Last summer, when PBS announced that the geofencing that prevented Canadian donors from accessing PBS Passport streaming video content would be taken down, you could almost hear the sigh of relief from border stations across the country. Finally, after enduring years of declines in support from Canadian audiences, border stations had a powerful new member benefit to attract Canadian donors.

But how have stations fared in the months that have followed?  CDP’s data analytics team recently took a deep dive into the world of Canadian Passport donors and Canadian membership revenues and the results are… intriguing.

What our data scientists have found is that Canadian Passport growth among border stations has been uneven, with some stations experiencing exceptionally strong growth while others are only seeing modest increases.

Since July, the cohort of stations we reviewed have brought in nearly 2,000 Canadian donors acquired directly through Passport online forms. While that may seem somewhat modest, Passport availability may also be influencing Canadian giving through other channels as well: rolling 12-month Canadian revenue is up across the cohort, with  increases ranging from just over 1% to an impressive 15%.

At first,  it appeared there was little to no pattern (market size, member count, licensee type etc.) to explain why some stations were experiencing strong Canadian growth while others were not enjoying the same level of success.

Digging a little deeper, the correlation appears to emerge when looking at the degree of online promotion each of these stations gives to Canadian Passport. Those stations robustly highlighting Canadian Passport availability on their home pages have generally seen the higher increases in Canadian giving.  And while we don’t have insight into these stations’ Development marketing priorities, it stands to reason that a station that puts online marketing muscle behind promoting Canadian Passport viewing may also be doing so on-air, in social and through other station communications.

It’s also worth noting that, during the same time period, stations with the highest Canadian increases are also seeing a larger increase in US Passport giving than other stations in the cohort. This may represent a byproduct of the increased visibility the stations are providing to Passport by promoting the availability of the member benefit in Canada. Bottom line? Whether you’re a border station or not, and even if we’ve reached the COVID-era’s Passport peak (which happened in May), Passport promotion works and remains worthy of a spot on your monthly Development Promotion Priorities list.