Battle of the stations rages on; ABS-CBN, GMA claim ratings lead

The battle between the country’s biggest television stations continues to heat up, with both companies claiming to have a bigger share of viewers nationwide.

Both companies are likewise trading barbs with the goal of discrediting the ratings numbers, which advertisers take into account when deciding where to place their advertisements.

In a statement on Thursday, Lopez-led broadcast giant ABS-CBN Corp. said that according to Kantar Media, it was the most-watched station in the country for the month of June, with an average national audience share of 37 percent, or five points higher than GMA Network’s 32 percent.

“ABS-CBN continues to dominate the homes of Filipinos in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao in the viewer-rich primetime block (6 p.m. to 12 midnight), where advertisers invest 75 percent of their TV ad spending,” the company said.

ABS-CBN insisted that its data had more credibility over AGB Nielsen surveys, which rival GMA subscribes to.

“ABS-CBN shifted to Kantar Media after filing a case against AGB Nielsen Media Research for failing to comply with its request to investigate alleged cheating and data tampering in TV ratings. The case is still pending in court,” ABS-CBN said.

In a separate statement, GMA said the fact that more local networks get their data from AGB Nielsen should be proof enough of the credibility of its data.

“The Nielsen TV Audience Measurement used by GMA is used by 21 companies including two other local networks, namely, TV5 and Solar Entertainment; Faulkner Media; CBN Asia; 13 advertising agencies; and three regional clients,” GMA said.

“ABS-CBN is the only local major TV network reportedly subscribing to Kantar Media, formerly known as TNS,” GMA pointed out.

For the first semester, GMA said its audience share averaged 33.1 points, higher than ABS-CBN’s 32.1 points, based on AGB Nielsen data.