Philippine News and Entertainment

ABS-CBN Profit Falls (INQ7 / Xinhua Financial News Service)

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.’s third-quarter net profit declined by eight percent to P178.9 million from P194.5 million a year before, the company said.

ABS-CBN said that despite its lower earnings in the third quarter, its net profit for the first nine months of the year had grown by 70 percent to P694 million from P409 million a year before, reflecting the continuing improvement in its core business.

The company’s third-quarter revenue fell to P4.5 billion from P4.92 billion because it earned less from selling air time, services, licenses and goods.

GMA Network 9-month profit down 11% (INQ7 / Xinhua Financial News Service)

GMA Network Inc. said its net profit for the nine months to September fell 11 percent from a year earlier to 1.55 billion due to higher operating expenses.

GMA, the main rival of publicly listed ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp., reported consolidated gross revenue of P8.09 billion for the nine-month period, up from the previous year’s P7.4 billion, boosted by steady airtime sales from its flagship television station Channel 7 and additional subscription revenue from its international operations.

GMA said it maintained its lead in TV ratings as of September amid an industry-wide decline in advertising spending.

GMA Network said January-September gross revenues were P8.09 billion, up 10 percent from P7.4 billion in the same period in 2005, with its Channel 7 station enjoying steady airtime sales and its Pinoy TV international operations contributing additional subscription revenues. Gross revenues from its international operations were about P200 million.

Hmmm, let’s see: 1.5 billion divided by 3 equals P500 million per quarter. So if P178.9 million ang profit ng ABS-CBN for the 3rd Qtr, lamang pa rin ang GMA by P321.1 million even with a percentage decline. Yikes.

Actually, ang profit ng ABS-CBN for the first nine months was P694 million while GMA’s profit was P1.55 billion. Wow. More than double!

I’m very shocked that ABS-CBN cannot translate their being #1 in the national ratings into profit. Ang yabang pa naman nila! Either they are severely incompetent — if you are #1 you should have the most profit diba? — or it just proves the obvious: Mega Manila is the biggest and most profitable TV market in the Philippines. And since GMA is #1 in Mega Manila, they have managed to earn more than double the profit of ABS-CBN — who has to content themselves with smaller profits in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Madugo pala ang laban, grabe. I’ve read so many posts in the forums about ABS-CBN being this and that — such as they charge more for their ads compared to GMA — but these numbers are an eye-opener.

Update: I think that ABS-CBN’s cost-cutting activities is a good thing for them. However, their gross revenues actually shrank by P400 million in the 3rd Qtr.