Philippines – GMA Network Inc. (GMA) has reported that the network continues to lead nationwide household audience share margins over ABS-CBN in the Philippines. In the fist quarter of the year, GMA remained in the lead in household audience share points in the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM), based on data provided by Nielsen TV Audience Measurement. The trending of audience shares for the three competing channels in the country’s key areas remains unaltered.

GMA still commands double-digit leads over ABS-CBN and TV5 in Total Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, respectively, comprising 77 percent and 59 percent of total urban television households nationwide.

However, in terms of sales, the network’s television and radio airtime sections only reached PhP2.707 billion during the first quarter of the year, down 6 percent compared to the same period in 2011. Radio sales finished on par with last year’s, but the network’s second VHF channel launched at the end of February last year, which carried the free-to-air news channel GNTV, recorded gains in its top line by 7 percent.

Subscriptions income from GMA Pinoy TV (GPTV) and GMA Life TV (GLTV) went up slightly from last year, mainly because of the appreciation of the peso against the US dollar in between quarters. Meanwhile, GPTV’s subscriber growth continued on the uptrend, with over 302,000 subscribers on account as of the end of the first quarter of this year. Of this number, 117,000 are also subscribers of GLTV.