As the country went through one of the most polarizing national elections to date, more Filipinos trusted GMA News and Public Affairs’ “Eleksyon 2016” special coverage as the most credible news source on-air and online.
Based on Nielsen TV Audience Measurement overnight ratings data for May 9, GMA’s special coverage of the 2016 national elections was the most watched nationwide with an average people share of 37.7 percent in National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM). It beat ABS-CBN’s “Halalan 2016,” which posted 34.1 percent and TV5’s “Bilang Pilipino 2016” with 7.5 percent.
The Kapuso Network’s special coverage registered even higher numbers in the viewer-rich areas of Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, which respectively account for 77 and 60 percent of all urban TV households in the country.
GMA’s “Eleksyon 2016” scored an average people share of 42.4 percent in Urban Luzon as against ABS’ 29.2 percent and TV5’s 6.1 percent. In Mega Manila, “Eleksyon 2016” dominated competition with 45.3 percent compared to ABS’ 25.7 percent and TV5’s 6.1 percent.
Eleksyon 2016 was also the go-to news source of netizens with GMA News Online registering an unprecedented 34 million page views on May 9, according to data from Effective Measure for worldwide audience. It led ABS-CBN News, which only managed six million page views on the same day.
Led by GMA News pillars Mel Tiangco, Mike Enriquez, Vicky Morales, Arnold Clavio, Howie Severino, and Jessica Soho, “Eleksyon 2016” delivered the most in-depth coverage of the national elections being the first television news organization to broadcast the partial and unofficial results tally.
And shortly after, GMA News was able to do a live interview with leading presidential candidate Mayor RodyDuterte in the Kapuso primetime newscast “24 Oras.”