TV revenues in the Philippines are unlikely to expand by more than 5% in 2014, a non-election year. The country is already one of Southeast Asia’s most expensive TV markets, measuring spot rates against per-capita GDP, where a pair of popular channels – Channel 2 from ABS-CBN and Channel 7 from GMA Network – operate as an effective duopoly. ABS-CBN’s consumer sales business meanwhile is also thriving, thanks to a dominant position in cable TV, both in subscriptions and revenue – the rewards of investment in content and value-added services while building scale through consolidation, snapping up main rival Destiny in a big swoop in 2012. ABS-CBN’s international pay-TV channels are also reliable earners, with takings from the group’s music and cinema divisions topping up the pot. Like advertising however, the future trajectory of these existing businesses also hinges on broader economic growth, which – while robust – won’t be enough to deliver the lift and business transformation Santos-Concio is looking for. 

Like many of its Asean neighbors, the Philippines is facing a slow but steady period of transition from a mass media landscape dominated by popular terrestrial TV channels – including ABS-CBN’s Channel 2, which by itself delivers around half of company revenues – to a more segmented world, where multichannel TV and online alternatives compete for consumer attention. This opens up new avenues for content monetization – good news for ABS-CBN, one of the country’s biggest producers as well as distributors of TV programs. Unlike many of its peers, ABS-CBN makes its own primetime dramas, as well as smaller-scale studio-based shows. “95% of our content is produced in-house,” Santos-Concio says. “We just have to know the platform and the relationship of the consumer to the platform, and make sure the content is tailor-made to those consumer needs.”