Watch your favorite primetime news program and notice how news items are reported. The latest updates about the entertainment industry are spread out into several segments throughout the program. What was once a solo segment has become the needed "ice breaker" for a serious program dealing with international news, national issues, and shocking crimes.
It's interesting that the showbiz news of the day is reserved for the last segment. That way, viewers have to watch the entire news program just to catch the juicy showbiz controversies. That's a great strategy to keep the viewers captive.
However, the transfer of Willie Revillame from ABS-CBN to TV5 has inadvertently changed the landscape of television.
Living up to its tagline of shaking up viewers' TV habits, the Kapatid network has decided to pit its game show Willing Willie against the long-running news programs of ABS-CBN (TV Patrol) and GMA-7 (24 Oras).
Hosted by controversial TV host Willie Revillame, Willing Willie was launched last October 23 amid much fanfare. For the past two weeks, Willing Willie has always landed on the third spot, trailing behind the primetime news programs of its rival stations.
However, Willing Willie gained momentum when Willie's "First Lady" co-host Shalani Soledad was introduced last night, November 8.
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SHAKING UP THE RATINGS GAME. As a result, TV5's Willing Willie registered a rating of 11.6%, according to data from AGB Mega Manila individual ratings, on November 8. This is a significant rise from the show's previous ratings that range from 8.1% to 9.5%.
Hence, the game show of the Kapatid network tied with GMA-7's 24 Oras, which also got a rating of 11.6%.
ABS-CBN's TV Patrol landed on third place with its 10.7% rating.
But according to data from Kantar Media(formerly known as TNS), TV Patrol topped the ratings game.
The latest report of the said research firm indicated that among nationwide households, TV Patrol was the most watched last night with 28%.
24 Oras registered 19.5% while Willing Willie registered 14.5%.
In Metro Manila, TV Patrol registered 22.2%, 24 Oras had 20.5%, while Willing Willie got 19.3%.
CRUCIAL TIMESLOT. The early news timeslot has always been a standard part of evening programming across the networks.
It's considered a crucial timeslot because it is believed that viewers stay tuned to a particular channel the entire evening once they open their TV to watch the early news program.
When Willing Willie stepped in, news programming suddenly turned competitive—so uncharacteristic of the genre. News is news, after all.
What's interesting, though, is how the networks have chosen to become particularly competitive on this timeslot.
ABS-CBN's TV Patrol reformatted its anchor line-up to include "star" personalities in order to attract more viewers. Last night, Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez returned to anchor the primetime telecast on the Kapamilya network. They replaced Julius Babao and Karen Davila while Ted Failon was retained as one of the anchors.
This move by ABS-CBN give people the impression that Willie's former network is "threatened" by the innovative changes being introduced by TV5.
However, News and Public Affairs head Regina "Ging" Reyes, denies that the return of Noli de Castro and Korina Sanchez was done to counter Willie's new show on primetime.
"This plan has been in the pipeline even before I got here," explained Ging Reyes, the executive who replaced former news head Maria Ressa. "Coincidence siguro na nangyari 'yan, na pinili ng kabilang istasyon na ilagay nila si Willie, ang variety show niya, sa primetime."
CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO. Does the revamp in ABS-CBN's TV Patrol mean that Willie is vindicated? No matter what his detractors say, the former Wowowee host still enjoys the support of the masses (and loyal advertisers).
You have to give credit to Willie Revillame and TV5 for challenging the routine of Filipino viewers. They've put in a good fight and offered an alternative for people who might not be interested in the evening news.
Willing Willie has succeeded in capturing the attention of the viewing public, with PNoy's former girlfriend Shalani Soledad suddenly coming on board. In fact, the volume of tweets about the Valenzuela councilor was able to catapult the term "Shalani" on the global trending topics for Twitter. But based on what we saw during her first episode on the game show, she has yet to match the energy level and confidence of Willie.
Will this trend continue in the coming days? Will TV5 be able to overtake the more established news programs? Will this variety show be able to eat up the ratings pie of teleseryes?
Now let's see what GMA-7's next move will be, in reaction to the changing TV landscape.