ABS-CBN Corp. said Wednesday it laid off about 100 employees over declining revenue from its television and pay TV operations.
The Lopez-led company said it “made the difficult decision to retrench around 100, or about 3 percent of its workforce” as it continued to struggle with lower advertising revenue, a trend also affecting the broader TV industry due to decreased consumer spending.
“We are committed to providing those affected with full benefits and support, and are deeply grateful for their many years of service to the company and to the public,” the company said in a statement.
ABS-CBN first implemented a retrenchment program in July 2020, following the non-renewal of its congressional franchise.
ABS-CBN said, however, the company made significant progress in many of its businesses this year.
“TV ratings continue to improve, Star Cinema produced two hits so far, with one of them being the highest grossing Filipino movie, and our music business has gotten a strong boost from the popularity of girl band BINI,” it said.
ABS-CBN said Batang Quiapo and It’s Showtime are currently the top-rated television shows in the Philippines.
ABS-CBN reported a 5 percent decline in its net loss to P2.1 billion in the first half of 2024, compared to P2.2 billion in the same period last year.
Consolidated revenues went down by 11 percent to P7.8 billion from P8.8 billion last year.
Despite the non-renewal of its franchise, ABS-CBN said it continued to explore and pursue other business relationships with local and foreign entities to ensure the maximum exposure and monetization of its content assets.
The company teamed up with Zoe Broadcasting, allowing ABS-CBN’s programs to be shown on channel A2Z.
Several ABS-CBN shows began airing on select time slots on TV5 on Jan. 4, 2021, while “It’s Showtime” started airing on GMA Network’s second free-to-air channel GTV on July 1, 2023.
The group also began ramping up content sales, co-productions and licensing its content and library to domestic and international clients. It widened its international reach by merging its owned domestic and global OTT platforms into “iWantTFC.”
It continues to utilize various third-party platforms like YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram to maximize its reach and generate advertising.
