Impact of shutdown shows in rivals ABS-CBN, GMA revenues

MANILA, Philippines—Higher advertising revenues boosted GMA Network Inc.’s profits during the first semester of 2021 while rival ABS-CBN Corp.  continued to record heavy financial losses without its broadcast franchise.

GMA ended the period with a profit of P3.63 billion, up 159 percent, while total revenues reached P10.6 billion, up 57 percent.

More than 90 percent of its earnings come from advertising, which surged higher due to increased rates and less competition after the Duterte administration shut down ABS-CBN’s free-to-air broadcasts last year.

GMA’s advertising revenues jumped 61 percent to P9.88 billion as all platforms “yielded upbeat sales results versus same period last year.”

Its foray into digital television pushed up sales of goods to P256 million, up 57 percent, as it sold over one million GMA Affordabox units since its 2020 launch.

During the same period, ABS-CBN saw losses widen by 13.7 percent to P3.39 billion while total revenues fell 38.7 percent to P8.16 billion.

The company’s advertising revenues alone went down 57 percent to P2.23 billion since the comparable period included four full months of operating television and radio broadcast prior to the shutdown on May 5, 2020.

ABS-CBN responded by boosting online streaming contents and securing airtime leasing deals with other television networks.

These efforts generated P1.63 billion in advertising revenues during the first half of 2021 while another P121 million came from IwantTFC and international content distribution.

ABS-CBN’s consumer sales segment, which included SkyCable, also declined 27 percent to P5.9 billion after its satellite television business was shuttered by the government.

Notably, both media groups continued to spend heavily on the production of new content amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABS-CBN saw production costs hit P3.7 billion, down 32.8 percent, while GMA Network spent P2.24 billion, up 22 percent.

ABS-CBN’s total expenses fell 31.2 percent to P11.5 billion while GMA’s operating expenses rose 25 percent to P5.9 billion.

TSB