Experimental Stream

The Experimental Stream supports the creation of ground-breaking, interactive, digital media content and software applications. Innovation in user engagement is one of the consistent strengths of projects submitted. Projects funded through this program can be developed for commercial use by the Canadian media industry or public use by Canadians. Projects are supported at the development, production and marketing stages. Funding is allocated according to a selective process using an evaluation matrix. Projects at the production stage are assessed by a jury of Canadian and international industry experts. Their bios can be found on the CMF web site. The CMF thanks jury members for their contribution to the success of this program.

The CMF increased the budget for the Experimental stream from $27.0 M in 2010-2011 to $32.9 M in 2011-2012, representing a 22% increase in total funding over 2010-2011 and supporting 13 more projects than the previous year. Total projects funded rose to 90 from 77. The CMF provided 64% of financing to production projects in 2011-2012, up from 54% in 2010-2011. Total production budgets triggered went down from $39.2 M to $36.9 M, as average budgets decreased from $0.9 M to $0.8 M.

Experimental Stream 2011-2012

Experimental Stream 2010-2011

Production received 71% of funding in 2011-2012, as compared to 79% in 2010-2011, receiving an average of $0.5 M in CMF investment. CMF funding to production projects ranged from $19 K to $1.0 M, the maximum contribution. Successful projects came from Alberta, BC, Ontario, Quebec, and all of the Atlantic Provinces. Bilingual production projects increased to 20 from 12 in 2010-2011, with a corresponding decrease (from 11 to 5) in projects produced for solely Francophone audiences.

Development more than doubled its share to 25% of Experimental Stream funding, compared to 12% in 2010-2011. Development projects merited a larger share in 2011-2012 due to the high level of demand the previous year and the continued high quality of development applications.

Stand-alone apps (for mobile and other platforms) and software received a quarter of production funding in 2011-2012, with the balance supporting interactive content and games. Of that portion, games for a variety of platforms captured a 36% share. The category of Interactive Content captures all content which requires a portal, such as a website, for use.

There were 278 applications to the Experimental stream in 2011-2012, and one-third were supported. While the CMF provided the majority of financing, producer self-investment, at 19%, was the secondary source of financing for experimental production, down from 24% of financing the previous year.  Broadcasters' financing rose from 1% in 2010-2011 to 3% in 2011-2012. The CMF allowed 7 applications to convert development advances to production investments in 2011-2012. This addition helped increase the CMF’s share of financing to 66% from last year's 54%. Without the advances, CMF funding would have been 64% of production budgets.

Experimental Production Sources of Financing