ABS-CBN maintains lead in nationwide TV ratings in March

MANILA, Philippines - ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. maintained its lead in the nationwide TV ratings in March, according to global media specialist TNS.

ABS-CBN garnered an audience share of 45 percent last month, 11.9 points higher than rival GMA Network’s 33.1 percent.

Year-on-year, ABS-CBN’s audience share rose 2.1 points from 42.9 percent in March 2009, while GMA’s audience share dropped by 2.7 points from 35.8 percent in March 2009.  

Industry analysts said ABS-CBN has gained ground in Mega Manila with its audience share increasing to 36.9 percent in March 2010 or an increase of 3.9 points from 33 percent in March 2009.

GMA Network’s hold in Mega Manila, on the other hand, has weakened with audience share tumbling to 37.8 percent in March 2010, down by 4.9 points from 42.7 percent in March 2009.   According to the TNS, seven out of the 10 most watched weekday programs in March were ABS-CBN programs.  

ABS-CBN’s AM radio station DZMM is not only leading in radio in terms of audience share according to 2010 Nielsen Mega Manila RAM, but its cable TV channel DZMM TeleRadyo is the number one cable news and information channel in February 2010.  

DZMM scored a 22 percent audience share. DZMM TeleRadyo climbed to 24th spot among all cable TV channels, beating other news channels such as CNN, BBC, Channel News Asia, Bloomberg, and CNBC.

ABS-CBN shifted to TNS after filing a case versus AGB Nielsen Media Research for failing to comply with its request to investigate alleged cheating and data tampering in TV ratings. The case is still pending in court. 

TNS is a leading market research group in the world with a proven track record in audience research measurement systems in 32 countries. It started releasing its national television audience measurement (NUTAM) data on February 2009 with panels, composed of 1,370 representative households, covering urban Philippines and reporting on seven sectors namely NCR, Suburbs, North Luzon, Central Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.