ABS-CBN profit in H1 fell by 41%

Media giant ABS-CBN Corp. said profit fell in the first six months of 2017, given the absence of election-related advertising that helped prop up its bottom line last year.

ABS-CBN announced Friday that net income from January to June 2017 hit P1.26 billion, down 41 percent compared to the same period last year.

Revenue during the period hit P19.34 billion, down 8 percent.

Advertising sales alone were down 21 percent to P9.88 billion in the first six months of 2017 versus the same period last year.

“We are seeing a softening in the market in terms of advertising,” ABS-CBN chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado said on Friday.

ABS-CBN said earnings were pulled down by its media networks and studio entertainment segment, which includes TV advertising.

Operating revenue here hit P13.9 billion, down 13.7 percent.

ABS-CBN ended the first half of 2017 with 3.2 million ABS-CBN TVplus digital TV boxes sold since the service was launched in 2015.

“Our progress with the DTT initiative has also been evident in its ratings performance. Cinemo and Yey! channels have more than doubled their audience shares to 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year,” Cerrado said.

ABS-CBN Group CFO Ron Valdueza said SkyCable’s revenue grew by 9 percent to P4.6 billion as subscriptions rose. As of end June 2017, Sky had over one million subscribers.

Moreover, Star Cinema generated over P1.2 billion in revenues during the first half.

Kidzania, the company’s educational theme park in Bonifacio Global City, recorded over 148,000 visitors since the beginning of the year, and is expected to do even better in the second half.

O Shopping Channel, the Company’s joint venture with CJ O Shopping of Korea, generated P435 million in sales of various products for the first six months of 2017.