GMA Network’s income jumps as ad revenues surge

LISTED media company GMA Network, Inc. saw its attributable net income surge 128.57% to P5.98 billion last year as revenue from its advertising business increased.

This compares to the P2.62-billion net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company recorded in 2019, according to GMA Network’s annual report filed with the stock exchange on Wednesday.

The company’s total revenues grew 17.23% to P19.33 billion in 2020 versus the previous year’s P16.49 billion.

GMA Network reported an advertising revenue of P17.73 billion, up 16.83% from the previous year’s P15.17 billion.

The company’s advertising business contributed 92% of its total revenues last year.

To recall, the franchise of its main rival ABS-CBN Corp. expired in May last year. Lawmakers voted against its renewal on July 10. ABS-CBN generated P17 billion from its advertising and consumer sales in the first nine months of 2020, down 46.8% year on year.

GMA Network is organized into business units based on its products and services and has three reportable segments: the television and radio, the international subscription, and other businesses including movie production and consumer products.

The company’s subscription revenue in 2020 went down to P911 million from P1.07 billion in 2019.

Revenue from distribution and content provisioning fell 28.76% to P63.65 million from P89.35 million.

Meanwhile, production revenue dropped 71.21% to P49.95 million from P173.48 million.

GMA Network’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) grew 83% to P9.89 billion in 2020 from the previous year’s P5.39 billion.

GMA Network shares closed 1.22% higher at P9.14 apiece on Thursday. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Note: this story was updated to exclude wrongly placed figures for 2019.