MANILA - More competition is needed in Philippine television, an advertising group said on Thursday, as the closure of ABS-CBN's free tv and radio services limited the reach of advertisements.

"We need more competition in the network category so we can reach our consumers more quickly and in a more effective manner," Philippine Association of National Advertisers (PANA) president Marvin Tiu Lim told ANC.

"With the closure of ABS-CBN, we have to admit that our communication advertising material hasn’t gotten to the rest of the Filipinos in an efficient manner," Lim added.

The country's largest network stopped its Channel 2 and regional tv broadcasting, as well as its AM and FM radio stations nationwide, in compliance with a National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) cease-and-desist order on May 5, citing ABS-CBN's expired franchise.

Last June 30, 2 more orders from the NTC stopped ABS-CBN’s digital broadcast on TVPlus in Metro Manila and other areas, and Sky Cable's direct-to-home satellite broadcast nationwide.

Based on research, TV ad spending fell 45 percent after ABS-CBN went off air, Lim said.

In its petition for a temporary restraining order on NTC's May 5 order, ABS-CBN told the Supreme Court it was losing P30-P35 million in advertising revenues daily.

Ma. Regina Reyes, head of ABS-CBN Integrated News, told lawmakers last Monday that the shutdown "has deprived more than 69 million Filipinos of the kind of information, analysis and commentary, and public service provided by ABS-CBN News."

Lim, who is also the vice president for Sales and Marketing of Mega Global Corp, said the company was "reshifting" efforts to non-traditional advertising channels such as Tiktok and Viber to reach consumers.

Online platforms are benefitting from ABS-CBN's closure since not all of the ad money goes to the other networks, Lim said.

news.abs-cbn.com is the official news website of ABS-CBN Corp.

• Ad industry group says ABS-CBN shutdown negatively impacts advertisers