By Anjo Bagaoisan
Audiences dictate content more than they are given credit for. Given choices, they will watch what they want to watch. No one should decide that for them.
It’s a story repeatedly shown in local media history. In particular, that of ABS-CBN, which has gone up and down and back up repeatedly over its 60-plus year history.
2004. ABS-CBN 2 lost viewers to GMA7 in Mega Manila primetime ratings.
Various reasons. Some no longer liked the news. Others found telefantasyas & a local reality challenge better.
Elsewhere, the TV signal was just bad. And any counterprogramming just seemed like poor knockoffs.
ABS-CBN had to admit loss & take stock of how it did things. Programmers returned to their strength, drama; journalists, relating to their audience & telling stories better.
It held on to formats that stuck, like a kiddie gag show & a weekly comics adaptation.
It localized foreign reality shows, especially one set in a compound the nation learned to call “Ang Bahay ni Kuya”.
It invested in digital TV, which would level the field in signal access.
More so, the network relearned its core values thru the story of its Kapitan, Geny Lopez.
It took at least 5 years of show after show & yes, even tragedy & controversy, to regain those lost viewers.
By 2009, “Bro, Ikaw ang Star ng Pasko” was the Christmas anthem of the country.
2015. ABS-CBN’s promising noontime transfer, It’s Showtime, was in dire straits.
A budding TV-window romance pulled regulars to variety stalwart Eat Bulaga. KalyeSerye & AlDub was talk of the town, offline & online.
Again, putting up its own reality lovefest did not help. 3 big teen loveteams didn’t either.
A different format, revived from the network’s archives, did the trick.
“Tawag ng Tanghalan” stabilized Showtime & also helped the “Kapamilya Gold” block.
Who knew 5 years later, Showtime would be ABS-CBN’s longest-running noontime show?
1996. A Mexican telenovela aired on RPN 9 became the unlikely challenger of decade-long king TV Patrol. By then the newscast’s predictable hour-long format made it easy for viewers to switch to the faster-paced story of Marimar.
Ch. 2 decided to cut Patrol to 30 minutes.
Afternoon drama Mara Clara was moved to the slot after to take Marimar head on.
Thus began the reign of teleseryes on primetime.
But that shift also saved Patrol (& cemented Noli de Castro as a solo anchor).
By 2001, Patrol was still alive & returned to its hour-long length.
Of course there are similar other episodes in local TV history from the point of view of other networks.
How GMA no longer became content with number 2 and in 2002 initiated a rebrand while gradually clawing at ABS-CBN’s audience share through public affairs and weekend programs.
Or how freshly-shaken TV5 gambled on alternate programming in 2008 and nearly gave the Big 2 a run for their money with the local adaptation of a talent reality show.
In these cases, the effort is rewarded. But it won’t always happen.
Still, if viewers don’t like what they see or lose trust, they will move. And networks will & do adjust.
Plus, that trust is not earned quickly. As former ABS-CBN News boss Jing Magsaysay wrote, one “may get the franchise, but they will never be ABS-CBN”.
It’s a hard lesson learned by ABS and other networks who find that hiring big name artists and pirating behind-the-scenes employees, copying formats or spending millions won’t readily bring viewers or make you number one.
Of course, that audience is also why media should also remain mindful of its responsibility in giving viewers content that they need, not just what they want. Hence, news and current affairs and educational and cultural programming.
It’s a necessary risk in the name of public service. But it pays off. Case in point: Sine’skwela.
As with all businesses, media are subject to labor, finance, and corporate responsibility guidelines. And broadcasting is technically restrained by the allocation of frequencies.
But in content, ultimately, it’s that audience who can and should have the final say if a media outlet can continue what it is doing and prosper. It’s where competition and self-regulation also come in, to check any excesses.
Closing it down forcibly should not be an option.
Killing ABS-CBN on free TV is a disservice to the Filipino media audience & an insult to their freedom to choose.
And they will remember those who choose to supress that.
(And yet another takeaway from the history lesson though: ABS-CBN always, always bounces back with its audience)
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