GMA 7 sees healthy growth in ad revenue in ’12

Now well ahead in nationwide ratings based at least on data from one research firm, GMA Network Inc. believes it is poised to post healthy growth in advertising revenue in the next 12 months.

GMA chairman and CEO Felipe Gozon late Wednesday downplayed threats posed by rival ABS-CBN Corp. and new player TV5 that they would be dominating the ratings game soon, saying that GMA Channel 7 was now established as the most watched channel nationwide.

“We are in a better position entering 2012 than we were this time last year,” Gozon told reporters.

He said prospects might be brighter in 2012 for GMA, given the improvement in its ratings.

Citing data from research firm AGB Nielsen, Gozon said GMA was leading in the national urban TV all-day and prime-time ratings.

This comes despite a conflicting claim by rival ABS-CBN Corp., which said it was leading in nationwide prime-time ratings based on data from Kantar Media research.

GMA said AGB Nielsen remained the authority in local ratings, noting that only two local networks—ABS-CBN and government-run NBN-4— subscribed to Kantar Media survey.

Gozon also dismissed the claim made by TV5, operated by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Associated Broadcasting Corp., that it had been growing its revenue at the expense of other networks like ABS-CBN and GMA.

GMA’s profit fell in the third quarter and it continued to go down in the fourth quarter, Gozon said, as a result of cutbacks in advertising spending by multinational companies, not because of competition from TV5.

“It’s the whole industry that is suffering,” Gozon said. GMA earlier said its profit might hit P2 billion this year, down by a third from P3 billion last year.

“You have to understand that the budgets of multinationals are determined by their headquarters abroad,” he said.

He said big firms had to cut back on spending given the financial woes of their parent firms abroad due to economic problems in the US and Europe.

He said the slowdown in the Philippine economy, caused mainly by a weakening export sector and lackluster government spending on infrastructure and welfare projects, had not helped in attracting big business.

“I can’t answer for the economy. Our situation will be better if the economy will cooperate. But if no one’s buying, what can we do?” Gozon said.