MANILA, Philippines – On its first year, GMA News TV established itself as the country’s No. 1 news channel. It also became the biggest Philippine winner at the 2012 New York Festivals and the 2012 US International Film and Video Festival.
Now on its second year, GMA News TV records another milestone.
Based on full August 2012 data (Aug. 26 to 31 based on overnight data) from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, GMA News TV has doubled the number of its viewers in Mega Manila, its primary market.
In Mega Manila, which comprises 59.5 percent of total urban TV households nationwide, GMA News TV posted 6 household share points in August 2012 — double its 3 household share points showing in May 2011. Using the assumption that there are five viewers per TV household, this translates to nearly 700,000 GMA News TV viewers in the said area.
GMA News TV also recorded a significant increase in National Urban TV Audience Measurement (NUTAM) with 4.4 household share points in August 2012 relative to its 2.4 share points performance in May 2011. This translates to over 800,000 viewers for GMA News TV nationwide as of last month.
Other news channels Aksyon TV and ANC, on the other hand, only managed 0.4 and 0.1 household share points, respectively, last August.
GMA News TV’s ratings lead grew even more dramatically on big news days.
In fact, during the coverage of the Chief Justice’s opening statement and Dolphy’s funeral, GMA News TV’s ratings came in second to GMA 7’s ratings.
Early this year, when former Chief Justice Renato Corona faced the Impeachment Court for his opening statement followed by his infamous walkout, GMA News TV’s coverage hit a commanding 8.6 household rating points in Mega Manila which translates to more than 2.3 million viewers; even ahead of the 5.1 rating points of ABS-CBN’s Ang Nasasakdal: Chief Justice and the 3.4 rating points of TV5’s CJ Corona Ang Paglilitis.
More viewers also tuned in to GMA News TV’s special live coverage of Dolphy’s funeral. In Mega Manila, its Salamat Dolphy posted 14.4 rating points with almost four million estimated viewers while ABS-CBN’s News Patrol (Salamat Tito Dolphy Pagsaludo sa Hari ng Komedya) registered 14 rating points and TV5’s Paalam Mang Pidol only managed 6.6 rating points.
For GMA Network chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon, the increase in GMA News TV’s viewership “reveals a change in the audience’s viewing preference, with Filipinos giving bigger value now to news and documentary programming.”
He adds, “Our GMA News organization has undeniably earned the trust of our viewers. And this holds true for all our news platforms, particularly GMA News TV.”
GMA News TV’s showing in August was mainly driven by the strong performance of the channel’s newscasts — News to Go, Balitanghali, Balita Pilipinas Ngayon, News TV Quick Response Team, State of the Nation with Jessica Soho and News TV Live reports — particularly during the Habagat coverage.