GMA Network claims lead in key urban areas, ABS-CBN in national audience share

GMA Network Inc. continued to maintain its television ratings lead in key urban areas while main rival ABS-CBN Corp. said it was ahead in national audience share in September.

In a statement, GMA cited viewers in the Urban Television Audience Measurement, which showed it had an audience share of 41.9 percent against ABS-CBN’s 38.8 percent. GMA said the figure was based on data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

In Urban Luzon, GMA said it had maintained its lead across all time blocks with total day people audience share of 48 percent, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 33 percent.

For Mega Manila alone (Sept. 1-23), GMA cornered 50.7 percent total day people audience share against ABS-CBN’s 29.3 percent. It noted the lead was significant because Luzon and Mega Manila accounted for most urban viewers across the Philippines.

ABS-CBN, which uses data from Kantar Media, said in a statement that its nationwide market share for September stood at 47 percent compared to 33 percent for GMA.

It was also ahead in the coveted primetime block as well as in Visayas and Mindanao.

For primetime, ABS-CBN said it had an audience share of 51 percent, against 31 percent for GMA. It said the time slot, from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight, is sought after by advertisers because of the larger volume of television viewers.

ABS-CBN also led other networks in other time blocks such as the morning block, where it scored an average audience share of 40 percent versus GMA’s 31 percent. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS