GMA Network Inc. said Friday net income in 2015 jumped 111 percent from a year ago, on the back of higher advertising revenues.
The broadcast company said net income reached P2.13 billion last year, up from P1.01 billion recorded in 2014, as consolidated revenues increased 15 percent ito P13.73 billion from P11.98 billion.
The network attributed the increase in net profit to the sustained growth in airtime revenues, particularly regular advertisements, which reached P12.38 billion or 16 percent higher than in 2014.
GMA Network said without the impact of political advocacies, airtime revenues would still be ahead by 12 percent.
Top-rating GMA Channel 7 accounted for majority of the increase in airtime revenues, with a 16-percent improvement over 2014.
The group’s radio business also posted a year-on-year increase of 15 percent, while GMA News TV climbed 24 percent, representing the highest sales in the history of the leading news channel.
Other revenue streams were production and subsidiaries operations, which recorded a 3 percent improvement with wholly-owned subsidiaries GMA New Media Inc., which manages and operates the Network’s Internet play and GMA Worldwide Inc., which syndicates Kapuso programs to the international market, partly accounting for the increase.
“Our financial performance in 2015 was a result of multiple factors but mostly from our reclaimed lead in nationwide ratings and continued dominance in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila,” GMA Network chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon said.
GMA said it prevailed over rival networks in National Urban Television Audience Measurement with 35.4 percent household shares versus ABS-CBN’s 34.9 percent and TV5’s 9.2 percent based on official data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.
“We are determined to replicate, if not surpass, what we were able to achieve last year this 2016, as we remain committed to strengthening our core business and other new and emerging ventures,” Gozon said.
The company’s total operating expenses rose 2 percent to P10.75 billion, mainly on higher production cost. Backed by the continued success of GMA’s online platforms as well as recent tie-ups with major over-the-top operators iFlix and HOOQ, NMI ended 2015 with a 50-percent increase in total advertising revenues over 2014.
GWI, on the other hand, exceeded 2014’s sales by 34 percent as it sold 4,003 program hours in various countries across the Asia Pacific region.
The network also continued to engage its audience online with leading local news website GMA News Online (www.gmanews.tv) breaching the one million page views, while continuing to grow its number of unique browsers, according to data from Effective Measure.