Love: GMA and ABS-CBN’s Common Theme for the 2017 Christmas Station ID

‘Just Love Ngayong Christmas’ or ‘Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan’.

ABS-CBN and GMA officially released their 2017 Christmas station IDs earlier this month. GMA unveiled theirs last November 6, while ABS-CBN premiered their version the following week.

This year’s central theme is ‘love’, and based on the titles of the two networks’ Christmas station IDs, one can think that they stole each other’s ideas. Looking at the two videos closely, there are some similarities between them, from the gathering of the artists and news personalities to the ordinary people being visited (or accompanied) by some of the stars.

But that is where the commonalities end. In ABS-CBN’s case, they incorporated the use of social media to convey their message, adding videos and photos shared by netizens of strangers who helped one another in times of distress and hopelessness.

ABS-CBN also spread some joy to the victims of the Marawi crisis through letters and donations sent by the network’s artists. That said, based on the context alone, it is clear that ABS-CBN has the more compelling approach to their Christmas station ID.

As of November 15, GMA’s Christmas station ID racked up nearly 450,000 views on YouTube. Meanwhile, ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID earned over 690,000 views.

Considering that ABS-CBN’s version only made its debut two days ago, the overwhelmingly quick collection of views in such a short amount of time must have made Kapuso fans jealous. And who can blame them for producing a  Christmas station ID that failed to convey a meaningful message.

Last year, only ABS-CBN was able to produce a Christmas station ID as GMA opted for a series of animated shorts for their Christmas campaign. This year, GMA made a comeback by producing a Christmas station ID of their own, but after they were beaten to the punch anew by ABS-CBN, what chances will they have of making another one?

The following personalities listed here are the performers and writers behind the ABS-CBN and GMA Christmas station IDs.

Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan (a.k.a. MaGMAhalan ng Buong Puso)

Lyricists – BJ Camaya, Rexy Jolly Conopio, Jann Lopez

Composer – Len Calvo

Performers – Alden Richards, Mikee Quintos, Nar Cabico, Maricris Garcia, Aicelle Santos, Julie Anne San Jose

Just Love Ngayong Christmas

Lyricists – Lloyd Oliver Corpuz, Christian Faustino, Robert Labayen

Composer – Jimmy Antiporda

Performers – Sarah Geronimo, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Piolo Pascual, Toni Gonzaga, Ogie Alcasid, Erik Santos, Zsa Zsa Padilla, Billy Crawford, Yeng Constantino et al

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In 100 Words: The 2017 GMA Christmas Station ID

The only annual station ID that matters for GMA is finally here.

Last night following ‘Super Ma’am’, GMA premiered its 2017 Christmas Station ID. The network’s theme for 2017 is ‘Buong Pusong MaGMAhalan’.

This year’s song entitled ‘MaGMAhalan ng Buong-Puso’ featured the voices of Alden Richards, Julie Ann San Jose, Aicelle Santos, Mikee Quintos, Maricris Garcia and Nar Cabico. Footage of the recording was released by the network last week.

The station ID itself features a bevy of GMA’s top artists and news personalities. For more information on who appeared in the 2017 GMA Christmas Station ID, click the first video above.

ABS-CBN’s own Christmas Station ID is expected to be released sometime this week.

ABS-CBN, GMA Christmas Station IDs Premiere Tonight

Once again, ABS-CBN and GMA have something in store for the holidays.

Tonight at around 8:00 p.m., the two broadcast giants will premiere their annual Christmas station IDs on a near-simultaneous basis. As it has been customary in past years, celebrities and news personalities will star in this short-form video.

The slogan for ABS-CBN’s 2016 Christmas station ID will be ‘Isang Pamilya Tayo Ngayong Pasko’. On the other hand, GMA’s slogan for their Christmas station ID will be ‘Maniwala sa Magic ng Pasko’.

ABS-CBN’s preparations have been in full swing since mid-October. The network released a five-minute recording video of their Christmas station ID on YouTube, which garnered over a million views on YouTube and became a constant trending topic on social media.

The video starred ‘The Voice Kids’ judges Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo, Bamboo, and Sharon Cuneta, and former finalists Joshua Oliveros, Lyca Gairanod, Elha Nympha, and Antonnette Tismo. All of them are expected to appear in the actual Christmas station ID later tonight.

Meanwhile, GMA decided to make their preparations for this year’s Christmas station ID as low-key as possible. Last year, Alden Richards sang their Christmas theme; this year it will be Julie Ann San Jose who will lead the way.

GMA will also use 3D-computerized animation for their station ID, a first in Philippine television. But it remains to be seen if GMA’s celebrities and news personalities will be present for the occasion.

The contrasting preparations of the two networks should give the viewers an idea as to who’s Christmas station ID will make the biggest noise. Obviously, with GMA’s low-key approach to their Christmas station ID, ABS-CBN should have an advantage.

Nevertheless, come 7:00 p.m. later tonight, both ABS-CBN and GMA should put out a show for everyone. After all, this is a season of giving.

ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID will be shown simultaneously on ABS-CBN Channel 2 and its affiliate free TV, digital and cable channels. GMA’s Christmas station ID, on the other hand, will air on both Channel 7 and GMA News TV.

ABS-CBN, GMA Unveil Christmas Station IDs

Christmas came early for ABS-CBN and GMA.

On Thursday, November 12, both networks unveiled their Christmas station IDs during a broadcast of ‘TV Patrol’ and ’24 Oras’ respectively. ABS-CBN’s slogan for the Christmas season is ‘Thank You for the Love’, while GMA’s slogan is ‘MaGMAhalan Tayo Ngayong Pasko’.

ABS-CBN’s Christmas station ID is sung by the three hottest love teams in LizQuen (Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil), KathNiel (Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla), and JaDine (James Reid and Nadine Lustre), and were joined by Bamboo Mañalac and ‘The Voice Kids’ season 2 winner Elha Nympha.

GMA’s Christmas station ID, on the other hand, was solely sung by Alden Richards.

As always, both networks assembled their contract artists and news personalities for this occasion. Still, much of the attention was centered around ABS-CBN’s aforementioned love teams, and GMA’s accidental pairing that is AlDub (Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza).

Minutes following the premiere, social media quickly took notice of the Christmas station IDs. Despite the presence of AlDub, ‘MaGMAhalan Tayo Ngayong Pasko’ failed to make an impact, as ‘Thank You for the Love’ ended the night as Twitter’s top trending topic both in the Philippines and worldwide.

The same can also be said on YouTube, where ABS-CBN’s Christmas SID received nearly 500,000 more views than GMA’s (as of Monday, November 16). In the end, ‘Thank You for the Love’ proved to be more compelling to viewers than ‘MaGMAhalan Tayo Ngayong Pasko’ upon release.

ABS-CBN and GMA will continue to show an edited version of their Christmas station IDs during commercial breaks for the rest of the year. Until then, enjoy watching the full version of either ‘Thank You for the Love’ or ‘MaGMAhalan Tayo Ngayong Pasko’, and give your thoughts on the videos above.