Strong Q4 solidifies GMA Network’s 2016 ratings lead

MANILA, Philippines – GMA Network Inc. solidified its nationwide television (TV) ratings in 2016 amid its strong fourth quarter performance.

Citing data from ratings service provider, Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, GMA said in a statement it registered a total day people audience share of 37.3 percent in NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement), ahead of rival ABS-CBN Corp.’s 37.1 percent.

GMA said it grabbed the nationwide lead from ABS-CBN based on people shares in September 2016, and it has maintained its leadership by consistently increasing margins.

It said the remarkable performance in the fourth quarter or October to December period also enabled the broadcaster to dominate the ratings game for 2016.

Leading across all day parts, GMA had a 40.3 percent audience share in the fourth quarter, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 35.2 percent.

For the month of December alone, GMA saw its best performance through its 41.7 percent audience share, higher than ABS-CBN’s 33.9 percent.

GMA said it also won in Urban Luzon, which accounts for 77 percent of all viewers in urban TV homes in the country, as it had a 42.6 percent audience share against ABS-CBN’s 31.4 percent.

Nielsen data is gathered through a greater number of sampled homes nationwide in comparison to Kantar Media which provides TV ratings data for ABS-CBN.

In particular, it has approximately 900 more homes surveyed in total urban and rural Philippines compared to Kantar’s 2,610 homes.

With more homes surveyed, GMA said Nielsen data is statistically considered more representative of the total TV population.

Earlier, ABS-CBN said it won the nationwide TV ratings game last year.

Based on Kantar’s data, ABS-CBN said it beat all TV networks in the country through its average audience share of 45 percent across both urban and rural households for the January to December period, compared to GMA’s 34 percent and TV5’s seven percent.