After a somewhat precarious 2010, Felipe Gozon, CEO of Philippine broadcaster GMA Network, has enjoyed a dream start to 2011. AGB Nielsen viewing figures show that, after years of trailing in second place, GMA eclipsed archrival ABS-CBN in all-day national ratings in January.
“What we have been aspiring for – leading in the nationwide rating – has finally arrived,” Gozon beams, speaking in an interview with Asia Media Journal.
The latest Nielsen figures, up till mid-February, show GMA holding on to a slim lead, though ABS-CBN disputes the claim. ABS-CBN subscribes to an alternate ratings system from Kantar Media, though these figures, while still recognized, are less widely used by media buyers.
GMA also benefits in all-day ratings from the ongoing popularity of early afternoon show Eat Bulaga, produced by third-party production house Tape.
Ratings recovery
Either way, GMA’s audience figures have significantly strengthened following a serious wobble last year, when a potentially perilous dip in ratings called for some quick solutions to get audiences and advertising back on track.
To make matters worse, this slump overlapped with last year’s elections, a critical time for TV networks when additional spend from political campaigns pushes up ad rates. Advertisers diverted more of their budgets to ABS-CBN, some moving wholesale to the rival channel, which struggled with the increased demand.
GMA responded with a swift programming revamp, ditching shows that had little appeal to advertisers, even if they were rating well, and put more focus on fantasy series, a core strength, in response to viewer demand.
“The dip in TV ratings last year woke us up, as we realized that we have become a bit complacent amidst stiffer competition,” Gozon says.
Gozon has also decided to shut down GMA’s underperforming five-year-old lifestyle channel QTV, which had once been seen as a potentially strong flank offering. In a change of strategy, QTV has been replaced by a 24-hour news channel, which made its debut last month.
News can be cheaper to produce than lifestyle content, and may attract a different group of advertisers, though GMA’s new channel will have to go head-to-head with a rival offering launched a week earlier by MediaQuest, the media arm of local telecoms giant PLDT.
MediaQuest has also thrown its weight behind the Philippines’ third most popular channel, TV-5, which has made significant inroads over the past two years on the back of heavy investment from PLDT, taking share from both GMA and ABS-CBN.
Gozon also expects online advertising revenues for GMA’s recently rebranded news website GMA News Online to pick up following the appointment of a specialist online ratings firm, Effective Measure, by a cross industry group of digital publishers.
The broadcaster also recently announced a joint venture between its new media subsidiary and the Manila Jockey Club to develop gaming technology across multiple platforms, as part of a move to develop new revenue streams.
Increasing impatience
Steady improvements seen in the performance of GMA’s main channel meanwhile, resulting in national lead in Nielsen’s ratings, are the result of an ongoing, many-pronged drive that began five years ago, Gozon stresses.
These include: improving signal strength in regions where reception was poor; tweaking programming to suit regional tastes; and, last year in particular, heavily promoting GMA shows in areas where the channel had a low profile.
“Every fiesta, we were there,” Gozon says. “Almost every month our talents were in the malls entertaining local people, talking to the print media, the works. We spent a considerable sum as our last card, because I was really getting very impatient why were not making the kind of dent we wanted to see.”
The biggest brands in the Philippines tend to view the Mega Manila and national markets as equally important though despite building a stronghold in the more affluent Mega Manila area, national leadership had proved elusive to GMA.
GMA also migrated to Hong Kong satellite provider APT Satellite last year, to widen its national satellite footprint. This year, it plans to convert more of its provincial relay stations into originating stations that can produce local programs, with an eye on building up local ad sales revenues, which are relatively small today.
GMA has four originating stations to date, some of which run 30-minute local news shows before the national news as well as early morning variety shows.
Upfront innovation
While GMA worked to recover lost ground in ratings, it also moved to lock in upfront commitments for some of its biggest volume advertisers last November — an unusual move as upfront strategies are usually initiated by advertisers, not the broadcaster. This helped GMA secure 50% of its 2011 ad sales targets by November last year.
“They were very aggressive towards the end of the year trying to seal as many negotiations as they could by offering no rate increase for 2011,” says Venus Navalta, chairman of media agency ZenithOptimedia Philippines. “So for those who went ahead, it’s kind of good for them because GMA is on the uptrend.”
