GMA 7, ABS-CBN both claim top spot

Broadcasters ABS-CBN Corp. and GMA Network Inc. have both released data, each claiming to be on top of the ratings game in the first five months.

The two companies have stepped up their respective campaigns to increase their share in advertising revenues.

In a statement, ABS-CBN said data from Kantar Media showed the Lopez-led firm improved its average national audience share to 44 percent, or a 16-point lead over GMA’s 28 percent.

While ABS-CBN experienced an uptick from 43 percent in April, GMA suffered a drop from 30 percent last month.

“GMA’s decline in primetime viewership is also seen in Mega and Metro Manila,” ABS-CBN said.

ABS-CBN registered 34-percent audience share against GMA’s 33 percent in Mega Manila. ABS-CBN’s lead over GMA in Metro Manila was even bigger. ABS-CBN got 36 percent audience share while GMA accounted for 31 percent.

ABS-CBN took all the top 12 slots on the list of top regular programs for the month of May.

Kantar Media started releasing its Philippine television audience measurement data in February 2009. It culled its data from 1,370 representative households covering urban Philippines and reporting on seven sectors—the National Capital Region, North Luzon, Central Luzon, South Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Kantar Media’s current subscribers include ABS-CBN, NBN, Sky Cable, J. Romero and Associates, Adformatix, Starcom, OMD, PhD, Mediacom, Mindshare, MEC, Maxus, Universal McCann and Wellmade Manufacturing Corp.

Regional networks like CSM Media Inc., Fox International Channels, Star HK, Discovery, AXN, HBO, MTV, and Sony Pictures Television International also get their data from Kantar Media.

Meanwhile, in a separate statement GMA said it topped the national ratings chart for the first five months based on data provided by Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

Contradicting ABS-CBN’s statements, GMA said it garnered an average audience share of 33.1 percent in National Urban Philippines household ratings for the period January to May 31. This was higher than ABS-CBN’s 31.9 percent and TV5’s 15.2 percent.

GMA likewise said it cornered 36.6 percent of the viewing household population in Total Urban Luzon area, which makes up 77 percent of households nationwide. ABS-CBN, for its part, only got 27 percent while TV5 got 16.9 percent.

The company said it also had a “convincing” lead in Mega Manila, which comprises 58 percent of the country’s total television household population. GMA said it had an audience share of 37.6 percent, higher than ABS-CBN’s 25.4 percent and TV5’s 17.7 percent.—With a report from John Vincent Rapirap