ABS-CBN, GMA claim TV market leadership

Rival television broadcast companies ABS-CBN Corp. and GMA Network Inc. claimed ratings leads in their respective strongholds last year, citing data from research firms.

ABS-CBN said it had remained the country’s most-watched TV network, citing data from Kantar Media. GMA, which uses data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, said it had continued to lead in the densely populated Urban Luzon and Mega Manila areas.

ABS-CBN noted that Kantar’s data showed the network had cornered a “total day average national audience share” of 44 percent against GMA’s 34 percent in 2014.

It also claimed a lead in the coveted prime time block with an average audience share of 49 percent against GMA’s 32 percent.

GMA, meanwhile, said it had cornered 36.4 percent of “total day household audience share” among Urban Luzon viewers, compared to ABS-CBN’s 31.3 percent. It noted that third-ranked TV5 got 10.1 percent.

GMA also claimed a 37.6-percent market share in Mega Manila, against ABS-CBN’s 28.8 percent. TV5’s market share was 10.9 percent, it said.

It also said Urban Luzon accounts for 77 percent of total urban TV households while MegaManila represents 60 percent of all urban TV households.

Both networks claimed a lead in various daytime ratings.

ABS-CBN said it had won the early afternoon (12 noon to 3 p.m.) and late afternoon blocks (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) with 42 percent average audience share on both time blocks, while GMA registered 35 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

GMA, for its part, claimed it had scored higher nationwide ratings than rival networks in the daytime blocks based on data covering 2014.

In the morning block, GMA said it had registered 31.7 percent against ABS-CBN’s 29.9 percent while in the afternoon block, GMA posted 34.8 percent versus ABS-CBN’s 32.5 percent.

ABS-CBN noted that Kantar used a nationwide panel size of 2,609 urban and rural homes that represent 100 percent of the total Philippine TV viewing population.