ABS-CBNABS-CBN Corporation reported a consolidated revenue of P31.1 billion for the first nine months of 2016, bringing its net income to P2.85B, 50% higher compared to the same period last year.

ABS-CBN chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado attributed the growth to strong advertising revenues during the first nine months, which were boosted by election-related spending and the continued leadership in ratings of its prime time shows.

"Our ratings performance is key since we have adopted the cost per individual rating point pricing scheme,” said Cerrado. “We are confident that we will meet our earnings guidance of between P3.2B to P3.5B for 2016.”

Cerrado also said ABS-CBN has an ongoing program to manage costs more efficiently.

According to Kantar Media, the top 10 programs for the first nine months of 2016 for free-to-air television nationwide covering both urban and rural homes were all produced by ABS-CBN with “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” consistently ranking number 1. The company’s digital terrestrial television or DTT helped boost audience share with over 1.6 million ABS-CBN TVplus boxes sold as of the end of September.

Online, viewership of ABSCBN content also remains strong with ABS-CBN’s videoon- demand service iWant TV continuing to garner millions of page views every month.

Total assets rose to P74.7B as of the end-September 2016 from P70.4B as of end-last year. The company’s equity base increased to P30.8B as of the end of September 2016.

ABS-CBN’s ventures outside its TV and studio business have exhibited strong performances as well.

Ron Valdueza, ABS-CBN’s Group CFO, said, “SKY Cable has improved its profitability, assisted by cost control measures and the continued steep increase in its broadband subscriber base.”

Valdueza said the launch of SKY’s direct-to-home pay TV service nationwide under the brand SKYdirect last May has brought in over 70,000 subscribers.

“By year-end, SKY’s total pay TV and broadband subscriber base should breach the 1 million mark,” he said.

ABS-CBN Global staged “ASAP New York” at the Barclays Center where around 9,000 Kapamilya were entertained by over 50 artists. The Filipino Channel or TFC is now being watched by over 3 million Filipinos abroad.

KidZania has welcomed over 200,000 visitors since the beginning of the year, while the O Shopping Channel has generated P612 million in sales for the first nine months of 2016.

“With all these achievements, ABS-CBN is poised to deliver record earnings performance this year,” said Valdueza. (Story/Photos by: Kane Choa)