PBA, TV5 aim high in 38th season

MACAU – As in its successful 2011-12 season, the Philippine Basketball Association is working hand in hand with broadcast and marketing partner TV5/AKTV in a bid to reach greater heights in its 38th season set to start Sept. 30.

TV5/AKTV is fully committed to help the PBA achieve its goals in the second year of their five-year partnership, with the Pangilinan-owned network having charted its own action plan geared at further improving the fan appeal of the pro league.

TV5/AKTV’s bigger and nobler goal is to get more Filipinos into sports.

“The PBA is our role model, and we want to tell the public: This is your league, enjoy it,” said Bobby Barreiro, TV5 chief operating officer and executive vice president.

Barreiro said they’re encouraged by the TV ratings that their coverage of the PBA games enjoyed in the season just past.

The audience share of PBA games from Mega Manila was 9.2 percent, up from 6.8 percent the previous season. And that was highlighted by a 27.4 percent rating during overtime of the Commissioner’s Cup finals Game Seven between eventual champion B-Meg and Talk N Text.

More sponsors are lining up for advertising spots as a result of the PBA surge.

“Sponsors have noticed the league is on its way back to its height,” said Barreiro as he presented their report and future plan to the PBA board in its annual planning session at The Venetian here.

Barreiro said they’re not deviating from their original theme “Kampihan Na!” but they will promote it with a new twist.

“Fans have taken sides, and we’ll notice there’s now the ‘TnT Nation,’ ‘B-Meg Planet,’ ‘Petroniverse.’ It’s no longer just Barangay Ginebra. And that’s the way we wanted,” said Barreiro.

“The fans now are more active, more involved, and we want to tap that energy. The next phase of our program is to make the fans more engaged,” Barreiro also said.

New PBA chairman Robert Non and vice chairman Mon Segismundo said TV5/AKTV would play a big role.

League commissioner Chito Salud, meanwhile, stressed they need to make the game more exciting so that their marketing partner would have a good product to sell.

The PBA 37th season was a huge success, hitting the P100 million mark in total gate receipts for the first time in the league’s fabled history with total earnings of P114 million.

In terms of live gate attendance, the league enjoyed a nine percent increase from the previous year. The PBA is not about to sit on its laurels, setting a goal of six percent increase in the 38th season set to start Sept. 30.

“We’ll prod and urge the players to play their best game in and game out. They do that and the fans will come,” said Salud.