New Shows, Same Result for GMA Telebabad

Both ‘Got to Believe’ and ‘The Legal Wife’ defeated ‘Carmela’ and ‘Rhodora X’, while ‘Annaliza’ dismantled ‘Paraiso Ko’y Ikaw’. Ratings courtesy of Kantar.

This week GMA unveiled three new series in its Telebabad block: ‘Paraiso Ko’y Ikaw’, ‘Carmela’ and ‘Rhodora X’. However, the end results remained the same.

Monday’s AGB Nielsen ratings showed that ‘Got to Believe’ registered a 28% rating in Metro Manila, and a 29.8% rating nationwide. ‘Carmela’ meanwhile only got 18.1% and 14.9% respectively. ABS-CBN’s own newcomer ‘The Legal Wife’ likewise defeated ‘Rhodora X’ with 23.9% and 21% figures compared to the latter’s 15.8% and 11%.

The same can be said in Kantar’s total ratings. Monday’s figures saw ‘Got to Believe’ beat ‘Carmela’ 29.8% to 14.4%, and ‘The Legal Wife’ overwhelm ‘Rhodora X’ 21% to 11%. ‘Got to Believe’ also finished as the top trending topic on Twitter, with ‘The Legal Wife’ a close second. Meanwhile, ‘Rhodora X’ and ‘Carmela’ also trended well on Twitter, a rarity for GMA’s drama series in recent years.

On the other hand, ‘Paraiso Ko’y Ikaw”s debut failed to beat ‘Annaliza’ in its timeslot. The now long-running ABS-CBN series earned a 23.7% rating in Kantar compared to the former’s paltry 9.6% rating. Since debuting in May 2013, ‘Annaliza’ has defeated three other GMA drama series in ‘Home Sweet Home’, ‘Binoy Henyo’ and ‘Prinsesa ng Buhay Ko’ in its 5:45 p.m. timeslot.

Based on these early figures, it looks like all three GMA drama series are on pace for another shorter-than-expected run, similar to what happened to ‘Genesis’ and ‘Akin Pa Rin ang Bukas’. Then again this is just the pilot week for each series, so it is still subject to change. But right now, it is a demolition job for ABS-CBN’s ‘Primetime Bida’ over its counterpart.

Advertisement

Let the Ratings War Begin

ABS-CBN and GMA 7 claimed network supremacy in the past five years based on ratings from Kantar Media and AGB Nielsen, respectively. (Photo credit: Starmometer.com)

Since ABS-CBN accused AGB Nielsen of tampering with its ratings in 2007, they have been subscribing to Kantar Media as its main ratings provider. And since they started their subscription to Kantar, the network has claimed to achieve higher ratings than that of competitor GMA 7 based on Kantar Media’s data. On the contrary, GMA 7 continued to claim ratings leadership in most areas using data from AGB Nielsen. With both media giants claiming their right to be the number one television station in the Philippines based on their respective data from their ratings providers, does it make sense to make claims such as this?

GMA’s No. 1 ‘supremacy’ comes from their afternoon programming, whose block included the 34-year old variety program Eat! Bulaga, its Afternoon Prime series of teleseryes, showbiz talk shows such as Startalk, and public service programs such as Wish Ko Lang. Prior to ABS-CBN’s move to Kantar, its evening programs have been traditionally high-rated. But since the move, ABS-CBN claimed to dominate nightly programming, which included TV Patrol, its Primetime Bida series of teleseryes, Maalala Mo Kaya on Saturdays, and Ganda Gabi Vice on Sundays. And when ‘Be Careful With My Heart’ started airing on late mornings in mid-2012, its cheerful and infectious storyline started taking over a majority of TV sets by the end of the year. As for a new giant in TV5, they are still tinkering with their programming lineup in an attempt to challenge ABS-CBN and GMA 7.

For over 50 years, both networks have pushed each other to the limits in an effort to produce high-quality programming to all walks of life. But claiming to be the number one network in the country is not the answer. Viewers have their own choice of programs to watch, so it is up to them to watch any program they like, as long as they enjoy it.