ABS-CBN, GMA contest ratings lead in October

MANILA, Philippines — ABS-CBN Corp. maintained its leadership in nationwide television ratings in October, while GMA Network Inc. claimed it won the ratings game in urban households.

In a statement, ABS-CBN said it had an average national audience share of 46 percent in October, higher than GMA’s 33 percent based on data from multinational audience measurement provider Kantar Media.

Kantar Media uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural households to represent the total Philippine TV viewing population.

The Kapamilya network said it dominated all time blocks for October.

In particular, ABS-CBN won in the primetime block (6 p.m. to 12 midnight) as it got a 50 percent audience share, ahead of GMA’s 31 percent.

The primetime block is considered the most important part of the day for advertisers as this is when most Filipinos watch TV.

In Mega Manila, ABS-CBN had an average audience share of 36 percent versus GMA’s 34 percent, while it had a higher audience share of 41 percent compared to GMA’s 27 percent in Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, GMA said in a statement it got a higher average total day audience share of 41.7 percent for the period of Oct.1 to 28 compared with ABS-CBN’s 38.1 percent, based on Nielsen Phils. TV Audience Measurement’s National Urban TV Audience Measurement (NUTAM).

GMA said it also ruled across all day parts in NUTAM as it got a 38.5 percent people audience share as compared to ABS-CBN’s 35.9 percent in the morning block, a 45.4 percent audience share as against ABS-CBN’s 37.5 percent in the afternoon block, and 40.2 percent audience share versus ABS-CBN’s 39.4 percent share in the evening block.

GMA also beat its rival in Urban Luzon where it had an audience share of 47.2 percent compared to ABS-CBN’s 32.6 percent.

As for Mega Manila, GMA stayed ahead of competition with an audience share of 48.8 percent compared to ABS-CBN’s 29.3 percent.