ABS-CBN, GMA contest TV ratings anew

MANILA, Philippines – ABS-CBN Corp. claimed nationwide leadership in TV ratings, while GMA Network Inc. continued to be the leader in Urban Luzon in July.

In a statement, ABS-CBN said it maintained its national audience share of 47 percent versus GMA which only scored 32 percent, and TV5 which had seven percent, based on data from Kantar Media.

Kantar Media, which provides TV audience measurement, uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural homes representing 100 percent of total Philippine TV viewing population.

By area, ABS-CBN beats its rivals. In Luzon, ABS-CBN had a 41 percent share, higher than GMA’s 35 percent and TV5’s six percent.

In the Visayas, ABS-CBN took the lead with its 57 percent audience share, while GMA had 23 percent and TV5 had eight percent.

As for Mindanao, ABS-CBN was also the most watched with its 58 percent share compared to GMA’s 26 percent and TV5’s seven percent.

ABS-CBN also ruled the primetime block or the most important part of the day, by obtaining a 50 percent average audience share, bigger than GMA’s 30 percent and TV5’s eight percent.

The primetime block (6 p.m. until 12 midnight), is when firms put the bulk of their advertising budget as this is when most Filipinos tune in to their TV sets.

Aside from primetime, ABS-CBN also ruled all time blocks nationwide for the month of July.

In the morning block (6 a.m. to 12 noon) ABS-CBN accounted for a 42 percent audience share, higher than GMA’s 33 percent; while it had a 45 percent share in the noontime block (12 noon to 3 p.m.) compared to GMA’s 33 percent. In the afternoon block (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.), ABS-CBN got a higher 47 percent share than GMA’s 32 percent.

Meanwhile, GMA said in a statement it continued to prevail over competition in Urban Luzon, based on Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

In particular, GMA’s average household audience share in Urban Luzon reached 39.7 percent, higher than ABS CBN’s 32.5 percent, and TV5’s 6.8 percent.

Nielsen used a nationwide sample size of 3,500 urban and rural homes.