GMA Network Inc. said net income fell 15 percent in the first nine months of the year due to weak advertising sales.
The broadcasting company said net income amounted to P1.97 billion in the January-to-September period this year from P2.32 billion a year ago.
GMA’s net income dropped in the third quarter to P745.17 million from P771.85 million on year.
Airtime sales comprising 88 percent of total revenues amounted to P9.84 billion, down 6 percent from last year’s P10.52 billion.
“The contraction in airtime advertising was felt across the broadcasting industry thus providing the main drag for the revenue shortfall,” GMA said.
Other revenue sources which mainly included the company’s international operations, subsidiaries and other businesses amounted to P1.29 billion, up 2 percent from last year’s P1.26 billion. The segment made up 12 percent of the company’s total revenue pie.
Total consolidated operating expenses fell 2 percent to P8.44 billion from P8.58 billion in 2017.
Consolidated direct costs dropped 3 percent, while general and administrative expenses ended at about the same level as last year.
Meanwhile, GMA said it reamined the frontrunner in the nationwide urban TV ratings in the third quarter of 2018, posting an average people audience share of 41.9 percent, while ABS-CBN only managed to get 36.6 percent based on the official data from the industry’s widely-trusted ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.
GMA also garnered a solid 48.5 percent people audience share average in Mega Manila, which was way ahead of competition’s 28.2 percent. GMA tallied a bigger margin over ABS- CBN in the viewer-rich Urban Luzon.
