ABS-CBN banks on new film, BINI tour for revenue boost

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

May 19, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Media giant ABS-CBN Corp. is banking on the showing of a new movie, starring a popular love team, and a world tour by girl group BINI to elevate revenue in its profit-seeking year.

ABS-CBN is aiming to recover its profitability this year as declared in 2025 by management, but may miss out on that goal if its revenue fails to increase significantly.

ABS-CBN’s net loss widened by 63 percent to P813 million in the first quarter, from P500 million a year ago, due to the absence of election placements and slower economic growth.

While it trimmed expenses by 12 percent to P4.06 billion in line with efforts to cut assets and personnel, this was, however, offset by the 21-percent decline in revenue to P3.33 billion, as the absence of political ads weighed on income.

Still, ABS-CBN is confident of recovery in the remaining quarters of 2026 as its film production unit, Star Cinema, is releasing this month its new movie titled “Tayo sa Wakas,” to be headlined by Belle Mariano and Donny Pangilinan.

BINI is also going on another world tour between June and November, with multiple show dates in the Philippines, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Singapore and Taiwan.

“Revenues for the balance of the year are expected to improve significantly,” ABS-CBN said.

“Star Cinema’s first movie of the year Tayo sa Wakas is expected to be released in May, while BINI’s world tour is expected to kick off in June following their strong showing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April,” it added.

Whether ABS-CBN’s lineup for the rest of the year will be enough to raise its revenue remains to be seen. However, investors are hoping the company would return to profit in 2026 as promised by management.

ABS-CBN’s debt pile stands at P8.66 billion as of March, recently settling part of its loans to the Bank of the Philippine Islands and Union Bank of the Philippines. ABS-CBN owed more than P21 billion to lenders during the pandemic.

ABS-CBN is also finding new channels to stream its content by expanding local partnerships and reaching out to online platforms like Amazon Prime and Nettflix.

The Lopez-led network that used to lord free TV traces its financial decline to 2020 when Congress denied its franchise renewal at the height of the pandemic.