GMA-7 CLAIMS TO WIDEN LEAD IN NUTAM FOR THE MONTH OF JULY!

Fresh from its strong nationwide ratings performance in the first semester of the year, broadcast industry leader GMA Network, Inc. (GMA) further expanded its nationwide lead over its closest competitor ABS-CBN this month.

According to Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, the most widely trusted industry ratings service provider, GMA posted a vital margin of 3.1 share points over ABS-CBN this July 1 to 7 (July 3 to 7 based on overnight data).

During this period, GMA garnered 34.5 points while ABS CBN received 31.4 points.

For the first six months of the year, GMA was the number one channel in the whole Philippines with 33.1 household share points, a point higher than ABS-CBN's 32.1.

GMA programs

GMA's lead was attributed to its programming lineup airing across all time blocks, especially on weekday afternoons.

For the covered period, GMA scored a 5.3-percent margin in channel ratings for the block running from noon to 6:00 p.m.

Television’s longest running weekday noontime variety program "Eat Bulaga" continues its overwhelming lead over Kapamilya’s "Happy Yihee Yehey" (HYY), which only managed less than half of its channel ratings performance.

"Eat Bulaga," which ranked 9th in the list of top 10 programs in National Urban Philippines, garnered 22 household rating points against HYY’s 9.8 points.

GMA Entertainment TV’s "Dramarama sa Hapon" — composed of programs "Blusang Itim," "Sinner or Saint," and "Sisid," and hit Koreanovela "Playful Kiss" — has become part of the Filipinos’ afternoon viewing habit.

In Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, which comprise 77% and 58% of total television households nationwide, GMA almost swept the lists of overall top 10 programs with nine entries in respective areas.

GMA’s big budgeted epicserye "Amaya" starred by primetime queen Marian Rivera led the lists of most watched programs in both areas.

The other GMA programs that made it to the lists include "Munting Heredera," "Eat Bulaga," "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho," "Captain Barbell," "24 Oras," "Spooky Nights Presents Nuno sa Feng Shui," "Kap’s Amazing Stories" and "Pepito Manaloto."

GMA’s flagship newscast "24 Oras" was notably the only newscast in the top 10 programs for both areas.

For the month of June, "24 Oras" garnered 23.1 household rating points in Urban Luzon beating "TV Patrol's" 20.9 by 2.2 points.

In Mega Manila, the gap was even bigger at 3.1 points with 23.8 versus 20.7 in favor of the Mike Enriquez and Mel Tiangco- anchored "24 Oras" news program.

Ratings for partial July

For partial July, eight GMA entries made it to the list of top 15 programs in National Urban Philippines; and 10 GMA entries in the list of top 15 programs in Urban Luzon.

Both lists were dominated by Kapuso primetime programs, which posted a 6.2-point lead over counterpart Kapamilya programs in Luzon with 36.5 household shares versus ABS-CBN's 30.3; and a 7.9-point margin with 37.3 household shares for GMA as against 29.4 for ABS-CBN in Mega Manila.

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.

On the other hand, ABS-CBN is the only local major TV network reportedly subscribing to Kantar Media, formerly known as TNS.

In Mega Manila alone, the Nielsen TV Audience Measurement has a sample size of 880 homes as compared to Kantar Media's 770 homes. Nationwide, Nielsen has a total sample size of 2,005 homes compared to the lower sample size of 1,370 utilized by Kantar Media.

For the first quarter of 2011, GMA netted P534 million. ABS-CBN’s ordinary businesses, meanwhile, delivered only P302 million. -

Source: GMA News