Rival TV stations claim top ratings
MANILA, Philippines—ABC-CBN of the Lopez family said more people across the nation continued to stay tuned to its station in February, citing the latest survey by Kantar Media.
GMA Network Inc. said it maintained its lead in nationwide TV ratings in the same month, citing data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.
In a statement, Lopez-led ABS-CBN said Kantar Media data showed ABS-CBN scored an average 41.4-percent nationwide audience share for the all-important prime time slot.
This was nearly 10 percent higher than rival GMA Network Inc.’s score of 31.6 percent. The company said it held the ratings lead for primetime in all areas of the country, except Metro Manila.
Based on February 1 to 29 household data (February 26 to 29 based on overnight ratings), Nielsen’s ratings showed GMA posting an average of 36.3 household share points, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 30.4 points by 5.9 points and TV5’s 14.6 by 21.7 points.
Using an average of five viewers per television household, GMA 7 said these numbers translated to about 1.1 million more viewers tuned in to GMA over ABS-CBN and almost 4 million over TV5 from all over the country.
“The primetime block on television (6 p.m. to 12 midnight) is important for TV networks because it is the time most Filipinos are watching television and advertisers put most of their TV ad placements to reach more viewers,” ABS-CBN said.
Kantar Media, which has national samples of 1,389 homes and 8,015 individuals that are statistically representative of total Philippine TV population, also reported that 12 out of the top 15 most-watched programs in the country in February were produced by ABS-CBN with the top four spots occupied by its primetime offerings.
Kantar Media, a multinational market research group that specializes in audience measurement in more than 80 countries, has 22 TV networks, ad agencies, and pan-regional networks subscribing to its ratings services.
Among its current subscribers are ABS-CBN, NBN, Sky Cable, J. Romero and Associates, Adformatix, Starcom, OMD, PhD, Mediacom, Mindshare, MEC, Maxus, Universal McCann, and Wellmade Manufacturing Corp.
Overseas, Kantar Media also provides data for companies like CSM Media Inc., Fox International Channels, Star HK, Discovery, AXN, HBO, MTV, and Sony Pictures Television International.
Leading across all day parts in Mega Manila, GMA said it kept its stronghold of its bailiwick area, which now comprised more than 59 percent of total television households nationwide. The Kapuso Network registered a total day average of 41 share points, up 16.1 points from ABS-CBN’s 24.9 points and by 26.3 points from TV5’s 14.7 points.
In terms of eyeballs, this meant that GMA had 1.8 million more viewers than ABS-CBN and around 3 million more viewers than TV5.
GMA said it swept 10 out of the 10 top-rating programs in Mega Manila for the entire February with the finale of Survivor Philippines Celebrity Doubles Showdown topping the chart with 52.2 household share points. The list also included newly launched GMA programs Legacy, My Beloved, and Biritera.
In Urban Luzon, where 77 percent of total television households are found, GMA remained ahead of competition in all day-parts with an audience share of 39.8 points. ABS-CBN trailed behind with 26.7 points and TV5 with only 14.2 points.
GMA’s lead in Urban Luzon translated to about 1.9 million viewers over ABS-CBN and 3.6 million more viewers over TV5 in February.
GMA and TV5 subscribe to Nielsen TV Audience Measurement. In Mega Manila, Nielsen TV Audience Measurement gathers data based on a sample size of 1,190 homes and a nationwide sample size of 2,000 homes.
ABS-CBN said it shifted to Kantar Media/TNS after filing a case against AGB Nielsen Media Research for denying the TV station’s request to investigate alleged cheating and data tampering in TV ratings.
