GMA Network gains 18.6% more ads in August

Broadcasting company GMA Network registered a substantial increase in advertising minutes for the month of August even as the industry likewise experienced significant growth.

GMA posted 9,697 minutes in August, 18.6 percent higher than its 8,174 minutes in the same month last year.

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.

GMA’s sister channel QTV likewise listed a significant increase in August, with its advertising minutes posting a 26.7 percent increase to 3,677 minutes.

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.

GMA Network posted a net income of P1.14 billion during the first six months of 2008, two percent higher than the P1.12 billion generated in the same period last year.

Consolidated gross revenues during the first half increased four percent, from P5.67 billion to P5.88 billion while airtime revenues from television and radio went up three percent, despite the lack of political advertisements which amounted to P530 million in 2007.

GMA chairman and president Felipe Gozon said the company is expecting a better second half, with July off to an auspicious start. On a parent company level alone, gross revenues for July hit P1.2 billion or a 17.5 percent increase while net income topped P263.5 million, a 32.3 percent jump over the same month last year.

Officials are optimistic that for the entire year, the company will report a double-digit growth both in terms of revenues and net income. For the January to July 2008 period, growth is already at the fringes of double digit, they said. 

QTV-11, the network’s sister channel, grew 72 percent in terms of gross revenues, while revenues from international operations and other sources went up by 14 percent. As of June 2008, GMA’s international channels already have 179,000 subscribers nationwide.

GMA executive vice president and chief operating officer Gilberto Duavit Jr. noted that while Channel 7 accounted for 89.8 percent of gross revenues last year and QTV, 1.9 percent, this year, Channel 7’s share was 88.2 percent while that of QTV rose to 3.2 percent.

The company meanwhile said it continues its facilities and signal improvement projects in the regions in its drive to gain supremacy in other parts of the country particularly in the south.

GMA’s studio complex in its originating stations in Dagupan and Davao are fully operational. It is also working on the signal upgrade for TV-7 Naga, General Santos, TV-7 Cebu, among others.    – Mary Ann Reyes