MANILA, Philippines—The country’s two largest broadcast firms—ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. and GMA Network Inc.—both claimed the lead in national television ratings on Tuesday, using their respective preferred third-party assessors to buttress their positions.
The industry’s other player, TV5 of the Associated Broadcasting Corp., remained a distant third during the latest ratings period.
In a statement, ABS-CBN said it continued to dominate nationwide TV viewing across urban and rural homes in September with an average national audience share of 42 percent, or 10 points higher than GMA’s 32 percent, according to data from Kantar Media.
Kantar Media’s data also showed that ABS-CBN ruled total day viewing from June to September this year with an average national audience share of 42 percent versus GMA’s 31 percent.
ABS-CBN also said it dominated the viewer-rich primetime slot of 6 p.m. to midnight, with a national audience share of 49 percent in the four-month period, or a 21-point lead versus GMA’s 28 percent.
For its part, GMA said it “prevailed over rival stations in nationwide TV ratings in September.” This was based on ratings provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.
“Based on full September data—Sept. 23 to 30 (based on overnight data)—GMA posted an average total day (6 a.m. to midnight) audience share of 34.1 percent in National Urban Philippines (Nutam), leading ABS-CBN’s 32.9 percent by 1.2 points, and TV5’s 15.7 percent by 18.4 points,” the firm said in a statement.
“More television viewers also tuned in to GMA across all day (morning, afternoon and evening inclusive of primetime) in the important areas of Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, where the bulk of urban television households are found,” it added.
GMA added that in Urban Luzon, which accounts for 77 percent of the total urban TV households nationwide, its programming netted it a 38.2-percent total day audience share, 9.7 points higher than ABS-CBN’s 28.5 percent, and 23.2 points higher than TV5’s 15 percent.
GMA likewise led in Mega Manila, which represents 59.5 percent of rural TV households in the country, after generating a 39.2-percent total day audience share, while ABS-CBN trailed behind by 12.6 points with only 26.6 percent.