TV5 EATING UP ABS-CBN'S AUDIENCE SHARE! GMA-7 STEADY!

A television ratings war among the country’s television (TV) networks is set to erupt after the third player tries to shake the traditional viewers habit during the evening primetime slot. Ray Espinosa, president and chief executive of ABC Broadcasting Corp., the operator of TV5, said that the show of Willie Revillame’s Willing Willie is gaining audience shares since it started on October 23.

Espinosa said that the audience share of Revillame’s show averaged at 20 percent since it aired the first episode at TV5.

“Nabulabog sila [They were shaken],” he said.

“It’s not a battle of personas. It’s a battle of contents. They are not the same contents. You have news on the one hand and entertainment on the other hand,” Espinosa added.

He said that from January to June, TV5’s audience share rose to 17.2 percent in Mega Manila from 8 percent compared to last year.

ABS-CBN’s audience share during the period was 29 percent, and 34.6 percent, respectively, Espi-nosa added. This indicates that of the 9.2% share added to TV5, 5.6% is from ABS-CBN while the remaining 3.6% comes from the Kapuso Channel. The big reduction on ABS-CBN's audience share is blammed to Willing Willie's premiere in the Prime time which divided kapamilya viewers.

His data was based on the Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

Nationwide, Espinosa said TV5’s audience share rose to 13.3 percent, from only 6 percent last year.

Top networks unfazed

But GMA and ABS-CBN are unfazed with TV5.

Gilberto Duavit Jr., GMA president and chief operating officer said that the anticipated effect of Willing Willie was not as “severe or was even not pronounced as was expected at least as part of GMA experience is concern.”

He added that its news program 24 Oras was not affected, but admitted that the rating of Survivor’s was negatively impacted with Revil-lame’s show.

“There’s still viewers for news cast at least for GMA,” Duavit said.

In a statement released over the weekend, GMA said that its pulled away further from its closest rival in viewer-rich Luzon and Mega Manila in TV ratings this October.

In October (October 31 based on overnight ratings), GMA posted 35.9 share points in Urban Luzon, 4.7 percentage points higher than its rival’s 31.2.

Rosario Santos-Concio, ABS-CBN president and chief operating officer, also said that the network is not threatened with Revillame’s show.

“Will see if the audience will react. [But] we are driven to excellence and winnings. It’s a ratings game, that’s the world of television,” she said.

“There should be room for everybody as long as they’re committed to give their best also. If they invest in good programs, it’s the audience who will give the reaction that this is the program that we want,” Concio added.

TV5’s move to put Revillame’s show into primetime news-hour slot forced the network to bring back the tandem of former Vice President Noli de Castro and Korian Sanches with Ted Failon.

She added that Karen Davila, the current TV Patrol’s news anchor, will stay at ABS-CBN and will be given a new show.

Santos admitted that TV5 has a decent share of the TV market, but GMA and ABS-CBN are still getting the majority of the shares.

Data from Kantar Media showed that the national TV ratings of TV Patrol hit 27 percent compared to Revillame’s show’s 13.6 percent when it piloted on October 23.

In November 2, TV Patrol’s national TV ratings stood at 29.6 versus Willing Willie’s 11 percent.

ABS-CBN attempt to stop Revillame’s show has not prospered at the courts. The Lopez-led network filed a counterclaim damage suit against Revillame for breach of contract.

Source: DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times

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