The Kapuso network is virtually unopposed in the TV rating game, as it enjoys a double-digit lead over its nearest competitor.
2021 saw the ensuing shift in public consumption toward digital space, with streaming services and various other digital platforms making a steady surge in subscription and traffic. Free television remains king, but there are strong indications that it may not be the case in the next few years. The pandemic continues to dictate viewing behaviors across Filipino viewing demographics. It seems poised to forge paths for traditional TV towards becoming adaptive with the currently raging shift to the digital space.
While ABS-CBN’s shutdown in 2020 provided GMA Network the tailwind to finally secure the lead in local television, it did not halt the increasingly active migration of Filipino consumers to non-linear platforms to quench their thirst for entertainment and even news and information. Television keeps its lion share of the market, but indications of a plunge in viewership.
That’s the case for GMA Network, which massively benefited from its former main rival’s elimination in the free TV race.
ABS-CBN’s shutdown initially pushed GMA network’s audience share to as high as 55% in July 2020, or two months after its rival’s franchise expired and thus forced it to go off-air. That figure has since been gradually declining.
With a much lower share of 41.5%In its latest report, based on AGB Nielsen data, the GMA network still reigns supreme. That’s still nearly 10% higher than its pre-pandemic share, but that seems to be a concern worth discussing. Despite this decline, GMA Network has still a nearly 30% lead over GTV, its nearest competitor. Interestingly, GTV belongs to the same broadcast giant as GMA-7. The Kapuso sister channel’s audience share in December is recorded at 11.3%.
GMA network took its biggest blessing from ABS-CBN’s free TV departure via a gargantuan leap in its advertising revenues. Combined with massive expenditure cuts, the new reigning media giant inadvertently saw its most progressive fiscal year. TV5, with its revitalized revenue streams, courtesy of ABS-CBN programs that the network has been carrying since January, has updated its target profitability. The media entity is now seeing the company completely erasing its losses from its big gamble in the 2010s, in 2024.
ABS-CBN’s re-emergence in free television helped its bleeding fiscal health attain buoyancy and allowed the former media giant to alleviate its billion-peso losses.
In November, the company reported PhP400 million in quarterly losses–[significantly] much lower than quarters before. The declining trend also suggests that profitability is within arm’s reach. With the election season expected to bring in hefty ad revenues, the company also looks poised to be free from the red zone. Robust media spending during the election season would fill both GMA Network and ABS-CBN’s coffers, with the former expected to take the bulk. That said, ABS-CBN’s bullish future may likely be the one to spark interest in stock traders and investors.
The pandemic also saw the expansion of both the GMA network and TV5 in an apparent attempt to reach former ABS-CBN bailiwicks. GMA network launched its 10th regional TV station–the GMA Zamboanga in October 2021, filling the void left by ABS-CBN’s absence in Western Mindanao. The expansion significantly strengthened GMA Network’s network of originating and relay stations nationwide. TV5, the third biggest player in the country, also saw a significant expansion in 2021, with its TV stations in Baguio, Cebu, Bacolod, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro, all initiating their digital broadcast. The positive effects of these expansions seem to reflect on TV5’s national audience share, which went from 5% to 10% within a year.
 With the local television’s dynamics expected to mimic global trends in the coming years, how the country’s leading media entities will adopt is likely to affect their fates in terms of fiscal health and industry domination. The election season is poised to keep revenue prospects for all major players promising, but what happens beyond may likely generate bigger intrigues.
