MANILA, Philippines—There has been little question that Barangay Ginebra’s popularity has been keeping the Philippine Basketball Association’s cash registers ringing.

In fact, the combined audience pull of the Gin Kings and the championship neophytes Air21 Express have made for a record gross of P2.5 million in Sunday night’s Game 6 won by Ginebra, the biggest single-game income from gate receipts in league history.

But for long the center of the PBA universe, the Kings no longer own the tag “most popular.” They already share it with the Giants of Purefoods.

The private polling firm Social Weather Stations recently showed that the two teams—both playing under the San Miguel Corporation umbrella—were tied in a national survey that was aimed at finding out which is the most popular PBA team.

The SWS Sports Survey conducted in April where adult respondents were asked “concerning the [PBA], which are your two favorite teams, if any?,” Purefoods and Ginebra were in a dead heat at 31 percent.

“Ginebra is the most popular team in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, while Purefoods is the most popular team in the Visayas and Mindanao,” SWS said in a statement.

Ginebra, thought to be a hit more on the masses, showed a stronger following in the class ABC. Ginebra also enjoyed a significant edge among male followers. Purefoods, which joined the PBA in 1988 built around then glamour boys Alvin Patrimonio, Jerry Codiñera and Jojo Lastimosa, kept its grip among women fans.

Following the two squads in the overall ranking were Magnolia (21 percent), Alaska (13 percent), Sta. Lucia (5 percent), Red Bull (4 percent), Talk N’ Text (3 percent), Coca-Cola (1 percent) and Air 21 (1 percent).