TV ratings battle heats up in Sept

MANILA, Philippines - The television ratings war continued to heat up in September as the two major networks - ABS-CBN and GMA Network - both claimed viewing leadership during the period.

In a statement, GMA Network said it closed September with a strong win in national TV ratings against ABS-CBN and the PLDT-controlled TV5.

For its part, ABS-CBN, in a separate release, said it once again dominated national TV ratings on the highly-contested primetime slot (from 6 p.m. onwards), when viewing levels peak and advertisers put in most of their placements.

GMA Network is using Nielsen’s TV audience measurement service while ABS-CBN employs data from Kantar Media.

The Lopez-owned ABS-CBN said it scored an average audience share of 42 percent, or a whopping 12-point lead over GMA’s 30 percent, in September. 

In Metro Manila, ABS-CBN led all TV channels on primetime with an average audience share of 35 percent as against GMA’s 33 percent.

It said 13 out of the top 15 most watched programs in September were on ABS-CBN, sweeping the top 10 slots. GMA’s top rating locally produced program, “Amaya,” only ranked 15th.

But GMA Network said that in fact, national viewership since the start of 2011 showed a trend that establishes it as the top choice among the country’s free-to-air channels.

Total day (6 a.m.-12mn) household audience share data in September showed that GMA was the most preferred channel in National Urban Philippines relative to ABS-CBN and TV5, clinching 34.1 share points, 4.1 points ahead of ABS-CBN’s 30 points, and almost twice TV5’s 17.3.

In the widely watched afternoon block (12 nn to 6 p.m.), GMA strengthened its double-digit wins over competing channels. For the period, GMA was 17.5 points higher with 40.9 points compared to ABS-CBN’s 23.4; and 25.2 points ahead of TV5’s 15.7.

The numbers translate to GMA having 3.3 million more viewers over ABS-CBN; and 4.7 million more viewers over TV5 on a national level.

But based on programs, ABS-CBN said “Maalaala Mo Kaya” hosted by company president Charo Santos-Concio, topped the list with an average national TV rating of 32.8 percent, also dominating the weekend programming, while “100 Days to Heaven” came in second with a rating of 32 percent and remains the No. 1 weekday program.

The live airing of the prestigious “Miss Universe 2011” in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where local bet Shamcey Supsup bagged third runner-up honor, rated an unprecented 31 percent during daytime, heralding a new benchmark for a beauty pageant genre. This is in stark contrast to GMA-produced “Miss World” which only rated 9.2 percent in primetime.  

Meanwhile, “TV Patrol” is still the undisputed primetime newscast in the county as it earned an average TV rating of 28.1 percent against GMA’s “24 Oras” (18.6 percent).

Less specials, the longest running noontime variety show” Eat Bulaga” was the only daytime program on GMA that made it to the list of top five programs in National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM).

But GMA said as in previous months, its total day leadership covers the viewer-rich areas of urban Luzon and Mega Manila, with the latter area comprising 58 percent of total television households nationwide.