MANILA - ABS-CBN remained as the country's most watched TV network with an average audience share of 44 percent in October, 13 points ahead of rival GMA's 31 percent, data from Kantar Media released Tuesday showed.

The network's Metro Manila average audience share also grew to 42 percent against 25 percent of GMA. ABS-CBN also won Mega Manila households with 36 percent over GMA's 33 percent, data from 2,610 urban and rural homes showed.

On its streaming platform iWant TV, one of the top viewed TV series "Halik" racked up 2.5 million weekly views. This helped drive the number of active users on iWant TV to an all-time high of 1.2 million in 3 years, ABS-CBN said.

"FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano," "Ngayon at Kailanman," "Kadenang Ginto," and "Playhouse" were also among the most watched programs in October on iWant TV, the network said.

In Luzon, ABS-CBN garnered an average audience share of 39 percent against GMA's 34 percent. In Visayas, ABS-CBN tallied an average of 53 percent against GMA's 24 percent and it hit 53 percent in Mindanao against GMA's 25 percent, according to the survey.

ABS-CBN's primetime block (6: p.m. to midnight) widened its lead against its rivals with a average audience share of 48 percent, compared to GMA's 31 percent.

"FPJ's Ang Probinsyano" led the 10 highest rating programs in October with an average national TV ratings of 43.6 percent. Nine out of 10 shows were produced by ABS-CBN.

Also in the top 10 most watched programs are "TV Patrol" (32.2 percent), "Ngayon at Kailanman" (29.4 percent), "The Kids' Choice" (25.6 percent), "Wansapanataym" (23.5 percent), "Home Sweetie Home" (22.6 percent), "Meteor Garden" (22.5 percent), "Halik" (22.1 percent) and "MMK" (21.8 percent).

ABS-CBN also continue to draw viewers across all time blocks including the morning block (6 a.m. to 12 n.n.), noontime block (1 n.n. to 3:00 p.m.) and in the afternoon block (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.) where it scored 36 percent against GMA's 28 percent, 43 percent versus GMA's 32 percent and 44 percent compared to GMA's 33 percent, respectively.

ABS-CBN's TVplus sold 6.1 million boxes in October, giving Filipinos premium TV watching experience with 5 new channels: Asianovela Channel, Movie Central, MYX, Jeepney TV, and O Shopping in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, and Metro Cebu.

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