Mara Clara, Mutya, & Imortal are PHL's top 3 most-watched TV programs.

When it comes to TV shows on primetime, ABS-CBN’s teleseryes remain the most popular among viewers nationwide, including Mega Manila where GMA used to lead in TV ratings.

Kantar Media/TNS data for Feb 1 to 15 show that ABS-CBN’s “Mutya,” “Mara Clara,” and “Imortal” consistently beat “Dwarfina,” “Machete,” and “I Heart You Pare” in Metro Manila, Mega Manila, and the entire country.

Leadership in primetime television is important because television viewing is at its highest in the evening. February’s figures would show that ABS-CBN had more viewers than any other TV network in across the country as it enjoyed a 40% audience share or nine points higher than GMA’s 31%.

Interestingly, GMA lost its leadership in Mega Manila primetime to ABS-CBN’s “Mara Clara” that topped all shows with an average rating of 27.6%. GMA’s “Machete” could only hit 20.6%. The other ABS-CBN shows did better than GMA such as “Mutya” (23%) vs “Dwarfina” (22.2%) and “Imortal” (21.6%) vs “I Heart You Pare” (20.2%).

The trend is the same in Metro Manila with more households tuning in to ABS-CBN’s primetime offerings. “Mara Clara” remained on top with an average rating of 28.6% vs “Machete” with a mere 19.4%. “Mutya” (23.7%) rated higher than “Dwarfina” (20.9%). And “Imortal” (23.6%) had more followers than “I Heart You Pare”(19.4%).

Nationwide, ABS-CBN pulled away from competition. “Mara Clara” is the country’s number one program with an average rating of 34.8%, which is more than twice the rating of GMA’s “Machete” (17.1%). “Mutya” rated an average of 31.4% vs. GMA’s “Dwarfina” (18.3%). ABS-CBN again enjoyed a double-digit lead with “Imortal” (26%) beating “I Heart You Pare” (15.9%).

In February, ABS-CBN has not only maintained its national leadership in TV ratings but it has wrestled the primetime TV leadership in Mega Manila from GMA.

Kantar Media, a global market research group, offers audience research measurement systems in 32 countries. It started releasing its Philippine television audience measurement data in February 2009 with panels composed of 1,370 representative households covering urban Philippines and reporting on seven sectors namely the National Capital Region, North Luzon, Central Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

ABS-CBN shifted to Kantar Media/TNS after filing a case vs. AGB Nielsen Media Research for failing to comply with its request to investigate alleged cheating and data tampering in TV ratings. The case is still pending in court.