A new opponent awaits ‘Asintado’.
After taking out ‘Impostora’, the ABS-CBN afternoon drama will face a different challenger starting today. Looking to match wits with Julia Montes will be Katrina Halili and real-life couple Megan Young and Mikael Daez, who will lead GMA’s newest drama series ‘The Stepdaughters’.
The story of ‘The Stepdaughters’ revolve around two women who were both beautiful and intelligent but have contrasting personalities. Mayumi (Megan) is a chemistry graduate with dreams of setting up her own makeup line, while Isabelle (Katrina) already manages one, yet as an only child she grew self-centered and spoiled.
Francis (Mikael), a head product engineer, becomes Mayumi’s love interest, even though Isabelle pleads to love her back. The growing dislike between Mayumi and Isabelle grows even more apparent when Mayumi’s mother Luisa (Glydel Mercado) and Isabelle’s father Hernan (Gary Estrada) get married, making them stepsisters.
‘The Stepdaughters’ also star Allan Paule, Angelu de Leon, Sef Cadayona and Samantha Lopez, with the special participation of Dion Ignacio. It will be directed by Paul Sta. Ana.
As ‘The Stepdaughters’ makes its debut, they will have their hands full in trying to solve ‘Asintado. Since premiering last month, the Julia Montes-led drama revitalized ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya Gold block, and if not for ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ they would have taken the mantle of afternoon’s top drama series.
But if ‘The Stepdaughters’ want to defeat ‘Asintado’, they will have to convince viewers that veterans such as Megan Young and Katrina Halili are still worth watching. After all, GMA’s overdependence on older stars has become a problem this decade and it cost them a majority of their audience.
It will be interesting to see how ‘The Stepdaughters’ can help rekindle Afternoon Prime’s flickering fortunes. After a strong finish in the second half of 2017, the block finds itself in the doldrums once again and it will be up to ‘The Stepdaughters’ to put them back to relevance.
‘The Stepdaughters’ air weekdays after ‘Ika-6 na Utos’ on GMA Afternoon Prime.
From the Tube 
Panalo daw ang Impostra finale at The Stepdaughters premiere sa AGB. No word from Kantar yet, but I imagine for Kantar, it would either be a strong Asintado win, or a narrow TS win at best. IANU aside, mukhang sa Mega Manila lang talaga lumalaban ang GMA, paglabas ng Luzon kulelat na.
GMA has a weaker presence in the provinces. Mas kokonti na lang ang mga regional stations nila compared to ABS. Plus they trust a wrong ratings firm which only focuses on urban areas.
Which is odd: wonder why they can’t ask AGB to do nationwide ratings, or switch to Kantar. Kahit talo sila sa nationwide, they could at least try to compete. Urban Luzon is not the whole country. At least TV5 tanggap na talo sila kahit AGB din sila, tapos ang ABS they at least compete to make Mega Manila competitive kahit minsan talo rin sila.
It is what it is. AGB is strictly focusing on urban areas due to a long-standing claim that they have greater purchasing power than the rural areas. Which is not even accurate.
Ang weird din sa AGB: paibaiba ng pinapalabas na ratings. Minsan Mega Manila, minsan Urban Luzon, minsan NUTAM, minsan People’s, unlike Kantar which more or less sticks to Nationwide. Tapos sa AGB, pag panalo ang GMA shoe, nilalabas agad, pero pag talo, minsan matagal bago ilabas o minsan di na nilalabas, unlike Kantar na consistently naglalabas ng ratings manalo o matalo ang ABS. Even when Kapamilya Gold was losing badly to Afternoon Prime, or during Showtime’s AlDub-era slump, Kantar still released ratings for said shows on a consistent basis.
That’s why I no longer trust AGB because of their confusing and misleading figures. GMA may claim to be No. 1 according to these figures, but even they are helpless to equal ABS’ business efforts beyond TV and radio. It’s a painful reality for the guys in Timog.
Which makes me wonder: why do AGB and GMA focus so much on Urban Luzon and Mega Manila. I’m aware that those are the largest and richest TV markets, but that’s just one part of the country. I also know about their poor signal and infrastructure in Visayas and Mindanao, but it’s really weird to see that GMA can even beat ABS in Manila but can’t even come close to ABS everywhere else. Kaya nga parang marami nang di tumitiwala sa AGB ngayon: ang daming palabas na malakas umano sa AGB at natatalo pa ang kalaban sa ABS, pero agad naman natsutsugi.
As an aside, the argument (or should I say excuse?) from both GMA and ABS fanboys (but seemingly more common among Kapusos) that a reason why a short lived teleserye was cancelled so soon was because it was planned that day needs to stop. Pretty sure only MLFTS and apparently TPOF (which to be fair both had poor ratings) were confirmed to have been limited run from the start. And even for those others that claimed to have limited runs, it seemed that they were struggling in the ratings anyway, so it seems like ratings may have been a more factor for cancellation.
Once Again lasted only 59 episodes because of poor ratings. But there are also some dramas that had to end quickly due to other circumstances. Walang Iwanan, an ABS afternoon drama, ended after only 35 episodes because Beauty Gonzalez was due to give birth while Jhong Hilario ran for public office. They also did not fare well in the ratings but that was not the reason why it was cancelled.
On average, 80 episodes is good enough for a drama to run respectably, unless of course certain circumstances give way.
GMA tends to focus on those areas, thanks to the strong reception of GMA 7 in Metro Manila (thanks to the Tower of Power in Tandang Sora), thus with the strong signal, GMA might claim Metro Manila ratings supremacy there. Everybody knows na mahina talaga ang signal ng ABS sa Metro Manila, but there are steps for ABS to improve its ratings there, thanks to the ongoing digital television transition.
GMA thinks the people in urban areas are more marketable than in rural areas, since urban areas tend to be the centers of population in their respective region or provinces, like Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Iloilo. Since Philippines is still a third world country, there is still a significant number of people still living in rural areas and you can’t just simply leave them behind. Kaya nga may mga proyekto ang pamahalaan sa mga kanayunan para lang maimprove ang standard of living sa mga kanayunan like water system projects, farm-to-market roads and rural electrification programs.
Perhaps these reasons might help you understand why GMA can ONLY win in Metro Manila, and not elsewhere.
Eventually, however, GMA could lose Metro Manila too since dumarami na rin ang bumibili ng TV Plus box ng ABS. Last I heard, they were hitting the 4 million mark and it only grows from here.
iWant TV is also giving ABS shows an advantage over GMA since they offer new episodes of teleseryes within hours of original broadcast. Meanwhile, GMA teleseryes are only uploaded on YouTube months after it originally aired. In short, kung mas fresh malamang mas tatangkilikin ng masa at mas magiging popular ito.
Which makes me wonder if that’s the reason why GMA is apparently against the impending switch to digital television: they know that their digital infrastructure is still inferior to ABS, so once the Philippines goes all-digital TV, it will be ABS and not GMA who will have superior signal in Manila, so they feel that they could lose their lone remaining stronghold. Of course, the solution would have been to invest in digital instead of killing time by proposing the use of the European rather than the Japanese standard.
GMA is already in the process of moving to digital, but if viewers want to watch the channel, they might need to purchase a TVPlus box or any other digital box. Of course, GMA is also testing its own digital TV service (called the ‘dongle’ by Felipe Gozon), but it has yet to push through for commercial use.
Pansin ko nga parang pati fans ng GMA may pagka elitista. Marami sa kanila nagsasabi “but Urban Luzon/Mega Manila has the most TV households/has the most purchasing power”. Parang pati yung mga fan wala masyadong pali sa Rural Luzon o VisMin, parang Urban ang mahalaga. Weird for them to say that considering most of their younger artists remain obscure, their films tend to flop (remember Just One Summer?), and their concerts tend to be poorly attended (Sa Tamang Panahon is the exception of course; JASJ’s various concerts tended to flop). Tapos they keep saying “at least GMA gumagawa ng fantaserye” or “at least GMA gagawa ng original shows, hindi franchised”. Parang medyo elitista talaga ang image na nakukuha ko sa GMA at sa mga fan nila, di tulad ng ABS na parang hating urban at hating masa ang fanbase.
If that’s what they and GMA think ba’t hindi na lang sila bumalik sa dati. You know, the old programming of the ‘Where You Belong’ era. Total their thinking now is that they will cater to the rich people and not the poor. Scrap those teleseryes, the Artist Center and even their movie and record division and go back to airing animes and sitcoms on primetime on a daily basis. Tapos may halo pang canned American or foreign programs.
Nah, that era has passed already. Maybe TV5 should be the one to go that route (assuming they kick out Chot and his sports focus and still have money in the bank), or maybe even IBC if someone has the money to buy and rehabilitate it. As for GMA, they’re still trying, so if they cede the masa market to ABS, ABS will have a monopoly on local content, and that’s something that no one likes, right?
Maybe, but if GMA wants to stay competitive, it’s best for them to trust Kantar and not AGB Nielsen and its misleading figures. Then rebuild their regional networks from scratch and make the most out of their dongles.
This is where GMA didn’t invest. Talent development. Most of their artists aren’t well-known in rural areas, where ABS-CBN tend to dominate. Kaya nga dinumog ang mga concert sa probinsya pag Kapamilya talent ang pag-uusapan. Their urban mentality na ever present since the good old days of GMA is still stuck on their mindsets.
As for their regional networks, GMA can’t even recover from the loss of originating stations, lalo na sa Ilocos, Naga, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Gensan and Iloilo. Basically, ABS-CBN filled the void and continued to dominate in the regional TV field. Naga might enjoy PBN and Gensan have Brigada News TV as their alternate source for regional news, but on the rest of these markets, ABS-CBN wins. Kahit may recent cutbacks sa regional content, ABS is and will remain the regional network leader. Their only significant regional presence is now in the form of Super Radyo and Barangay FM stations. Super Radyo is no longer back on its glorious days of early 2000s where they challenged longtime incumbents RMN and Bombo Radyo on ratings supremacy and had many stations almost everywhere from Manila to Laoag to Roxas to Koronadal and Gensan, and Barangay FM is now a shell of its former self. RGMA only has four FMs in Mindanao (three Barangay FMs and a Super Radyo relay in Iligan), a far cry from the past where they have FM stations in Zamboanga, Butuan, Dipolog and Koronadal. Sa Visayas nga, Barangay FMs there are now just four (with Roxas, Tacloban and Calbayog closed). The only Barangay FM station na nanatiling stable is indeed Barangay RT 99.5 in Cebu.
ABS has only three regional AMs, but their FM network is somewhat stable.
GMA basically is indeed a victim of its own success back in the 90s. Much like Bombo Radyo right now where most of their Star FM stations in Luzon, with some Star FM stations in Visayas and Mindanao (especially in big markets like Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan and General Santos) were closed during the mid-2000s due to financial problems.
Can’t believe their regional issues go beyond the 2015 retrenchment. Matagal na pala itong problema sa kanila. With their meager budget and lack of business interests compared to ABS, it’s no secret why GMA cannot penetrate the provinces.
GMA really needs to invest and try to at least compete against ABS even in Rural Luzon, and VisMin. Even if they don’t win, if they put up a good fight, it would work wonders for their finances given increased ratings and more advertising support. Unless they are able to improve their performance in the rest of the country, their claim to being Number 1 (which funnily enough is more boastful and more vocal than ABS’s claim, which only seems to pop up once in a while instead of being declared on a regular basis) will remain hollow. If they are to claim that they are Number 1, they should at least invest to prove it instead or relying on questionable ratings data.
This is where their regional networks come in. Most of them are now mere relay stations and not standalone stations that actually produce their own programs to suit cultural tastes. Not long ago, GMA downsized its regional operations, which may have played a role on why their stations outside Metro Manila pale in comparison to what ABS operates.
Click this link and you’ll see why.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/91185-gma-regional-stations-layoffs-workers
I haven’t really followed TV much in years, but based on what I’ve seen online, the impression most people seem to have is “GMA makes better news and public affairs programs, but ABS-CBN makes better teleseryes and movies”. Most people I see (except maybe love team fanboys) say that the quality of GMA films tend to be lacking (could be, the reviews for various GMA films I saw on ClickTheCity were mostly negative; though to be fair, negative reviews were also common for ABS films). There also seems to be a common impression that GMA artists, particularly the newer ones, aren’t on par with ABS ones skills-wise. Is there truth to this? I tend to read in comments and forums “Di ganung kagaling mag-acting ang mga stars ng GMA: nagworkshop ba sila?” or something like that. Because if that’s accurate, it could be that GMA’s nationwide struggles may be due to a combination of factors (inadequate infrastructure outside Mega Manila, poorly received series and films, inability to adequately promote younger artists, questionable investments, etc.) as opposed to simple mismanagement.
Whatever reasons you mentioned is just the same as simple mismanagement. Some of the staff are virtually ill-equipped to do their jobs. If GMA only recruited the ones with smarter acumen to turn their fortunes around this would not have happened.
Basically, GMA Films will never be the same again. Jose Rizal back in 1998 was their greatest achievement as a film studio. Where You Belong era pa ang GMA noon.
Nowadays, GMA Films is almost nowhere to be seen.
Yung Jose Rizal at Muroami, dapat ibenta na lang nila sa ibang film outfits. Perhaps Star Cinema could get a crack at them and do some restoration efforts like they did with most classic films of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
GMA Films still produces movies but only in a collaboration with other production units. Other than that, wala na.
This is what I don’t understand: I know GMA has that urban bias, but why should AGB have the same bias? I mean, it’s not like GMA is their only subscriber (unlike Kantar which has only ABS and PTV): they also have TV5 and other channels. It’s not like GMA controls AGB (I’m aware they once had some partnership, but that was more to do with technology or building up the respondent base, rather than ratings influencing), so why doesn’t AGB focus on nationwide too? I know AGB has NUTAM, but NUTAM is still urban-based, unlike Kantar’s nationwide ratings that includes both urban and rural areas.
I’m not sure about Nielsen’s urban bias. Pag sinabi mong urban, they could be centers of population, lalo na sa isang rehiyon o lalawigan. Doon nagkukumpulan ang mga tao. Nandoon ang mga trabaho at oportunidad sa mga urban centers. Araw-araw tayong may transaksyon sa mga urban centers. Bumibili tayo ng ating mga pangangailangan sa mga urban centers. And both GMA and Nielsen believed that Philippines is increasingly urban, but in third world standards, many Pinoys still live in rural areas.
Sa totoo lang, urban centers have problems, as well. Nandiyan ang poverty, lack of jobs, disaster vulnerability and others.
Sa totoo lang, mas mataas ang purchasing power ng mga nasa urban areas kaysa sa rural areas since sentro sila ng komersyo at populasyon. Rural areas are basically small barangays na mostly dependent sa agriculture o fisheries.
As for GMA posting ratings, they can only post the ratings when they win in their favor. Kaya nga may allegations na during 2000s na may bayad ang Nielsen ratings. Just look at the Nielsen ratings controversy back in 2000s.
Essentially urban is just a small sample size and GMA simply couldn’t capitalize on the bigger and less significant fish that is rural. And while urban people do have greater purchasing power, meron din naman ang rural since bumibili and tumatangkilik rin sila ng mga produktong ginagamit ng urban such as television.
AGB’s biased ways is what led to the aforementioned controversy and eventually ABS left in favor of Kantar which is mixed urban and rural nationally.
Really interesting to see the difference in Kantar and AGB. With AGB, they release four different kinds of ratings (all of which have an urban bias), and they only seem to release them consistently and quickly if a GMA show is doing well. If GMA shows are losing hard, ratings tend to end up being delayed for weeks or even months, and on occasion they end up never being released at all.
With Kantar, they consistently release ratings, whether or not ABS-CBN wins or not. I remember there was a time when Primetime Bida was struggling thanks to good performing shows on GMA (can’t remember when this was, but this was years ago), but Kantar still released ratings. Even when Showtime was struggling thanks to AlDub and was rumored to be on the chopping block, Kantar still released the ratings, even showing that Showtime was indeed losing to Eat Bulaga. And the interesting thing is that, on the ratings that AGB releases, GMA wins almost all timeslots except for Primetime, which can be hard to believe in some cases (like The Ryzza Mae Show beating BCWMH? Sunday Pinasaya beating ASAP?). With Kantar, they even show ratings for GMA shows that are winning against ABS shows (IANU anyone?). Although some people do think that Kantar has an ABS bias, it could also be that Kantar is simply more neutral since they show ratings for ABS shows whether or not they are beating their opponent. If Kantar had a similar inconsistency in ratings release like AGB (i.e. they’d hold their ratings if ABS was losing), then that would be the time to question Kantar’s integrity and reliability.
For all intents and purposes, Kantar seems to be the more legitimate firm for TV ratings. AGB basically outlived its purpose by covering a more limited area and release them on a less consistent basis.
It’s now April and GMA fantards are still claiming that The Stepdaughters is beating Asintado in the ratings… based on AGB… NUTAM ratings… for *February*. That’s right: it’s almost the middle of April but only now are AGB ratings for February coming out. And the worst part is that, when the fantards are asked to explain why the ratings took so long to come out, they change the topic or resort to ad hominems, instead of treating the AGB numbers with skepticism.
Bahala sila sa buhay nila, niloloko lang nila ang sarili nila kung naniniwala ang mga GMA fantard sa AGB kahit late na ang mga ratings atsaka masyadong urban-biased siya. Di bali na kung sa Kantar sila maniwala, pero sila pa ang nagsasabing “Kantaraduhan” ang Kantar kahit naman minsan nananalo naman sila sa Kantar.
Hayaan mo na lang sila. In denial lagi ang mga paniniwala nila.
Extended raw si The Stepdaughters “due to high ratings”. Talaga? Ang alam ko di naman ganung kataas ang ratings niya: mas malimit na matalo siya sa Asintado kaysa sa manalo.
Believe in AGB, GMA says. Yun lang masasabi ko. Believe the fool.