The season finale of ‘The Voice Kids’, won by Lyca Gairanod, blasted GMA’s rival programs during the weekend of July 28. (Photo credit: ABS-CBN News)
Blame ‘The Voice Kids’ for forcing GMA into another programming change this past weekend.
The final weekend of ABS-CBN’s ‘The Voice Kids’ Season 1 saw Lyca Gairanod win the cash prize of P1-million, a recording contract, a house and lot, and various other prizes. Rounding out the top four are Darren Espanto, Juan Karlos Labajo, and Darlene Vibares, all of whom finished behind Gairanod in percentage of votes.
‘The Voice Kids’ season finale, held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater at Resorts World Manila, was also a ratings winner. Saturday’s performance episode registered a series-high 37.7% national rating, while Sunday’s results episode ended with an equally impressive 37.7%. In Metro Manila, ‘The Voice Kids’ ended their first season with respectably high numbers of 31.8% on Saturday, and 29.2% on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the never-ending timeslot changes on GMA’s weekend lineup continued. In an attempt to counter the expected lengthy performance episode of ‘The Voice Kids’, GMA hastily added ‘GMA Blockbusters’ to its Saturday lineup, weeks after it was replaced by ‘Marian’. As a result, GMA now has five movie blocks on its weekend slate.
Unfortunately, the last-minute change did little to stem the tide. ‘Marian’ only managed ratings of 18.9% (national) and 15% (Metro Manila), while the ‘GMA Blockbusters’ feature film ‘Snakes on a Plane’ ended with a mediocre 22% (national) and 16.1% (Metro Manila).
Against the results episode of ‘The Voice Kids’, GMA’s sitcoms ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ and ‘Ismol Family’ did not fare well either. ‘Vampire’ finished at 10.6% (national) and 11.6% (Metro Manila), while ‘Ismol Family’ mustered ratings of 11.2% (national) and 14.6% (Metro Manila).
Contrary to a recent article written on GMA’s website, this was simply not a fun weekend for the folks inside Timog Avenue. Now the question is, what’s next?
GMA’s soon-to-be-launched reality talent search show, ‘Bet ng Bayan’, is currently on the pre-production stage, with auditions ongoing in various parts of the country. There is a possibility that ‘Bet ng Bayan’ will air every weekend, with the target date for its pilot still unknown.
With ‘Bet ng Bayan’, GMA hopes that they can reverse the course with their latest talent program. Unfortunately, ‘Bet ng Bayan’ will be facing an uphill climb, considering the tremendous strength and consistency of ABS-CBN’s weekend lineup.
For GMA, the saga of weekend changes continues. Sooner or later, they’ll make another change or two. But the truth is, they are slumping, and not even the slightest of changes will help them.
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