GMA Network continued to post double-digit profit gains as its toughest competition remained shuttered, coupled with the rise of political advertisements as the campaign season for the 2022 elections nears.

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, November 16, GMA reported a net income of P5.98 billion for the first nine months of 2021, 53% higher than in the same period a year ago.

The growth was driven mainly by advertising revenues, which increased by 35% to P15.48 billion.

“This year’s top-line growth was influenced by the improvement in both average rate per minute as well as total minutes load. The incremental minutes this year was buoyed by some advertisers shifting to GMA when ABS-CBN went off-air starting May last year owing to the expiration of its franchise and its eventual non-renewal,” GMA said.

“Furthermore, during the third quarter of this year, political advocacies already started to trickle in, thus providing additional sources of revenues.”

The Kapuso network’s production costs also jumped by 40% during the period, as majority of its time slots already featured fresh episodes due to easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

ABS-CBN losses

Meanwhile, rival network ABS-CBN narrowed losses by 48.4% to P3.78 billion.

But its advertising revenues dipped by 35.5% to P2.1 billion, following the cease-and-desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission after Congress denied the Kapamilya network’s franchise renewal.

This then forced ABS-CBN to air programs on other channels and shift content production toward its digital platforms.

Must Read

A year after ABS-CBN shutdown: What the Supreme Court could have done

The lack of a franchise also forced the Lopez-owned network to stop its Sky Cable direct-to-home services and distribution of TV Plus boxes.

ABS-CBN laid off thousands of workers, effectively reducing production costs by 30% to P2.3 billion. – Rappler.com