ABS-CBN locked down sharp decline in total TV Viewership post shutdown.
Manila, Philippines – In time with the extended lockdown of normal business operations in the country, the media giant, ABS-CBN was hit by a cease and desist order from National Telecommunications Commission last May 5, 2020. Hours after receiving the notice, the station went off-air The Huddle Room conducted its own survey that quickly mobilized more than 160 respondents / viewers nationwide to get a pulse on their behavior towards the shutdown.
Beyond its internal data, Agency cross analyzed data from multi sources – Nielsen and Kantar to triangulate and validate insights drawn from the shutdown analysis.
Below are the key media highlights that shaped the new TV landscape after the shutdown.
#1 ECQ fuels a new normal to TV viewership with an average increase of 18.4M weekly viewers in total PH (+7.3 million weekly viewers in Rural PH).
#2 A sharp decline in viewership was seen immediately after ABS-CBN went off-air at 7:52 PM –-16% or estimated 2.9M individuals were lost from watching TV.
#3 GMA gained around 1.2M viewers vs. average eyeballs on May 5 after the shutdown of ABS-CBN.
#4 According to Kantar data, a day after the shutdown (May 6), GMA benefited, with 20.7% and 14% growth in channel shares whole day and primetime respectively.
With these data insights the next question is where do ABS-CBN viewers go?
In a proprietary survey launched hours after the shutdown of ABS-CBN, The Huddle Room found out that 51% of ABS-CBN viewers claimed to switch to other ABS-CBN assets including online and cable. This was further validated by Nielsen data that 50% of Channel 2’s followers are loyal to the network (heavy viewers watching an average of more than 2 hrs. per day).
Furthermore, 81% of the surveyed respondents are aware that ABS CBN has other media assets both online and cable that they can access such as IWant, ANC, news.abs-cbn.com etc.
Asked about the decision to close the network, 74% expressed dissatisfaction about what happened while 8% were neutral and another 8% were in agreement to the decision made by NTC. Top reasons mentioned for disagreement with the shutdown are: loss of income for employees, main channel for their consumption, politics related reasons and other channels are not available at their own disposal. An overwhelming majority of 92% said that they want the channel back on air.
This shutdown would have a lot of implications in terms of how media advertising and marketing decisions are made by both advertisers and agencies. Here are some scenarios to be considered:
– Campaigns targeting heavy TV viewers can rely on GMA 7 supplemented by DTT Cinemo Channel and Teleradyo where TV Patrol is airing. Need to balance migration of budgets to GMA 7 only due to cost efficiency impact in terms of CTARP.
– Tandem buys of TVP and 24 Oras may be considered given its high view and engagement rates.
– Expect a new curve and normal for TV Viewership with the announcement of the comeback of highly anticipated free TV programs via Kapamilya Channel, Cinemo and Jeepney TV on air starting June 13, 2020.
For more information and results of the study and analysis please contact us at ask@thrstaging.bliimo.com
Sources: Study Roam Online, The Huddle Room, Nielsen Media (Arianna) and Kantar Media Philippines.
Image: CTTO, Aljazeera.com
