ABS-CBN reports P1.3-billion airtime sales in June

MANILA, Philippines - Tracking the same performance last month, media conglomerate ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. said airtime sales in June are likely to reach up to P1.3 billion, boosted by resurgent advertising revenues.

ABS-CBN coughed up record-high revenues of P1.4 billion in May as businesses that scrimped on advertising spending regained their confidence and are taking a more active role in placing advertisements for their products and services.

ABS-CBN chief finance officer Rolando Valdueza said the media giant is tracking revenues of as much as P1.3 billion this month. Second quarter sales are forecast to reach P3.8 billion.

Sales on a cumulative basis, however, are expected to be flat given a dismal performance in the first quarter.

For the rest of the year, the network expects flat to slightly higher sales than last year, helped by political advocacy spending ahead of the 2010 presidential elections and meager expenses.

ABS-CBN chairman and CEO Eugenio “Gabby” Lopez III said the company is maintaining its revenue and income projection despite a robust performance in the second quarter given the unstable market conditions.

Lopez said the network intends to focus on managing its expenses amid a global financial downturn.

Valdueza said the network is hoping to generate P1 billion in total savings over the next three years.

ABS-CBN has set aside P2.4 billion for its capital expenditures this year, P1.7 billion of which will be used to improve signal transmission and acquire new production equipment. The rest will go to film rights acquisition.

Ma. Rosario Santos-Concio, president of ABS-CBN, for her part said the media conglomerate is prepared to weather the current financial crisis given its strong programming and content.

“Compared to past crises, your company has been most prepared for this one. Our world class content has kept us ahead of competition. We have also developed resilience through other revenue sources knowing that advertising is very vulnerable to economic fluctuations,” Concio said.

She attributed the network’s resilience to the network’s ongoing rationalization program after losing its leadership ratings in Mega Manila following 16 years of unchallenged dominance.

“ABS-CBN underwent and continues to undergo a major transformation. We invested in our ability to understand our audiences’ needs more. We invested in the development of our creative talents, focused on improving our process efficiencies and productivity, and continued to invest transmission network,” Concio said.