GMA News and Public Affairs dominated the Philippine online space for 2020, with viewers trooping to its digital platforms in a tumultuous year.
According to data from video analytics firm Tubular Labs, GMA News led all Philippine media organizations in video viewership across all digital platforms for the year, peaking at No.5 worldwide in May 2020 at the height of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon.
On YouTube, GMA News had over 2 billion video views, leading ABS-CBN News which had 1.6 billion views for the year.
Likewise on Facebook, GMA News had over 3 billion views, compared to ABS-CBN News’ 2.5 billion views. The Kapuso Network's main news page also led all Philippine news pages in total engagement for the year, with 536 million likes, clicks, and shares as against ABS-CBN News’ 493 million, according to data from social analytics platform CrowdTangle. Across all platforms, GMA News ended the year with more than 52 million followers.
The said GMA News digital platforms, including GMA News Online, feature live and up-to-the-minute reports from GMA's award-winning News and Public Affairs programs. These include the nightly live streams of the Network's flagship newscast 24 Oras. Viewers from around the world can also catch up on the news through Express versions of newscasts 24 Oras, Unang Balita sa Unang Hirit, Balitanghali, State of the Nation, and Saksi.
"As Filipinos here and around the world continue the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever for viewers to get access to timely and trustworthy news about the country. This reflects our commitment to Serbisyong Totoo, the hallmark of GMA News and Public Affairs," says GMA Senior Vice President for News and Public Affairs Marissa L. Flores.
GMA News has also stepped up the production of original videos for digital platforms. “GMA “News Feed,” a mobile-friendly, shortform video series that delivers breaking news online, garnered nearly 700 million views in 2020. “Need To Know,” a longform explanatory journalism series providing much-needed context to breaking news issues, was also a big success with nearly 70 million views.
Similarly, digital powerhouse GMA Public Affairs recorded a total of 80 million followers across popular platforms.
Videos of its various programs tallied over 6.5 billion combined views on social media last year based on data from Tubular Labs and Crowdtangle. With 1.3 billion minutes, it even emerged as the most-watched News and Politics media creator in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) in terms of total minutes last September 2020.
GMA Public Affairs' official YouTube channel remains as one of the biggest content creators in the country with over 13.6 million subscribers, still ahead of ABS-CBN News’ 11.6 million. In the past 12 months, it generated over 2.8 billion views on YouTube — compared to rival’s 1.6 billion views. In April 2020, the GMA Public Affairs group hit 10 million subscribers that enabled GMA Network to be the first Philippine TV company to receive two Diamond Play Button Awards from the online video-sharing giant.
Further, GMA News and Public Affairs continues to navigate other budding social platforms to reach more audiences across different demographics including Spotify, iTunes, and TikTok. In 2020, GMA Public Affairs was listed among the Top 5 Philippine media creators on TikTok.
"Our digital team always aims to bring the most important and engaging news to Filipinos here and abroad, no matter what device or platform they use," said Jaemark Tordecilla, GMA Network Assistant Vice President for News and Public Affairs Digital Media.