With the launch of Encantadia remake on GMA Network, the battle for primetime ratings supremacy has intensified beginning Monday.
While the Kapuso network is celebrating the ratings lead of Encantadia nationwide (as affirmed by both NUTAM and Kantar media) during its pilot airing last Monday, the Kapamilya network claimed that FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano remains the top favorite of Filipinos on primetime TV.
Encantadia scores high on its pilot episode
Last Monday, Filipinos witnessed the return of the popular and well-loved telefantasya Encantadia on GMA Telebabad. The remake, which the networks calls the requel, looked grander than its original edition in terms of visual effects, costumes, and cast.
The pilot episode showed the history of Encantadia and how the four gems – fire, wind, water, earth – came to being. Also, the network’s royal and real couple – Kapuso Primetime King and Queen Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera-Dantes – was the main attraction since the two play Prinsipe Raquim and Ynang Reyna Minea.
The pilot also featured appearances by John Arcilla as Hagorn, Rocco Nacino as Aquil, Sunshine Dizon as Adhara, Rochelle Pangilinan as Agane, Vaness del Moral as Gurna, Carlo Gonzalez as Muros, Max Collins as Amihan and Solenn Heussaff as Cassiopea.
According to data from ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, the much-awaited requel scored a rating of 26.1 percent in Urban Luzon beating its ABS-CBN counterpart, FPJ’sAng Probinsyano with its 24.2 percent rating.
Ratings aside, the pilot episode also trended in social media nationwide and worldwide.
Coco keeps throne as king of primetime
Coco Martin continues to live up to his title as the Primetime King with Kapamilya primetime teleserye FPJ’s Ang Probisyano maintaining its spot as the most watched series in the country last Monday.
Audiences nationwide tuned in to the heart-pounding episode in which hitman Hector (Cesar Montano) shoots Cardo’s (Coco Martin) grandfather Delfin (Jaime Fabregas) during his surprise birthday celebration. It recorded a national TV rating of 42.4 percent, beating rival program Encantadia that posted a mere 21 percent.
The online world was also shaken with the nerve-wrecking episode as the official hashtag #FPJAPUltimatum trended on microblogging site Twitter. Moreover, netizens were all praises for the cast’s stellar performances and the teleserye’s cinematic scenes.
Since the top-rating series started airing on television, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano has shed light on the real-life experiences of Filipinos and has shown the importance of family and love for the country. Viewers are also drawn to the program’s story that highlights family values and issues that affects ordinary Filipinos.
So, who really won the audience?
The ratings survey, either by NUTAM or Kantar Media, simply pre-supposes that the survey samples represent the totality of the viewing public. The inference on the results may be valid since no survey company can actually monitor the viewing pattern of every household in the country.
In fact, surveys and the rating percentages are tools of advertising agencies in determining how much money an account/brand would allocate to a certain program. In my time at an advertising agency, we determine other factors like demographics (how many women or men and how old, what classes do they belong to) in making advertising expenditures to a client.
But TV networks these days use the survey results and ratings figure to further their claim as to which of them is actually the leader in local broadcasting.
In the end, the surveys are only hypothetical. The audience is still the best judge. But so far, no research company can actually do a most comprehensive survey to determine which program is at the top. And both networks know it is very expensive to do.
Meanwhile, the network rivalry goes on even as both leading broadcast companies subscribe to two rival survey companies as well.
