GMA Network profit down 39% in ‘11

GMA Network

The 2011 profit of broadcast giant GMA Network Inc. fell by nearly 40 percent year-on-year largely due to cuts in ad spending by big clients and the absence of political advertisements.

In a briefing on Tuesday, the network said revenue fell by 8.5 percent to P13.083 billion in 2011.

“Notwithstanding the absence of P2.054 billion worth of revenue from political advertisements generated in 2010, and the global impact of the financial crisis in Europe and slow economic recovery in the US last year, the company delivered a fairly competitive business performance,” it said.

Profit dropped by 39 percent to P1.715 billion from P2.8 billion in 2010.

Despite the drop in earnings, GMA said it had recorded the biggest market share in advertising revenue among the country’s top media firms.

GMA said its main channel 7 network raised its ad loading minutes by 2.1 percent even with an increase in advertising rates that took effect in February.

Rival ABS-CBN Corp., meanwhile, appeared to be the hardest hit by the ad spend cutback among local broadcasting companies with a 7.1-percent drop in ad loading minutes during the comparable period, GMA Network said citing its own monitoring.

GMA International ended 2011 with a 6-percent growth in dollar revenue, but the growth rate slowed to only four percent in peso terms due to the appreciation of the peso. Total revenue from subscription, licensing and advertising made through overseas operations reached P965 million.

GMA International runs the Network’s flagship international channel, GMA Pinoy TV, and lifestyle channel GMA Life TV with estimated global viewer counts of two million and one million, respectively.

Both channels can be accessed through a number of channel carriers in Filipino viewer-rich territories overseas such as the US, Canada, Middle East, Africa, Japan, Guam, Saipan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Diego Garcia, Europe and the Carribean.