To what extent do Canadian productions dis-tinguish themselves from those of other countries?

These six questions were examined by using Chi-square analy-sis.6 Hence, the program and character variables that were selected for this kind of analysis included: types of TV broad-casters, program genre, target audience, broadcast language, gender of the main characters, and country of origin.

6 The Chi-square analysis allows us to investigate the statistical significance of the association between different program and character vari-ables in children’s programs. Where a statistically significant relationship is found between two variables, it is unlikely that the relationships has occurred by chance, the differences are therefore statistically meaningful. The criterion we used to determine whether a difference is statistically significant was .05 (p-value) or greater.

Figure 5 Target Audience by TV Broadcasters*

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Are some types of broadcasters more “Canadian” than others?

Looking at country of origin, public generalists had the highest percentage of Canadian productions (58%), followed by one in three programs of both educational (35%) and specialty (33%) broadcasters, while one third of the specialty network pro-grams also consisted of U.S. productions. In terms of Canadian co-productions, they were equally present on all three types of broadcasters, as well Canadian and American co-ventures (11%, 10% and 7%, respectively) (see Figure 8).

How important are themes such as social relation-ships or violence for TV broadcasters?

While social relationships were the dominant program theme for all three types of broadcasters, it was most present in al-most one in two (48%) programs for public generalist broadcast-ers. Educational broadcasters, for their part, highly promoted the theme of learning (39%). Finally, besides social relation-ships, specialty broadcasters had the most adventure-theme programs (one in four). The latter also had the most violence-theme programs (although relatively low), at slightly more than one in ten programs (see Figure 9).

What are the most important categories in rela-tion to types of TV broadcasters?

The relationship between types of TV broadcasters and pro-gram category was also found to be statistically significant (p < .01). The highest amount of informal education, as could be expected, was presented by educational broadcasters (57%), closely followed by public generalists (46%), whereas specialty broadcasters lag at 23%. A reverse trend was observed when looking at the action category. Programs in the action category were aired the most by specialty broadcasters (40%), followed by public generalists (34%) and educational broadcasters (15%). Overall, comedy and drama appeared to be the most neglected categories especially for educational and public generalists (see Figure 7).

Figure 6 Program Genre by TV Broadcasters*

Figure 7 Program Category by TV Broadcasters*

Figure 8 Country of Origin by TV Broadcasters*


SummaryWhen comparing these three types of TV broadcasters, chil-dren’s programs on educational networks mostly targeted preschoolers and had the highest percentage of other foreign productions. Although more than half of its programming was animation, educational broadcasters had the highest percent-age of live-action programs. Informal education was the most prevalent program category for this type of broadcasters, and its main theme focused on learning.

Public generalist broadcasters also targeted mainly preschool audiences and had the highest percentage of animation and Canadian productions. Their most prevalent program category was informal education with a special focus on social relation-ships.

Finally, specialty broadcasters mostly targeted 6-12 year olds. About two-thirds of their programs were animation and the rest were live-action programs. The majority of their programs were Canadian and U.S. productions. For this type of broadcast-ers, the most prevalent program category was action/adven-ture with a particular focus on social relationships.

Overall, all three types of TV broadcasters scored high in terms of positive program issues.

How are positive issues presented in children’s programs in relation to types of TV broadcasters?

A final analysis looked at positive program issues (see Figure 10). Both public generalists and educational broadcasters scored the highest in terms of promoting “positive social values” (84% and 77%, respectively). More than one in seven (73%) programs of educational broadcasters highly encouraged understanding the world we live in and close to one in two (46%) stimulated reflec-tion, creativity, and interactivity in viewers. Although appear-ing more present in educational broadcast and public generalist programs, specialty broadcasters also encouraged positive so-cial values (62%) and understanding the world (41%).

Figure 9 Program Theme by TV Broadcasters*

Figure 10 Positive Program Issues by TV Broadcasters*

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Finally, the same trend appeared in human social values (i.e., “friendship,” “respect for the elderly,” and “respect for the en-vironment”), where three out of the four values were more as-sociated with live-action programs than animation/puppets (p < .01). As mentioned, “respect for the elderly” remained quite low for both genres (see Figure 13).

Summary Looking only at these two distinctive program genres (i.e., animation/puppets and live-action mixture) and their relation-ships with other program variables, several interesting results were found.

In general, live-action programs presented more diverse results than animation/puppets. Live-action programs presented more visible minorities and explicitly promoted more positive issues and human social values, such as understanding the world we live in, stimulating reflection and interactivity, and friendship.

Is the Content of Animated Children’s Programs Different from Live-Action Ones?

As stated earlier, the majority of the 563 children’s programs analyzed were animation (59%), followed by live-action (26%), puppets (2%) and mixed genre (13%). For the following com-parisons, the differences between two major program genres, animation/puppets mixture and live-action mixture7, are dis-cussed.

What distinguishes these two genres most?

The first was the presence or absence of visible minorities/Abo-riginal people in children’s programs (see Figure 11). The pro-gram genre revealed that two-thirds of the animation/puppets did not present such presence, whereas in live-action mixture, visible minorities were seen in almost one out of two (49%) programs. This could be partly explained by the use of animal-type characters in animation, which also reduces the portrayal of human characters in general. Second, several positive pro-

gram issues were statistically related to program genre (p < .05). Overall, most of these positive issues were more pronounced in live-action mixture than animation/puppets. This is particularly true for “demonstrating understanding about the world we live in” (71%), “stimulating reflection, creativity and interactivity” (56%), and to a lesser extent of “demonstrating understanding about Canada” (11%). In other words, these findings indicate that animation/puppets score much lower in terms of these positive program issues (see Figure 12).

7 The live-action mixture included 100% live-action programs and live-action including a mix of various other genres.

Figure 11 Visible Minorities by Program Genre

Figure 12 Positive Program Issues by Program Genre

Figure 13 Ref. to Human Social Values by Genre


How do themes differ in terms of broadcast languages?

The relationship between broadcast language and program theme was found to be statistically significant (p < .01). Spe-cifically, the most dominant program theme in English-language programs was social relationships (31%), followed by learning (28%). As for French-language programs, social relationships were the dominant theme as well (39%), followed by adventure (25%). Interestingly, the program theme focusing on play/game was mostly found in English-language programs, and programs involving violence as the main theme were found very little in both English- and French-language programs (see Figure 16).

Are there differences in positive program issues?

Our analysis showed that three of the five positive program issues were strongly present in both English- and French-lan-guage programs. However, English-language programs were higher in demonstrating “understanding about the world we live in,” “encouraging positive social values,” and “stimulating reflection and creativity” than French ones (see Figure 17).

What Are the Differences between English- and French-Language Children’s Programs?

Among the 563 children’s programs, about two thirds (67%) were broadcast in English and the rest in French (30%).

How do programs in different broadcast languages differ in terms of their

target audiences?

A higher percentage of English-language (46%) than French-language (31%) preschool programming was observed (p < .01). One possible explanation is the presence of one English-language specialty channel, which specifically targets this age group (see Figure 14).

Between English- and French-language programs, which have more animation or

live-action programs?

Program genre was found to be significantly different when comparing the broadcast languages (p < .01). Animation was more prevalent in French (71%) than in English programs (54%), whereas live-action programs were only slightly more present in English (29%) than in French programs (21%). The mixed gen-re was twice as prevalent with English-language broadcasters. This could be partially explained by the presence of one speci-ality French-language animation broadcaster that might weigh more in the French market, given the more limited number of broadcasters compared to English Canada (see Figure 15).

Figure 14 Target Audience by Broadcast Language

Figure 16 Program Theme by Broadcast Language

Figure 15 Program Genre by Broadcast Language

19

What are the typical program categories for pre-school programs and 6-12 programs?

As could be expected, preschool programming had the highest number of informal education content (61%). For programs that targeted children ages 6-12, action/adventure (40%) was the top program category (see Figure 19).

How do themes differ in terms of target audiences?

If one considers the main themes in preschool programming, social relationships and learning received high scores (43% and 31%, respectively). For the 6-12 year olds, we found a similar representation of these two main themes (though less than in preschool programs), and a high percentage of adventure-theme programs (24%). Interestingly, fighting and/or violence was absent in preschool programs but appeared in one in ten (11%) programs for the 6-12 year olds. In addition, programs for the 6-12 year olds also focused on learning, though less so than in preschool programs (see Figure 20).

SummaryOur study revealed some interesting findings in terms of broad-cast languages.

First of all, English-language programs have more live-action programs. These programs are centered especially on social re-lationships, environmentalism and play/games.

French-language programs have a higher percentage of anima-tion. The two main themes in French-language programs were social relationships and adventure.

Although there were some variations, both language programs did well in terms of promoting positive program issues in the programs.

How Are Preschool Programs Different from Those Scheduled for 6-12 Year Olds?

Of 500 children’s programs analyzed, more than half (55%) tar-geted 6-12 years old and 42% targeted preschoolers.

Is animation a prevalent genre for both target audiences?

The relationship between target audience and program genres was found to be statistically significant (p < .01). For preschool programs, animation was a very dominant genre in two out of three programs (67%). For programs that targeted 6-12 year olds, this proportion was less, found in more than one in two (56%) programs. One in three (33%) were live-action programs in this age group (see Figure 18).

Figure 17 Positive Program Issues by Language Figure 18 Program Genre by Target Audience

Figure 19 Program Category by Target Audience


more visible minorities as well as Canadian Aboriginals in their content. In addition, programs for 6-12 year olds made more explicit references to promoting understanding about Canada and diversity than preschool programs.

Are There Gender Differences between the Main Characters in Children’s Programming?

Among the 1,613 main characters, 61% of them were male and 36% were female.

What is the relationship between gender and type of character?

Type of characters was statistically different when comparing males and females (p < .01). Specifically, female characters were more likely to be humans (73%) than their counterparts (60%), while male characters are more likely to be portrayed as animals, plants/objects, and/or robots and machines (see Fig-ure 22).

Are there age differences between male and fe-male human characters?

In terms of human character’s social age, gender differences were found for teen and adult characters (see Figure 23). That is, young children and children human characters appeared about equally in terms of gender. However, when it comes to adult characters, more males were shown than females. For teenage characters, more females were shown than males.

Are visible minorities and/or Canadian Aborigi-nals present in both kinds of programs?

Our analysis showed that absence was very high in preschool programs (see Figure 21). This could possibly be explained by the high percentage of animated programs. Hence, it was less likely to see human-type characters in this kind of genre, since animation presented more animal-type characters. Both visible minorities and/or Canadian Aboriginals were seen more in pro-grams that targeted 6-12 year olds.

SummaryOf note, preschool programming was high in animation and was mostly categorized as informal education focusing on so-cial relationships and learning. These programs scored highest in terms of promoting positive social values, understanding the world we live in, and stimulating refection and interactivity in the viewer.

In terms of programs that target 6-12 year olds, at least half of the programs were animation, followed by one in three live-action. The most prevalent program category was action that focused on adventurous events or activities. Some of these pro-grams contained some elements of fighting, conflict and vio-lence. Program intended for this age group also tended to show

Figure 20 Program Theme by Target Audience

Figure 21 Visible Minorities by Target Audience

Figure 22 Character’s Type by Gender

21

To What Extent Do Canadian Productions Distinguish Themselves from Those of Other Countries?

As mentioned earlier, close to half of the children’s programs on Canadian television were Canadian productions and Ca-nadian co-productions (36.4% and 11.5%, respectively); 8.9% were Canadian and American co-ventures; 23.6% were U.S. productions; and the rest (19.6%) were other foreign produc-tions. The following section will further examine the differences between different countries of production (i.e., CDN, USA, CDN co-productions, CDN and USA co-ventures, and other foreign productions) in relation to several key program characteristics and character attributes. This is especially important for un-derstanding how Canadian productions distinguish themselves from other countries of production, and if applicable, what their specific differences are.

How do preschool and the 6-12 programs differ in terms of country of origin?

First, the target audience of children’s programs was cross-ex-amined in relation to country of origin; the relationship was sta-tistically significant (p < .01). As we can see, Canada and the U.S. were the top two countries producing children’s programs tar-geting the 6-12 year olds (64% and 67% respectively), whereas Canadian co-productions (58%) and other foreign productions (60%) had the highest percentages of preschool programming (see Figure 24).

Does animation vary in terms of country of origin?

Next, looking at country of origin and program genre together, we found that Canadian producers offered a much better bal-anced proportion of animation and live-action programs, while animation dominated in nearly nine in ten (89%) of Canadian co-productions and close to eight in ten (78%) of co-ventures with the U.S. Two in three (65%) of other foreign productions

Other gender differences were found in terms of characters’ role as well as their relation to others in the storyline. Overall, both genders were high as being good characters: about nine in ten (92%) for females versus more than eight in ten (86%) for males. However, male characters played the bad guys slightly more than females (11% and 6%, respectively). Similarly, both male and female main characters were quite close in terms of being protagonists (49% and 51%, respectively) or supporters of protagonists (34% and 36%, respectively). However, male characters played antagonists and/or supporters of antagonists more often than their counterparts.

SummaryOverall, the most observed gender differences were found in terms of types of characters and human characters’ social age. However, the non-significant statistical differences were also meaningful. We found that characters’ race, violent behaviors and problem-solving styles, interracial interaction, use of new ICTs, ecological practices and cultural consumption did not dif-fer by gender at all. This means that there were no statistical differences within the above mentioned observations based on characters’ gender. Male and female characters seemed to be portrayed quite similarly in these aspects.

Figure 23 Human Character’s Social Age by Gender

Figure 24 Target Audience by Country of Origin


Looking at program category and country of origin together, Canadian productions as well as Canadian and American co-ventures had the highest percentage of informal education pro-gramming.

How does the presence of visible minorities and/or Canadian Aboriginals vary in terms of

country of origin?

If the presence of visible minorities and/or Canadian Aborigi-nals seemed somewhat uneven for most origins of production, the highest non-presence was found in other foreign produc-tions (67%). The highest presence was found in U.S. produc-tions. However, if one considers the 8% of Canadian Aboriginals (only and both) and the 36% of visible minorities in Canadian productions, this adds up (44%) to a much more even distribu-tion for Canadian productions as well (see Figure 27).

were also animation. These findings suggest that most foreign or partially foreign productions rely extensively on animation. Canadian productions thus offer the best balance in terms of program genre (see Figure 25).

How do program categories differ in terms of country of origin?

In spite of country of origin, the pattern found in the next figure shows that informal education and action/adventure were the top two program categories (see Figure 26). However, a higher presence of action/adventure content in Canadian co-produc-tions (48%) can be observed. Comedy was seen the most in U.S. productions, but remained fairly low for the other kinds of pro-ductions. Similarly, drama had relatively low percentages in all productions.

Figure 25 Program Genre by Country of Origin

Figure 26 Program Category by Country of Origin

Figure 27 Visible Minorities by Country of Origin

23

How do Canadian productions differ from those of other countries in terms of positive program is-

sues and human social values?

As could be expected, when looking at positive program issues in relation to country of origin, “understanding of Canada” scored highest in Canadian productions (14%). “Encouraging positive social values” was very prevalent in almost all types of productions from different countries of origin, notably in more than eight out of ten (85%) of Canadian co-productions and in more than seven out of ten (78%) of Canadian and U.S. co-ven-tures. “Stimulating reflection, creativity, and interactivity in the viewer” was most prominent in Canadian productions: close to half (47%) of the programs explicitly promoted this issue (see Figure 28).

Similarly, when it comes to human social values, “promot-ing friendship with people from other cultures” was relatively present in all types of productions, with Canadian co-produc-tions scoring the highest (29%). “Respect for the environment” was high in both Canadian productions and Canadian and American co-ventures (18% for both) (see Figure 29).

Are practices and cultural activities portrayed differently in terms of country of origin?

Our analysis showed that characters’ ecological practices, cul-tural activities and uses of new ICTs were statistically related to country of origin (p < .05). Among these four activities, cultural production was relatively high in all types of countries of pro-duction. The highest percentage (30%) was found for Canadian productions and Canadian and American co-ventures. U.S. pro-ductions scored the highest in terms of cultural consumption (19%). Canadian productions also scored highest in characters’ uses of new ICTs (17%) (see Figure 30).

Figure 28 Positive Issues by Country of Origin

Figure 29 Reference to Human Social Values by Country of Origin

Figure 30 Character’s Performance by Country of Origin


Comparing these data with the characters’ racial profile in Ca-nadian productions, we see that Canadian productions are very close to actual demographics and present slightly more Black and less Asian characters in their children’s programs than are present in the actual population.

SummaryFor this part of the analysis, we wanted to find out the ex-tent that Canadian productions distinguish themselves from those of other countries. Clearly, Canadian productions had the highest percentage of live-action programs compared with other countries of origin, even though animation was still very prevalent. Canadian productions also scored highly in terms of positive program issues and human social values (especially for stimulating reflection, creativity and interactivity in viewers and respect for the environment). Visible minorities and/or Cana-dian Aboriginals were seen in more than one in four Canadian programs, which showed a substantial diversity in its content. Compared with other countries of origin, the main characters in Canadian productions engaged more in cultural production activities as well as ecological practices. One could also observe that about one in six of these main characters in Canadian pro-ductions were shown using new ICTs in the programs.

How do productions from different countries present human characters’ racial profiles ?

Finally, in terms of characters’ socio-demographic attributes, human-type characters’ race or ethnic background was also cross-examined in relation to country of origin (p < .01). As Figure 31 shows, a high percentage of European whites was observed in all types of countries of production. Interestingly, the 2006 Canadian Census data shows that the visible minority population in Canada accounts for 17.21% of the total popula-tion. Of these visible minority groups, 11.10% are Asians, 2.48% are Blacks, and about 1% are Latinos.

Figure 31 Human Character’s Race by Country of Origin

Comparison with 2006 Census Data

25

A final analysis in terms of scheduling Canadian children’s programs revealed very different strategies between types of broadcasters.

Prime time scheduling for Public broadcasters

For public broadcasters both French and English language broadcasters have abandoned the late afternoon weekly time slots to mainly focus on morning weekly and weekend prime time (6a.m. to 11a.m. ). However the English language broad-caster scheduled a much higher proportion (77%) of Canadian programs that are 100% Canadian then their French counter-part (43%). In both cases the genre is overwhelmingly anima-tion.

Prime time scheduling for Educational TV broadcasters

Six TV broadcasters are classified as educational: Access, Knowl-edge Kids, SCN, TVO, TFO, and Télé-Québec.

Among the English language broadcasters only one scheduled during it’s morning prime time a certain amount of Canadian productions (50%). The remaining three scheduled in late after-noon prime time (4 p.m. to 8 p.m.) a low percentage of produc-tions (less then one third) that are 100% Canadian but a very high number of co-productions (69% and 35 %). The French lan-guage broadcasters for their part offer in late afternoon prime time higher amounts of fully Canadian productions (ranging be-tween 39% and 67% ).

Prime time scheduling for Specialty TV broadcasters

Eight TV broadcasters are classified as specialty: BBC Kids, Dis-covery Kids (now known as Nickelodeon), Family, Teletoon Eng-lish and Teletoon French, Treehouse, Vrak and YTV.1

Late afternoon prime time scheduling of Canadian produc-tions for French language specialty broadcasters reveal both extremes of the spectrum with one scheduling a high of 71% of productions that are 100% Canadian while the other only presenting 16%. In the latter case co-ventures appear highest with 36%.

English language specialty broadcasters in general schedule few productions that are 100% Canadian, percentages ranging from 2% to 26% with only two exceptions in the 40-50% range. Even co-productions remain in the low range (below 28%).

1 As for APTN, some scheduling data were absent and could not be included for this analysis.

All in all Canadian productions do not appear especially priori-tized in prime time scheduling on English language specialty broadcasters and even more so when animation is the principal genre.

Lastly as noted earlier too few children’s programs were present in the private broadcaster’s schedule to warrant a similar analy-sis.


Are Canadian Productions Scheduled in Kids’ Prime Time?

In the previous sections, we have described the overall landscape of Canadian children’s television and exam-ined specific relationships between various program/character characteristics. These analyses detailed the current television content of children’s programming and provided a representa-tive picture of what was being offered on children’s television. The logical next step was to look at what children were actu-ally watching during that week. Hence, we requested television viewing data for the same week (March 30 to April 5) of pro-gramming analyzed.

An analysis of the 100 most popular programs in relation to broadcast languages and specific target audiences (i.e., pre-school audiences [aged 2-6] and children of 7-11) was first done to see if children were watching content that was specially pro-duced for them. We then ranked the 10 most popular programs in terms of country of origin to find out whether the viewers preferred Canadian productions. Hence, the top 100 as well as the top 10 programs based on their BBM Canada1 AMA (000) (i.e., average minute audience in thousands), both for English-speaking and French-speaking children in the age between 2-6 and 7-11 years old, will be reported.

Top 100 Children’s Programs

Top 100 Children’s Programs Watched by English-Speaking 2-6 Year Olds

Appendix B contains the top 100 programs viewed by 2-6 years old English-speaking children during the sampled week. Spe-cifically, we found that all these programs were 100% children’s programs. One specialty broadcaster dedicated to this younger age group accounted for almost all (92%) of the programs, and the rest were also broadcast by other English-language special-ty broadcasters.


In terms of top 100 programs viewed by 7-11 years old English-speaking children, the BBM data showed that this age group also watched almost television programs (92%) produced for them almost exclusively. These programs were mostly broad-cast by specialty networks (92%) (see Appendix C).

1 BBM Canada, Sondages BBM in Québec, is a not for profit, member-owned tripartite industry organization, which provides broadcast and consumer behaviour data, as well as industry-leading intelligence to broadcast-ers, advertisers and agencies.

Top 100 Children’s Programs Watched by French-Speaking 2-6 Year Olds

Next, we looked more closely at the top 100 programs that were watched by young French-speaking preschool children. Similar to the English-speaking preschool audiences but not as exclusively, French-speaking 2-6 year old children watched a very high percentage of children’s programs (76%). More than 40% (44%) of the 100 programs were broadcast by public gen-eralist broadcasters, and the rest were mostly by educational (32%) and specialty broadcasters (13%) (see Appendix D).


Finally, looking at the top 100 programs watched by French-speaking 7-11 year olds, we observed that this age group, simi-lar to their younger siblings, also watched a high percentage (77%) of children’s programs. More than half (59%) of the top 100 programs were broadcast by specialty, followed by public generalist (21%) and educational (8%) broadcasters (see Appen-dix E).

Analysis of Audience Reception Data

27

Top 10 Children’s Programs

Now that we know that young people are mostly watching pro-grams that were produced for them, we may ask whether they prefer Canadian produced programs. The number of reruns of a given program during the sample week and their ratings were also taken into consideration.


First of all, for English-speaking preschool audiences, the top three programs were Zigby, Max & Ruby, and Toopy & Binoo. Looking at these programs’ countries of origin, eight out of the ten programs were Canadian productions (3), co-productions (2), and co-ventures with the U.S (3) (see Table 4).


In terms of the top 10 programs for English-speaking children 7-11 years old, the most popular programs were SpongeBob SquarePants, the Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and Hannah Mon-tana. However, only three out of these ten programs were Ca-nadian productions and the rest were mostly American produc-tions (60%) (see Table 5).

Ranking Program Weekday #Aired AMA(000) Country of Origin

1 ZIGBY MTWTFSS 16 567 CO CANADA/AUSTRALIA/SINGAPORE

2 MAX & RUBY MTWTFSS 29 551.5 CO CANADA/USA

3 TOOPY & BINOO MTWTFSS 18 490.9 CANADA

4 FRANKLIN MTWTFSS 26 403.4 CO CANADA/USA

5 BIG & SMALL MTWTFSS 16 381.3 UNITED KINGDOM

6 HARRY BUCKET DINOS MTWTFSS 17 377.6 CO CANADA/UNITED KINGDOM

7 DORA THE EXPLORER MTWTFSS 19 354.3 USA

8 MY FRIEND RABBIT MTWTFSS 13 331.2 CANADA

9 THIS IS EMILY YEUNG MTWTFSS 8 318.8 CANADA

10 TOOT & PUDDLE MTWTFSS 8 290.7 CO CANADA/USA

Programs are ranked based on their AMA(000). AMA(000) is the average minute audience in thousands.Special Analysis, BBM Analytics. Week of 30th march 2009 to 5th april 2009.

Table 4 Top 10 Children’s Programs Watched by English-Speaking 2-6 Year Olds


1 SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANT MTWTFSS 16 442.3 USA

2 SUITE LIFE ZACK CODY MTWTFSS 29 406 USA

3 HANNAH MONTANA MTWTFSS 18 332.2 USA

4 PRANK PATROL MTWTFSS 26 298.8 CANADA

5 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS MTWTFSS 16 216.1 USA

6 WIZARDS/WAVERLY PLAC MTWTFSS 17 199.5 USA

7 ZOEY 101 MTWTFSS 19 175.5 USA

8 PHINEAS & FERB MTWTFSS 13 171 USA

9 KID VS KAT MTWTFSS 8 156.3 CANADA

10 LIFE WITH DEREK MTWTFSS 8 154.3 CANADA


Table 5 Top 10 Children’s Programs Watched by English-Speaking 7-11 Year Olds

100 % Canadian

Canadian Co-Venture or Co-Production

© 2010 GRJM/CYMS, All rights reserved.28


After looking at the top 10 programs for English-speaking audi-ences, we now turn to the top 10 programs for French-speaking children. The most popular programs for this age group were Toc toc toc, Dora l’exploratrice, and Bob le bricoleur. As the ta-ble below shows, six out of the ten children’s programs were Canadian productions, and the rest were mostly foreign pro-ductions (see Table 6).

Top 10 Children’s Programs Watched by French-Speaking 7-11 year olds

In terms of the top 10 programs viewed by French-speaking 7-11 year olds, five out of the ten were Canadian productions, and the remaining programs were foreign productions. The three most watched programs are Une grenade avec ca, Vie de palace de Zack & Cody, and Cory est dans la place (see Table 7).


1 Toc toc toc MTWTF.. 12 136 CANADA

2 Dora l'exploratrice MTWTFSS 7 104.8 USA

3 Bob le bricoleur MTWTFSS 7 87.6 UNITED KINGDOM

4 Toupie et Binou .....SS 2 81.5 CANADA

5 Diego ......S 2 73.9 USA

6 Sam Chicotte ....F.. 2 59.4 CANADA

7 Cornemuse MTWTF.. 10 57.5 CANADA

8 Schtroumpfs MT..... 4 55.7 CO USA/BELGIUM

9 Kaboum MTWT... 8 52.5 CANADA

10 Will et Mathis ..W.... 2 46.4 CANADA


Table 6 Top 10 Children’s Programs Watched by French-Speaking 2-6 Year Olds


1 Grenade avec ça, Une MTWTF.. 16 96.7 CANADA

2 Vie de palace de Zack & Cody MTWTF.. 11 92 USA

3 Cory est dans la place .....S. 9 84.5 USA

4 Kaboum MTWT... 8 67.8 CANADA

5 Toc toc toc MTWTFSS 12 64.7 CANADA

6 Simpson, Les MTWTF.. 29 63.5 USA

7 Ramdam MTWTF.. 18 50.1 CANADA

8 Sam Chicotte ....F.. 2 31.5 CANADA

9 H20 .....S. 1 54.9 AUTRALIA

10 Bakugan MTWTF.S 7 36.9 JAPAN


Table 7 Top 10 Children’s Programs Watched by French-Speaking 7-11 Year Olds

100 % Canadian

Canadian Co-Venture or Co-Production

29

Final Notes on Audience Reception Data

As reported earlier, Canadian productions account for 36% of what is offered on air, and another 20.4% were Canadian co-productions and co-ventures combined. When comparing the top preferred programs watched by young Ca-nadians, we may conclude that Canadian children of both age groups show a very high appreciation for Canadian content or programs that contain some Canadian content (including co-productions or co-ventures), which specifically tell their stories and culture. Based on our analysis of the top 10 programs, Ca-nadian content is especially popular among preschool viewers; more than 60% and up to 80% of programs were Canadian pro-duced. Older viewers are also watching a lot of Canadian con-tent, though the percentage is lower (up to 50%). Nonetheless, our analysis showed that young Canadians do prefer watching these programs; we may wonder if they would have viewed more Canadian programs if more Canadian content would have been available.


This report provides an overall look at children’s pro-gramming, what its strengths are, and what new paths could be considered. Specifically, the purpose of our study is to present the media landscape of children’s programming for 2-12 year olds for both English- and French-speaking children across Canada. In addition to the content measures this study looks at audience reception data to further understand Canadian chil-dren’s viewing preferences.

First, our analysis shows that both educational and specialty broadcasters account for more than 90% of children’s program-ming in Canada (41% and 49%, respectively), while only 9% is provided by public generalists and a mere 1% by private gen-eralist broadcasters. This imbalance raises many questions on what role should be assumed by public and private generalist broadcasters in the area of children’s programming. Another finding showed differences in what audience different broad-casters cater to. Educational broadcasters were found to pre-dominately broadcast programs for preschoolers, whereas spe-cialty broadcasters focused more on the older audiences (6-12 year olds).

Second, when it comes to program genre, animation is over-all the most dominant genre in children’s programming. It es-pecially predominates in preschool programming, with two out off three programs being animation. In terms of variety of program genres, comedy and drama seemed to be especially marginalized for all age groups. Animation tends to portray a lesser amount of certain types of content than live-action pro-grams. For example, animation presented fewer visible minori-ties and/or Canadian Aboriginals and did not convey as many positive program issues and human social values as live-action programs. One positive note is that informal education is fairly prevalent in all genres of children’s programming.

When looking at main characters’ racial profile, a large majority of human-type characters were identified as European white. In terms of portrayal of minority groups, Canadian children’s productions did not differ much from the Canada Census data, showing a relatively similar representation of Blacks, Latinos and, to a lesser extent, Asians. However, seniors and disabled people were quite underrepresented onscreen. This raises questions as to whether children’s television content should not better represent these groups.

The findings related to gender representation are even more striking. Male characters were much more prevalent than fe-male ones (nearly two to one) on children’s television. Gender and age representation differences were also found for human-type characters: more adult males are shown than females and more teenage females portrayed than males. This being said, no gender differences were found in terms of physical appearance (e.g., average weight and height), race, behaviors that could be deemed violent, problem-solving styles, interracial interaction, and cultural consumption. Overall, all main characters in chil-

dren’s programming exhibited relatively strong positive feelings and a sense of well-being.

Our findings also explored how Canadian productions distin-guished themselves from those of other countries. Accordingly, Canadian productions had the highest percentage of live-action programs, which provided more opportunities to present more positive program issues. Canadian co-ventures with the U.S. and co-productions with other countries also presented these issues, but in a more limited way given that animation domi-nated these types of productions. Canadian productions also provide a better balance in genres that allows better represen-tation of cultural minorities.

Through a special analysis of BBM data, we linked each broad-cast program with viewing results for that same week. The analysis also included the aggregated viewing that was re-peated during the sampled week. This allowed us to determine whether children really watch children’s programs or if they are more attracted to adult programs. The top 100 programs analyzed showed that children ages 2-11 are overwhelmingly watching children’s programming. Considering the top 10 programs, 2-6 year-old French- and English-speaking children largely preferred majority Canadian content. Although these preferences for Canadian productions are also present for 7-11 year-old French- and English-speaking children, they decline as children grow older. Proportionally, young Canadians preferred more Canadian content than what was actually available. This leads us to believe that a greater investment in Canadian pro-ductions might increase the overall diversity of genres, positive program messages and social issues that are valued in Canada. Surprisingly however when we looked at whether Canadian productions were scheduled in children’s prime time only a few broadcasters did so.

This report is the first of a two-part study intended to under-stand what is currently offered on children’s television using a nationally representative sample. These findings are useful to direct our follow-up study, which is to explore how children per-ceive children’s programs and the role of television and other media in today’s environment. This research will further ex-plore the meanings children give to media during daily social interactions with family and friends. We will consequently be able to better understand the perceived impact of television programming on Canadian children and youth in terms of their values and identity.

Conclusions

31

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Diener, E. (1994). Assessing subjective well-being: Progress and opportunities. Social Indicators Research, 31(2), 103-157.

Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, M. W. (1985). Personality and individ-ual differences: A natural science approach. New York: Plenum Press.

Frey, L. R., Botan, C. H., & Kreps, G. L. (2000). Investigating com-munication: An introduction to research methods (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

George, G. Morgan, M., & Signorielli, N. (1999). Profiling televi-sion violence. In K. Nordenstreng & M. Griffin (eds.), Interna-tional media monitoring, pp. 335-365. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Gerbner, G., Gross, L, Morgan, M., Signorielli, N. & Shanahan, J. (2002). Growing up with television: Cultivation processes. In J. Bryant & D. Zillman (eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (2nd ed.), pp. 43-67. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Holsti, O. R. (1969). Content analysis for the social sciences and humanities. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Com-pany.

M. Götz, O. Hofmann, H.-B. Brosius, C. Carter, K. Chan, St. H. Donald, J. Fisherkeller, M. Frenette, T. Kolbjørnsen, D. Lemish, K. Lustyik, D. C. McMillin, J. H. Walma van der Molen, N. Pecora, J. Prinsloo, M. Pestaj, P. Ramos Rivero, A.-H. Mereilles Reis, F. Saeys †, S. Scherr, H. Zhang. (2008). Gender in children’s televi-sion worldwide: Results from a media analysis in 24 countries. Televizion, 21, 4-9.

Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thou-sand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Riffe, D., Lacy, S., & Fico, F. G. (2005). Analyzing media mes-sages: Using quantitative content analysis research (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.


Country of Origin

As a variable, “country of origin” indicates the country where a children’s program was produced or co-produced. First, pro-grams were assessed in terms of their country of origin by con-sidering all the production elements of the program, includ-ing the country, the production company, or the nationality of the director, screenwriter and/or illustrator during the entire course of production. In this way, more than 34 countries of origin were found, including programs produced by a single country (e.g., Canada, the U.S., the UK, France), co-ventures between Canada and the U.S., and co-productions including or excluding Canada. Next, specific codes were developed for each kind of production and entered separately by a senior research-er. Hence, coders were not aware of the program’s country of origin while they viewed them, which ensured that their judg-ments would not be biased.

Dominance of Positive Program Issues

The current study sought to examine the quality of children’s programs using a new approach. By examining the quality of children’s programs, we assessed whether or not the program conveyed explicit positive messages and/or made reference to specific social values; these positive program issues were de-fined as a sustained theme or topic within a program that ex-plicitly conveyed one or more of the following messages:

• the program demonstrates understanding of the world we live in;• the program demonstrates understanding of Canada;• the program promotes religious, cultural, national, racial, oc-cupational, and/or gender diversity;• the program encourages positive social values; and• the program stimulates reflection and critical thinking, crea-tivity, and/or interactivity in the viewer.

Although this kind of evaluation was qualitative in nature, we developed scales to quantify the assessment (i.e., 0 = absence; 1 = somewhat dominant; 2 = very dominant). Hence, coders re-corded the explicit presence or absence of each of these mes-sages within each program they viewed.

Content Measures

Two types of measures were developed for this content analy-sis: those pertaining to the programs features and those per-taining to the main characters. These types of measures were developed especially for this study, which allowed us to inves-tigate the key aspects of Canadian television programming for children.

The coding procedures required that all research assistants viewed each program to assess a set of the variables—they could replay segments as often as needed to inform their judg-ments—and they were asked to identify main characters in each program. The most important variables the coders assessed are described in detail below.

Program Variables

Target Audience

Assessing a program’s primary target audience was based upon consideration of a number of elements of the program, such as the nature of the content, the pacing, and the primary charac-ters. Programs were classified as primarily targeting preschool-ers (2-5 years old), children 6-12 years old, other (aged 13 and older), or “unable to determine.”

Program Theme

The program theme was defined to examine what explicit and distinctive message was presented in the given program. Cod-ers were asked to determine these central messages or themes after viewing each program. The program themes included:

• Environmentalism: themes on natural resources, conserva-tion, global warming, etc.;• Fighting/violence: themes on conflict, competition, violence, aggression, etc.;• Social relationships: themes on friendships, moral values, etc.;• Play/games: themes on playful events and/or activities;• Adventure: themes on wondrous, adventurous events and/or activities;• Religion/spirituality: themes on various religions or spiritual-ity; and• Learning: themes on learning particular curriculum (litera-ture, mathematics, science, etc.) or other specific knowledge.

Appendix A : Methodology

33

Program Reference to Human Social Values

In addition to the evaluation of positive program issues, pro-grams that explicitly referred to human social values were also analyzed in the same fashion (i.e., 0 = no reference at all; 1= some reference; 2 = a lot of reference). Five human social values were analyzed:

• open-mindedness toward other cultures; • equal treatment of men and women;• friendship with people from other cultures; • respect for the elderly; and• respect for the environment/nature.

Character Variables

After defining some of the key program variables, this section focused on character variables. Not all characters that appeared in the programs were recorded; instead, coders were required to identify the main characters (as the unit of analysis) in each program, using the following definition:

“The main character is an individual personality or character who (1) is central to the plot; (2) is a participant in a conversa-tion (speaks and/or listens); (3) performs action important to the story; (4) is the subject of a significant amount of conversa-tion.”

Context of First Appearance

Coders were required to indicate where the main character is located when he, she, or it first appeared in the program. Char-acter appearance during the opening scene/song/titles that marked the beginning of a program was excluded. Various plac-es of character’s first appearance included home, school, work, public space, natural space, outer-space, motorized transporta-tion, or other.

Type of Character

The type of each character was determined based on his, her or its natural form. Note that the notion of anthropomorphized characters was also included when evaluating the type of char-acter (see Wilson et al., 2002). Hence, this variable included human, animal/insect, supernatural creature, plant/object, ma-chine, and their anthropomorphized forms (except for human). “Other” was used for any additional type of character that was observed.

Race of Human Character

After identifying the character’s type, the race or ethnic back-ground of human characters was assessed based on the shape of their eyes, skin color, identifiable ethnic attire, accent, and/or any cultural references made in the storyline. Other types of characters coded as “not applicable” in this regard. Thus, the list of human characters’ races included European white, Mid-dle Eastern, Black, Aboriginal, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino. Hu-man characters’ races that were not included in this list, such as multiracial, mixed, or interracial, were coded as “other.”Interracial/Intercultural Interaction between Human Characters

Each human character was evaluated in terms of his or her social interaction during the program in terms of racial/cul-tural equality/difference program. Coders were required to indicate whether the people with whom the human character interacted were from the same race/culture or from (a) differ-ent race(s)/culture(s). Human characters who interacted with people from multiple races/cultures including their own were coded as “both.” For other types of characters, this variable was again coded as “not applicable.”

Character’s Ecological Practices

One of the main objectives of this research was to find out whether children’s programs are focusing on showing aware-ness of or concern for the environment. Hence, coders were asked to recognize any specific ecological practices (behaviors) in which the character(s) in each program engaged. Recycling, conserving water and/or power, taking public transportation, bicycling (rather than car), or refraining from using plastic bags, were some of the examples coded in this variable.

Character’s Cultural Activities: Production/Creation and Con-sumption

Another main focus of this study was to see the kinds of cultural activities in which the characters in children’s programs engage. Coders were required to indicate what kinds of cultural activi-ties the characters produced or created, or what kinds of ac-tivities were consumed by them for the purpose of cultural ap-preciation. Examples of cultural production included painting/drawing, handicraft, writing, using the computer/Internet to produce/create culture, or performance (i.e., dancing, singing, acting, playing instrument). Examples of cultural consumption included reading, visiting an exhibition, museum or zoo, attend-ing a performance (music, theatre), going to the movies, watch-ing TV, or using the computer/Internet (to consume culture).


Character’s Emotional Well-Being

This innovative way of looking at main characters in children’s programming was based on Diener’s (1994) subjective well-being (SWB) scale, which includes 16 different items that are measured on a 5-point scale (1 = very rarely or never; 5 = very often or always). Among these items, some were related to pleasant feelings (i.e., positive, good, pleasant, contented, in-terested, happy, loving, and joyful), others to unpleasant feel-ings (i.e., negative, bad, stressed, unpleasant, sad, angry, afraid, and depressed). Coders rated each primary character according to the SWB scale by evaluating his/her/its mental state, emo-tional reactions, and social interactions with others in the pro-gram. Finally, the summative scores of the SWB were used to assess the character’s overall positive and negative affect on a seven-point scale (1 = extremely low; 7 = extremely high).

Coding Procedures and Reliability

A team of ten researchers and research assistants at the Uni-versité de Montréal were recruited for this study. In particular, six undergraduate and graduate students were selected as cod-ers and worked as teams. Each team consisted of two coders (one male and one female) who were trained over a three-week period to master a detailed codebook. The actual data coding (after training) took approximately five weeks to complete.

The initial codebook contained over 90 variables. Most of the variables were developed based on empirical research on chil-dren’s programming (see Callister, Robinson, & Clark, 2007; Gotz et al., 2008; Wilson et al., 2002) as well as seminal television content analysis research (see Gerbner et al., 1999; Neuendorf, 2000). After various revisions, the final codebook contained 85 variables; 39 of the variables measured program features and 46 assessed character attributes. At the end of the training, reli-ability tests verified that all coders applied the measures in the same way.

To assess the reliability, a total of 16 randomly selected pro-grams (5% of the sample) were independently coded by all coders. Inter-coder reliability was assessed using percentage of agreement (see Frey, Botan, & Kreps, 2000; Holsti, 1969) and Cohen’s Kappa (see Banerjee et al., 1999; Riffe et al., 2005) for nominal judgments. The overall percentage of agreement was 80%, which showed consistent judgment among independent coders.

35

Appendix B : Top 100 Children’s Programs, English Canada 2-6 Year Olds

Ranking (with repetition) Program (English Canada 2-6) Type of

Broadcaster Weekday #Aired AMA(000) Rtg%

1 Franklin Specialty .....S. 1 1,373 944

2 Zigby Specialty .....S. 1 1,282 881

3 Little People Specialty .....S. 1 127 873

4 Bob Project Build It Specialty .....S. 1 1,264 869

5 Toopy & Binoo Specialty MTWTF.. 5 1,261 882

6 My Friend Rabbit Specialty .....S. 1 126 866

7 Dora The Explorer Specialty ......S 1 1,237 837

8 Backyardigans Specialty MTWTF.. 5 1,232 864

9 In The Night Garden Specialty MTWTF.. 5 1,232 864

10 This Is Emily Yeung Specialty ......S 1 121 818

11 Zigby Specialty ......S 1 1,198 81

12 Zigby Specialty .....S. 1 114 783

13 In The Night Garden Specialty .....S. 1 1,136 781

14 Max & Ruby Specialty ......S 1 1,106 748

15 Little People Specialty .....S. 1 1,076 739

16 Fifi & Flowertots Specialty MTWTF.. 5 1,056 739

17 Olivia Specialty .....S. 1 1,046 719

18 This Is Emily Yeung Specialty .....S. 1 1,036 712

19 Max & Ruby Specialty .....S. 1 1,024 704

20 Wow! Wow! Wubbzy Specialty .....S. 1 1,011 695

21 Nouky & Friends Specialty .....S. 1 1,002 688

22 Roll Play Specialty ......S 1 994 672

23 Zigby Specialty MTWTF.. 5 99 689

24 My Friend Rabbit Specialty ......S 1 96 649

25 Go Diego Go Specialty M.W.F.. 3 956 667

26 Dora The Explorer Specialty .....S. 1 951 653

27 Adv. Bert & Ernie Specialty .....S. 1 944 649

28 Toot & Puddle Specialty ......S 1 897 607

29 Harry Bucket Dinos Specialty ......S 1 895 605

30 Big & Small Specialty MTWTF.. 5 894 618

31 Nouky & Friends Specialty ......S 1 89 602

32 Sesame Street Specialty .....S. 1 89 611

33 Toopy & Binoo Specialty .....S. 1 888 611

34 Boblins Specialty .....S. 1 884 607

35 Wonder Pets Specialty M.W.F.. 3 882 599

36 Olivia Specialty MTWTF.. 5 86 603

37 Funky Valley Specialty .....S. 1 857 589

38 Backyardigans Specialty ......S 1 835 565

39 Yo Gabba Gabba Specialty .....S. 1 833 573

40 Max & Ruby Specialty MTWTF.. 5 809 565

41 Postman Pat Specialty ......S 1 794 537

42 Chuggington Specialty ......S 1 778 526

43 Daniel Cook Specialty MTWTF.. 5 772 54

44 Bob The Builder Specialty MTWTF.. 5 761 531

45 Pocoyo Specialty MTWTF.. 5 757 529

46 Ni Hao Kai Lan Specialty ......S 1 755 51

47 Big & Small Specialty ......S 1 747 505

48 Maggie Fer. Beast Specialty .....S. 1 739 508

49 Miss Spider Specialty .....S. 1 723 497

50 Big & Small Specialty ......S 1 718 486

Repetition

Adult Program




51 This Is Emily Yeung Specialty ......S 1 716 484

52 Franklin Specialty .....S. 1 703 483

53 Miss Spider Specialty ..W.... 1 703 498

54 Franklin Specialty MTWTF.. 5 701 487

55 Dora The Explorer Specialty .T.T... 2 694 491

56 Yo Gabba Gabba Specialty M.W.F.. 3 692 485

57 Are We There Yet? Specialty MTWTF.. 5 691 482

58 Harry Bucket Dinos Specialty .....S. 1 685 471

59 Toopy & Binoo Specialty M.W.F.. 3 681 474

60 Roll Play Specialty MTWTF.. 5 679 472

61 Mr. Maker Specialty .T.T... 2 668 474

62 Global Grover Specialty MTWTF.. 5 662 466

63 Dora The Explorer Specialty ......S 1 661 447

64 Harry Bucket Dinos Specialty .....S. 1 657 452

65 Nouky & Friends Specialty ......S 1 656 443

66 Are We There Yet? Specialty .T.T... 2 647 459

67 Toot & Puddle Specialty .....S. 1 644 443

68 Max & Ruby Specialty ......S 1 642 434

69 Max & Ruby Specialty .....S. 1 641 44

70 Ni Hao Kai Lan Specialty .T.T... 2 62 435

71 Spongebob Squarepant Specialty ......S 1 618 418

72 Koala Brothers Specialty ......S 1 605 409

73 Elmo's World Specialty .T.T... 2 597 422

74 Thomas And Friends Specialty ......S 1 59 399

75 Batman Brave & Bold Specialty ......S 1 587 397

76 Thomas And Friends Specialty M.W.F.. 3 58 4

77 Harry Bucket Dinos Specialty M.W.F.. 3 576 398

78 Little Bear Specialty MTWTF.. 5 565 392

79 Are We There Yet? Specialty MTWTF.. 5 562 391

80 Whats New Scooby Doo Specialty .....S. 1 561 385

81 Kid Vs Kat Specialty .....S. 1 558 383

82 Pocoyo Specialty MTWTF.. 5 553 383

83 Are We There Yet? Specialty .....S. 1 55 378

84 Four Square Specialty .....S. 1 55 378

85 Big Comfy Couch Specialty .....S. 1 545 375

86 Bobland Bay Specialty ......S 1 538 364

87 Back At The Barnyard Specialty ......S 1 537 363

88 Toopy & Binoo Specialty ......S 1 534 361

89 Barney Specialty MTWTF.. 5 52 365

90 Maggie Fer. Beast Specialty .T.T... 2 518 361

91 Fairly Odd Parents Specialty ......S 1 512 346

92 Toot & Puddle Specialty ......S 1 51 345

93 Wiggle And Learn Specialty .....S. 1 50 344

94 Maggie Fer. Beast Specialty .T.T... 2 489 344

95 Adv. Bert & Ernie Specialty .T.T... 2 488 345

96 Spec. Spider-Man Specialty ......S 1 487 329

97 Bugs Bunny & Tweety Specialty .....S. 1 486 334

98 Play With Me Sesame Specialty M.W.F.. 3 486 34

99 Four Square Specialty MTWTF.. 5 485 339

100 Zigby Specialty M.W.F.. 3 484 328

37



1 Sonny With A Chance Specialty ....F.. 1 1,139 831

2 Wizards/Waverly Plac Specialty MTWTF.. 5 978 662

3 Hannah Montana Specialty MTWTF.. 5 936 639

4 Kid Vs Kat Specialty .....S. 1 916 626

5 Spongebob Squarepant Specialty .....S. 1 888 607

6 Zoey 101 Specialty MTWTF.. 5 878 595

7 Suite Life Zack Cody Specialty MTWTF.. 5 831 564

8 Hannah Montana Specialty MTWT... 4 796 524

9 Spongebob Squarepant Specialty .....S. 1 775 53

10 Casper Scare School Specialty .....S. 1 764 522

11 Life With Derek Specialty MTWT... 4 755 497

12 Phineas & Ferb Specialty MTWTF.. 5 754 513

13 Disney's Recess Specialty MTWTF.. 5 712 483

14 Nick Choice Awards Specialty ....F.. 1 693 506

15 Wizards/Waverly Plac Specialty .....SS 2 681 469

16 Suite Life Zack Cody Specialty .....SS 2 677 467

17 Suite Life Zack Cody Specialty MTWT... 4 661 437

18 Hannah Montana Specialty .....SS 2 646 448

19 Fairly Odd Parents Specialty .....S. 1 636 435

20 Icarly Specialty ....F.. 1 627 458

21 Two And A Half Men Private Generalist M...... 1 612 392

22 Suite Life Zack Cody Specialty ......S 1 608 425

23 American Idol 8 Ar Private Generalist ..W.... 1 598 399


25 Fairly Odd Parents Specialty ......S 1 595 416


27 Phineas & Ferb Specialty MTWTF.. 5 591 404

28 Cory In The House Specialty .....SS 2 587 403

29 Total Drama Action Specialty .....S. 1 563 385

30 Zoey 101 Specialty .....SS 2 562 387

31 Spongebob Squarepant Specialty MTWTF.. 5 553 375

32 Ned's Declassified Specialty .....SS 2 547 377

33 Movie Sun Eve Specialty ......S 1 543 38

34 Icarly Specialty MTWT... 4 541 359

35 Suite Life On Deck Specialty .....SS 2 534 371

36 That's So Raven Specialty .....SS 2 521 358

37 Karaoke Star Jr Specialty ......S 1 521 364

38 Movie Fri Eve Specialty ....F.. 1 515 376


40 Phil Of The Future Specialty .....SS 2 507 348

41 Fairly Odd Parents Specialty MT.T... 3 502 328

42 Total Drama Island Specialty .....S. 1 495 338

43 Flight 29 Down Specialty .....SS 2 491 341

44 Movie Sat Aft 1 Specialty .....S. 1 486 332

45 American Idol 8 Ap Private Generalist .T..... 1 482 314

46 Pretty Cure Specialty .....S. 1 48 328

47 H.N.I.C. Game #1 Public Generalist .....S. 1 479 327

48 Naturally Sadie Specialty .....SS 2 477 331

49 Disny The Weekenders Specialty MTWTF.. 5 476 326

50 Emperor's New School Specialty MTWTF.. 5 472 318

Repetition

Adult Program

Appendix C : Top 100 Children’s Programs, English Canada 7-11 Year Olds

38



51 Whats New Scooby Doo Specialty .....S. 1 467 319

52 Drake & Josh Specialty MTWT... 4 461 304

53 Dsney's Kim Possible Specialty .....SS 2 457 317

54 Prank Patrol Specialty .....S. 1 455 311

55 Cory In The House Specialty ......S 1 448 313


57 Spongebob Squarepant Specialty ....F.. 1 447 326

58 Pokemon Specialty MTWTF.. 5 443 297

59 Back At The Barnyard Specialty ......S 1 433 303

60 Fairly Odd Parents Specialty MTWTF.. 5 428 288

61 Zapx Specialty ......S 1 426 298

62 Prank Patrol Specialty ....F.. 1 424 31


64 Disney's Recess Specialty MTWTF.. 5 413 283

65 Er Private Generalist ...T... 1 408 282

66 The Latest Buzz Specialty MTWT... 4 408 271

67 Grossology Specialty .....S. 1 402 274

68 Prank Patrol Specialty .....S. 1 401 274

69 Movie Fri Eve Late 2 Specialty ....F.. 1 399 291

70 Rollbots Specialty .....S. 1 399 273

71 Spongebob Squarepant Specialty MTWTF.. 5 395 264

72 Casper Scare School Specialty ......S 1 391 273

73 Ned's Declassified Specialty MTWT... 4 389 258

74 Life With Derek Specialty MTWT... 4 382 253

75 Malcolm In Middle Specialty MT.T... 3 381 249

76 Gary Unmarried Private Generalist M...... 1 378 242

77 Shaggy & Scooby Clue Specialty .....S. 1 374 255

78 The Replacements Specialty MTWTF.. 5 373 25

79 That's So Raven Specialty .....SS 2 372 257


81 Phineas & Ferb Specialty .....SS 2 365 254

82 League Of Super Evil Specialty .....S. 1 363 248

83 Karaoke Star Jr Specialty M...... 1 362 232

84 Monster Buster Club Specialty .....S. 1 362 247

85 Movie Sun Aft 1 Specialty ......S 1 361 253

86 Prank Patrol Specialty ..W.... 1 354 236

87 Kid Vs Kat Specialty ..W.... 1 351 234

88 Bugs Bunny & Tweety Specialty .....S. 1 348 238

89 Mr. Men Specialty ......S 1 346 242

90 Mystery Hunters Specialty ......S 1 343 24

91 H.N.I.C. Game #2 Public Generalist .....S. 1 342 234

92 Zixx:Level Three Specialty ......S 1 342 239

93 Grossology Specialty ......S 1 337 235

94 Wizards/Waverly Plac Specialty MTWT... 4 336 222

95 Totally Spies Specialty .....S. 1 33 226

96 Whats New Scooby Doo Specialty MTWTF.. 5 326 221

97 League Of Super Evil Specialty ......S 1 321 224

98 Movie Sun Aft 2 Specialty ......S 1 32 224

99 American Idol 8 Ap Private Generalist .T..... 1 317 206

100 Zoey 101 Specialty .....SS 2 315 218

39

Ranking (with repetition) Program (French Canada 2-6) Type of


1 Auberge chien noir Public Generalist M...... 1 648 1,951

2 Diego Educational ......S 1 588 1,751

3 Toc toc toc Educational MTWTF.. 5 561 1,711

4 Toupie et Binou Educational ......S 1 536 1,596

5 Diego Educational .....S. 1 484 1,429

6 Dora l'exploratrice Educational ......S 1 465 1,384

7 Bob le bricoleur Educational .....S. 1 456 1,345

8 Toc toc toc Public Generalist MTWTF.. 5 445 136

9 Dora l'exploratrice Educational .....S. 1 444 1,311

10 Sam Chicotte Educational ....F.. 1 434 1,334

11 Cornemuse Educational MTWTF.. 5 416 127

12 Mystères Tourneville Public Generalist ....F.. 1 409 1,257

13 Boys, Les Public Generalist M...... 1 405 1,221

14 Gofrette Public Generalist ..WT... 2 397 1,232

15 Semaine Verte Public Generalist ......S 1 388 1,155

16 Schtroumpfs Public Generalist MT..... 2 37 1,111

17 Toc toc toc Public Generalist .....SS 2 354 105

18 Kaboum Educational MTWT... 4 351 1,068

19 Tigrou et Winnie Public Generalist M...... 1 343 1,031

20 Petits Einstein Public Generalist .T..... 1 332 993

21 Ludovic Public Generalist ....F.. 1 326 1,001

22 Zoboomafoo Educational MTWTF.. 5 318 971

23 Sauvetout Public Generalist ..W.... 1 304 958

24 Jim l'astronaute Public Generalist ...T... 1 299 911

25 Tout le monde en... Public Generalist ......S 1 297 886

26 Will et Mathis Public Generalist ..W.... 1 279 878

27 Toupie et Binou Educational .....S. 1 279 823

28 Bob le bricoleur Educational ......S 1 275 821

29 Nouky/Thomas/Dragon/Toupie Educational ......S 1 254 756

30 Découverte Public Generalist ......S 1 243 724

31 Edgar et Ellen Public Generalist .....S. 1 236 697

32 Winchell et cie Public Generalist ......S 1 235 701

33 Mon poison rouge Public Generalist ...T... 1 225 685

34 1,2,3 Bo! Public Generalist ....F.. 1 216 664

35 Bali Public Generalist ...T... 1 211 642

36 Teletoon présente Specialty .....S. 1 209 617

37 Nouky/Thomas/Dragon/Toupie Educational .....S. 1 208 615

38 Bakugan Specialty ......S 1 208 619

39 Ramdam Educational MTWTF.. 5 207 63

40 Mélodilous, Les Educational MTWTF.. 5 203 619

41 Tout sur moi Public Generalist M...... 1 201 605

42 Pouic explore monde Public Generalist .....S. 1 195 577

43 Mur, Le Private Generalist ..W.... 1 194 611

44 Gr révolution alim Public Generalist ...T... 1 191 583

45 Épicerie Public Generalist ..W.... 1 191 601

46 Loft Story Private Generalist MTWTF.. 5 19 579

47 Beautés désespérées Public Generalist .T..... 1 189 566

48 Code Lyoko Public Generalist .....SS 2 189 559

49 Schtroumpfs Public Generalist .....SS 2 187 554

50 Will et Mathis Public Generalist M...... 1 185 555

Appendix D : Top 100 Children’s Programs, French Canada 2-6 Year Olds

Repetition

Adult Program




51 Anne, la maison aux pignons verts Educational ......S 1 183 545

52 Match des étoiles Public Generalist ..W.... 1 182 574

53 Rocket Power Educational MTWTF.. 5 177 539

54 Kaboum Educational .TWTF.. 4 174 536

55 Jojo Circus Public Generalist ..W.... 1 173 546

56 Johnny Test Specialty .....SS 2 173 513

57 Petite vie Public Generalist M...... 1 172 519

58 W.I.T.C.H. Public Generalist .....S. 1 171 506

59 Glurp Attack Public Generalist ......S 1 17 507

60 Loft Story Dim Private Generalist ......S 1 17 506

61 Lili Public Generalist ....F.. 1 167 515

62 SamSam/Méli, Mélo Educational .....S. 1 167 494

63 Sam Chicotte Educational M...... 1 16 483

64 Dieu créa...Laflaque Public Generalist ......S 1 16 476


66 101 Dalmatiens Public Generalist ...TF.. 2 151 462

67 SamSam/Méli, Mélo Educational ......S 1 147 437

68 Loft Story Sam Private Generalist .....S. 1 146 431

69 TWO AND A HALF MEN Private Generalist M...... 1 146 439

70 Bob le bricoleur Educational MTWTF.. 5 145 442

71 Calinours Public Generalist MT..... 2 142 427

72 Anne, la maison aux pignons verts Educational .....S. 1 14 413

73 Teletoon présente 2 Specialty ......S 1 139 414

74 Dora l'exploratrice Educational MTWTF.. 5 139 426

75 Bali Public Generalist .T..... 1 133 398

76 Chaotic Specialty ......S 1 133 395

77 Second Regard Public Generalist ......S 1 132 394

78 Petit roi Macius, Le Educational .....SS 2 13 386

79 Bakugan Specialty MTWTF.. 5 129 395

80 Magie de Criss Angel, La Private Generalist ....F.. 1 129 397

81 Virginie Public Generalist MTWT... 4 128 391

82 Naruto (13+) Specialty MTWTF.. 5 127 389

83 Aventures de Tintin Public Generalist .....S. 1 127 374

84 Kong Public Generalist ......S 1 124 369

85 Épicerie Public Generalist ......S 1 122 362

86 Johnny Test Specialty MTWTF.. 5 119 367

87 Ben 10 Specialty ......S 1 118 351

88 Simpson, Les Specialty MTWTF.. 5 118 359

89 Sammy et Scooby en folie Specialty .....S. 1 114 338

90 Cinéma Samedi 19h Private Generalist .....S. 1 114 337

91 Spirou et Fantasio Public Generalist .....S. 1 113 335

92 Hôtel Bordemer Public Generalist ......S 1 111 331

93 Cory est dans la place Specialty .....S. 1 111 327

94 Mission monstre Educational .....S. 1 109 322

95 Maya & Miguel Educational MTWTF.. 5 108 331


97 Bob Gratton 2 Private Generalist ..W.... 1 106 333

98 Chaotic Specialty MTWTF.. 5 101 309

99 Anatole Educational MTWTF.. 5 98 299


41



1 Mur, Le Private Generalist ..W.... 1 479 1,368

2 Kaboum Educational MTWT... 4 44 1,291

3 Boys, Les Public Generalist M...... 1 392 1,168

4 Beautés désespérées Public Generalist .T..... 1 339 1,017

5 Bob Gratton Private Generalist ..W.... 1 334 952

6 Auberge chien noir Public Generalist M...... 1 317 945

7 Toc toc toc Educational MTWTF.. 5 286 837


9 Simpson, Les Specialty MTWTF.. 5 266 783

10 Vie de palace de Zack & Cody Specialty MTWTF.. 5 261 767

11 Sam Chicotte Educational ....F.. 1 257 749

12 Cory est dans la place Speciality .....S. 1 25 759

13 Match des étoiles Public Generalist ..W.... 1 241 688

14 Kaboum Educational .TWTF.. 4 238 695

15 Toc toc toc Public Generalist .....SS 2 235 711

16 Tout le monde en... Public Generalist ......S 1 233 702

17 Grenade avec ça, Une Specialty MTWTF.. 5 227 667

18 Cory est dans la place Specialty .....S. 1 227 689

19 Petite vie Public Generalist M...... 1 223 665

20 H20 Specialty .....S. 1 221 672

21 Bakugan Specialty ......S 1 221 664

22 Loft Story Private Generalist MTWTF.. 5 214 63


24 Bob l'éponge Specialty .....SS 2 212 641

25 H20 Specialty ..W.... 1 207 59

26 Hannah Montana Specialty MTW.... 3 207 605

27 Frères Scott, Les Specialty .T..... 1 202 606

28 Phinéas et Ferb Specialty .....SS 2 20 602

29 Magie de Criss Angel, La Private Generalist ....F.. 1 194 566

30 CSI NY Private Generalist M...... 1 191 57

31 Naruto Specialty MTWTF.. 5 191 559

32 Épicerie Public Generalist ..W.... 1 19 542

33 Vie de palace de Zack & Cody Specialty ...TF.. 2 189 554

34 Vie de palace de Zack & Cody Specialty MT..... 2 187 558

35 Paquet voleur Public Generalist ....F.. 1 182 531

36 Dieu créa...Laflaque Public Generalist ......S 1 181 544

37 Johnny Test Specialty .....SS 2 176 53


39 Malcolm Educational .T..... 1 174 522

40 Jimmy délire Specialty .....S. 1 17 515

41 Rire et délire Private Generalist ..W.... 1 169 483


43 Vie de palace de Zack & Cody Specialty .....S. 1 166 504

44 Teletoon présente Specialty ......S 1 163 49

45 Cory est dans la place Specialty ..WTF.. 3 162 47


47 Il était une fois dans le trouble Specialty ..W.... 1 16 457

48 Kong Public Generalist ......S 1 159 478

49 Il était une fois dans le trouble Specialty M...... 1 158 471

50 Classe des Titans Specialty ......S 1 158 475

Appendix E : Top 100 Children’s Programs, French Canada 7-11 Year Olds

Repetition

Adult Program




51 Aventures de Tintin Public Generalist .....S. 1 158 479

52 Stan et ses stars Specialty ..W.... 1 157 447

53 Virginie Public Generalist MTWT... 4 155 455

54 Batman Specialty ......S 1 155 466

55 Derek Specialty ....F.. 1 154 451

56 Bugs Bunny et Tweety Specialty .....SS 2 153 461


58 Dans une galaxie près de chez vous Specialty M...... 1 151 449

59 W.I.T.C.H. Public Generalist .....S. 1 151 457

60 Défis extrêmes: Action! Specialty .....SS 2 149 45


62 Bob l'éponge Specialty MTWTF.. 5 146 429

63 Teletoon présente 2 Specialty .....S. 1 142 432

64 Infoman Public Generalist ...T... 1 142 419

65 Bakugan Specialty MTWTF.. 5 142 418

66 Bob l'éponge Specialty MTWTF.. 5 142 417

67 Derek Specialty ..W.... 1 142 405

68 Il était une fois dans le trouble Specialty .....S. 1 14 426

69 Edgar et Ellen Public Generalist .....S. 1 14 426

70 Grenade avec ça, Une Specialty MTWTF.. 5 14 41

71 Glurp Attack Public Generalist ......S 1 14 42

72 Jimmy l'intrépide Specialty .....SS 2 138 418

73 Derek Specialty ......S 1 138 416

74 Grenade avec ça, Une Specialty ......S 1 137 411

75 Monde de Quest Specialty MTWTF.. 5 136 399

76 Teletoon présente 3 Specialty ......S 1 134 403

77 Grenade avec ça, Une Specialty ......S 1 134 403

78 Code Lyoko Public Generalist .....SS 2 133 403


80 Grenade avec ça, Une Specialty .T..... 1 133 399

81 Spectaculaire Spider-Man Specialty ......S 1 133 4

82 Île défis extrêmes, L' Specialty ......S 1 13 392

83 Grenade avec ça, Une Specialty .....SS 2 13 392

84 Jimmy l'intrépide Specialty .....S. 1 13 394

85 Chaotic Specialty MTWTF.. 5 127 374

86 Union fait la force Public Generalist MTWTF.. 5 127 375

87 Stan et ses stars Specialty .T..... 1 127 38

88 Tes désirs sont désordres Specialty .....SS 2 127 383

89 Toc toc toc Public Generalist MTWTF.. 5 126 372

90 Ce que j'aime chez toi Specialty .....SS 2 126 379

91 Méchant changement Specialty .....S. 1 124 377

92 Stan et ses stars Specialty ......S 1 124 373

93 Dans une galaxie près de chez vous Specialty .....S. 1 123 375

94 Il était une fois dans le trouble Specialty .....SS 2 122 369

95 Bob Gratton 2 Private Generalist ..W.... 1 122 347

96 H20 Specialty ....F.. 1 121 354

97 Simpson, Les Specialty .....SS 2 121 365

98 Fan Club Specialty .....SS 2 12 361

99 Monde bête bête, Un Private Generalist ....F.. 1 119 348

100 Gr révolution alim Public Generalist ...T... 1 119 35

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Canadian National Study on Kids TV

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