ABS-CBN claims nationwide rule; GMA said to hold urban Luzon
ABS-CBN Corp. on Wednesday announced its dominance in nationwide television ratings last March, claiming it maintained its lead over rivals in urban and rural areas across the country.
Citing data from Kantar Media, ABS-CBN said it ended March with an average audience share of 41 percent across all time slots, or 10 points ahead of GMA Network Inc.’s 31 percent.
In a statement, ABS-CBN also claimed that it continued to rule the hotly contested primetime slot—where most advertising pesos are spent—with an average audience share of 47 percent, ahead of GMA’s 30 percent.
The company said the primetime slot of 6 p.m. to midnight was considered “the most important part of the day when most Filipinos watch TV and advertisers put a larger chunk of their investment to reach more consumers efficiently.”
GMA, on the other hand, said it maintained a comfortable lead in the viewer-rich urban Luzon and mega Manila areas. Urban Luzon and mega Manila respectively account for 76 and 59 percent of the country’s urban TV household population.
In Urban Luzon, GMA scored an average total day audience share of 33.7 percent, higher than ABS-CBN’s 29.4 percent and TV5’s 15.2 percent.
Also, GMA kept its ratings advantage in its bailiwick mega Manila with a 34.5 percent total day household audience share, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 27.6 percent and TV5’s 16.3 percent.
Aside from leading in primetime, ABS-CBN said it continued to beat other networks across all programming blocks. In the morning (6 a.m. to noon), the company recorded an average audience share of 36 percent against GMA’s 32 percent. ABS-CBN was also five points ahead of GMA in both early afternoon (noon to 3 p.m.) and late afternoon (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) with 38 percent and 35 percent, respectively, against GMA’s 33 percent and 30 percent.
Using a nationwide panel size of 2,609 urban and rural homes, Kantar Media is the first ratings agency to cover rural Philippines in its monthly surveys. As much as 40 percent of all television viewers in the country are outside urban zones.
