Reprieve for Kantar Philippines Media Unit

Kantar has reversed the decision to close its Philippines Media Division, made just a month ago. Its key client, TV and new media network ABS-CBN, had been set to close down but has now signed a new TAM contract with the agency.

In September DRNO reported that the renewal of the network's 25-year broadcasting franchise had been rejected by the Philippine Congress after news coverage allegedly critical of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte's administration. The President and the network fell out in 2016 during the former's election campaign.

The licence lapsed in May this year, and the renewal was duly blocked in July, notwithstanding ABS-CBN's 42% share of viewers nationwide (Kantar figures, end of 2019), vs 30% for its closest rival, GMA Network - and its dominance in terms of ad spend. Jing Reyes, Head of ABS-CBN's integrated news and current affairs division, quoted on www.scmp.com , described the network by the end of August as 'a shell of its former self'. Station boss Eugenio Lopez, the 'oligarch' target of much of Duterte's ire, departed on 24th September.

Kantar says ABS-CBN will now be shown via the terrestrial and satellite / cable frequencies of another broadcaster. The 'majority' of the insights firm's fifty staff scheduled to leave the company by Christmas will be retained after all - although its AdEx service will no longer be operated in the country.

Pictured is Jay Bautista, MD of the Media Division of Kantar Philippines. Web site: www.kantar.com .