Thanks to ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ and succeeding dramas ‘Impostora’ and ‘Haplos’, GMA Afternoon Prime suddenly looked imposingly strong against ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold. (Photo credit: GMA Network)
The struggle is indeed real.
ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold block has hit a rough patch of late. In the last several weeks, teleseryes ‘Pusong Ligaw’, ‘The Better Half’ and its replacement ‘The Promise of Forever’ scored fewer ratings than GMA Afternoon Prime counterparts ‘Ika-6 na Utos’, ‘Impostora’ and ‘Haplos’.
Although the three series did have a few winning moments, it was clear that the momentum is now on GMA’s side. ABS-CBN may be the better network overall, but their issues in the afternoon slots are causing plenty of concerns.
One reason why GMA suddenly became winnable in the afternoon is ‘Ika-6 na Utos’, the popular yet at times campy drama series starring Sunshine Dizon, Ryza Cenon and Gabby Concepcion. Since March, the series earned ratings of 15 to 18%, good enough to give ‘It’s Showtime’ plenty of fits.
In a previous article, From the Tube discussed how ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ was able to win the hearts of viewers while at the same time exposes ABS-CBN’s weaknesses in the afternoon slots. Although ‘It’s Showtime’ recently countered by replacing ‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ with ‘Miss Q&A’ as the noontime show’s final segment, it still had a hard time cracking ‘Ika-6 na Utos” armor.
The success of ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ has since spread like wildfire to the two succeeding GMA Afternoon Prime series. From late August onwards, ‘Impostora’ and ‘Haplos’ earned better ratings than ‘Pusong Ligaw’ and ‘The Better Half’, and even though the latter was then replaced by ‘The Promise of Forever’, the results were mostly the same.
If ABS-CBN wants to restore order within Kapamilya Gold, drastic measures must be implemented. Going back to a three-teleserye setup is what the network desperately needs at this point, but in order to do that, they need to make some sacrifices.
For one, they must convince ‘It’s Showtime’ to either cut a portion of their airtime or return to the pre-noontime slot. Regarding the third teleserye, a possible option for that would be ‘Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin’, which despite earning good ratings in the pre-noontime slot, has a more serious storyline than its predecessors and is better equipped for the afternoon slot.
Would it be better to see Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson, Jake Cuenca and Coleen Garcia go up against Sunshine Dizon, Ryza Cenon and Gabby Concepcion? Perhaps, but given ABS-CBN’s pre-noontime dominance, that potential matchup between ‘Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin’ and ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ will only be just that, a fantasy.
Still, the sudden change of fortune on Kapamilya Gold should give the ABS-CBN brass some sense of urgency. After all, despite their success, there are always holes with which the opponent will take advantage of, and ABS-CBN should be aware of that.
From the Tube 
Kinda like this kind of competition. Unlike before, whereas ABS dominated every timeslot of the day.
ABS can’t win all the time. Sooner or later some of their shows have to lose and that’s exactly what happened. Now they must respond accordingly and force the opponent to make adjustments of their own.
As for GMA, they did a great job reclaiming the afternoon lead with their strong and well-played teleseryes. However, their lead is only small and they should keep their feet on the pedal at all times, otherwise they’ll lose their lead anew.
IMO, Most of the viewers are not favor to Showtime’s Miss Q&A (dahil may nagsabi kase na “nangopya” lang sa Quiz Vee ng EB) and those viewers are favor to the kabitserye, IANU….
Blame Showtime for airing three hours on weekdays. Those three hour shows should only air on Saturdays. Doesn’t ABS realize that they’re wasting time and ratings just for three hours of Vice Ganda per weekday? They should at least cut some slack because those viewers are getting tired already. ABS should start thinking about slotting another teleserye to counter Ika-6 na Utos, otherwise sooner or later viewers will switch channels back to GMA anew.
I miss the Kapamilya Gold days when Doble Kara was there. It brought huge success to KG. Before DK, GMA’s Afternoon Prime always win with The Half Sisters’ high ratings. When Doble Kara was pitted against THS, KG is slowly gaining attention. DK even beated THS’s finale. And so, Tubig At Langis came, KG became stronger and hard to beat. It brought GMA’s Afternoon Block’s downfall especially when they moved KG to later slot leaving only 3 programs. DK and TAL both reached the 20% region. After so many extensions, DK turned one. And so, The Greatest Love came, its pilot week was strong brought by DK’s high ratings. DK’s finale ended successfully with 22.2% and it lasted for 1 year and 5 months, 2 months shorter than THS’s run which lasted 1 year and 7 months. After DK ended, The Better Half replaced it KG goes normal and starting to lose because of Ika 6 Na Utos. Then Pusong Ligaw came, KG was brought back to life and TBH’s ratings improved when it was moved to a later slot. PL peaked at 19.7% , missing the 20% region. When late August came, PL is starting to lose from Impostora. TBH ended after it losed from Haplos. The Promis Of Forever replaced TBH which debuted strongly but became worse in later weeks. In the latest ratings report, only PL won the afternoon block.
Doble Kara was responsible for restoring order within Kapamilya Gold. Same with The Greatest Love. Since the two shows ended however, momentum slowly shifted back to Afternoon Prime. It’s unfortunate that ABS failed to maintain momentum because all they did was load the entire block with kabitseryes, and as a result they lost most of their viewers.
ABS must regroup ASAP because they’re starting to get sloppy of late with some questionable afternoon decisions.
I disagree about cutting Showtime’s time. There’s a reason why they always allow Showtime to go overtime. It does better than the current line up. Pusong Ligaw cannot even retain most of Showtime’s viewers.
That’s because many switch to Ika-6 na Utos once Miss Q&A arrives. ABS made a grave mistake by moving the popular Tawag ng Tanghalan to the second portion (para lang daw matapatan ang Juan for All ng Eat Bulaga) in favor of one that was claimed to have been copied from one of Eat Bulaga’s former segments. Besides, doing a three-hour show six times a week can be physically draining especially for those with many projects committed.
Well, I think Asintado, which premiered a few weeks ago likely will help boost and save Kapamilya Gold from it’s near death.
So far, maganda ang performance ng Asintado, but the entire Kapamilya Gold likewise is on a resurgence. Simula pa ng last week of 2017 maganda na uli ang pinapakita ng naturang block.