MANILA - ABS-CBN Corp., the country's leading media and entertainment company, said on Friday its net income in the first nine months of the year rose 50 percent as it maintained its ratings lead.

Consolidated revenue in the January to September period reached P31.1 billion, bringing net income to P2.85 billion. Earnings for the period also got a boost from the election campaign, the company said in a statement.

ABS-CBN is on track to meet its earnings guidance of P3.2 billion to P3.5 billion this year, said chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado.

“Our ratings performance is key since we have adopted the cost per individual rating point pricing (CPIRP) scheme,” Cerrado said, referring to the ratings-based pricing system for advertisements.

“We have been successful in controlling production costs and have been able to reduce expenses on a per program basis compared to last year,” he said.

All 10 top-rating shows in the first nine months of the year are from ABS-CBN, led by the primetime police drama "FPJ's Ang Probinsyano," according to Kantar Media, which measures urban and rural homes that represent 100 percent of the television viewing population.

Online, ABS-CBN shows continue to garner "millions" of page views on the video-on-demand service iWantTV, which will be available soon to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart subscribers, the company said.

• READ: ABS-CBN makes content available on PLDT-Smart

The company said total assets rose to P74.7 billion as of September from P70.4 billion during the same period last year while its equity base increased to P30.8 billion.

The company also noted the strong performance of its consumer business, which includes Sky Cable, The Filipino Channel, Sky Broadband, ABS-CBN Mobile, O Shopping, KidZania and Studio Tours also performed strongly during the period, it said.

• READ: ABS-CBN to open ‘experience’ store as consumer business grows

Sky Cable's pay TV and broadband subscribers are expected to breach the one-million mark this year, said ABS-CBN Group CFO Ron Valdueza.

Kidzania welcomed over 200,000 visitors since the beginning of the year, while the O Shopping Channel has generated P612 million in sales for the period, the company said.

“With all these achievements, ABS-CBN is poised to deliver record earnings performance this year,” said Valdueza.