Philippines' leading broadcast firm says ad minutes increased 'substantially'

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines’ leading broadcast company said advertising minutes “registered a substantial increase" for August, beating rivals and reflecting the industry’s trend for the month. In a statement, GMA Network Inc. said advertising minutes for the eighth month reached 9,697 minutes, 18.6 percent higher than ad minutes reported last year. Subtracting ad minutes earned by noontime show and blocktimer Eat Bulaga, GMA registered 8,965 minutes, 22 percent better than its 7,348 minutes in August 2007. The growth in GMA Network’s advertising minutes was parallel to the increase in total TV advertising load as the industry experienced a 19.9 percent growth for the month, the company said in a statement. For its part, rival network ABS-CBN posted an insignificant increase in advertising loading of only 2.3 percent to 7,965 minutes in August. GMA’s sister channel QTV likewise listed a significant increase in August, with its advertising minutes posting a 26.7% increase to 3,677 minutes, the company said. Advertising load for TV-5, meanwhile, decreased by 27.5 percent to only 501 minutes for the month. On a year-to-date basis, from January to August, GMA Network totaled 68,733 minutes, 16.1 percent higher than last year’s figures. Rival ABS-CBN’s advertising minutes stood at 55,752, up by 6.8 percent over last year. QTV’s minutes grew 39.9 percent to 25,139 while TV-5’s loading went down by a huge 49.7% to 5,114 for the first 8 months. Meanwhile, GMA Network maintained its TV ratings lead in viewer-rich Mega Manila in August. GMA Network posted an average total day rating of 17.6 percent against ABS-CBN 13.8 percent in August based on Mega Manila TV ratings data from AGB Nielsen. QTV ranked third at 1.6 percent followed by government-run station RPN at 1.4 percent. Nineteen out of the top 30 overall programs came from GMA with the top 5 programs including Dyesebel, Asero, Bitoy’s Funniest Videos, 24 Oras, and Ako Si Kim Samsoon all produced by the Kapuso Network. - GMANews.TV