The month of March showed a significant surge for GMA News and Public Affairs Digital as it set record-high numbers in its digital engagement and online video viewership.
According to social video analytics Tubular Labs, the GMA News channel tallied 224 million views on YouTube, compared to ABS-CBN News’ 182 million. On Facebook, GMA News got 371.9 million while its counterpart page from ABS-CBN had 371.2 million.
These videos include Express versions of GMA’s flagship newscasts 24 Oras, breaking news bulletins on COVID-19, news clips, and live streams of news briefings.
The separate Public Affairs digital channels also remained strong, with 313.9 million views on YouTube and nearly 180 million views on Facebook. Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho remained a powerhouse on digital platforms, being the top driver of viewership for YouTube while having 13 million followers on Facebook.
Recently, the GMA Public Affairs YouTube channel breached the 10-million-subscriber mark, which made GMA the only Philippine network to have two Diamond Creator Awards for two channels with more than 10 million subscribers.
Brought about by the public’s need for reliable source of news and information especially during this time of crisis, the GMA News YouTube channel has also seen a spike in its subscriber count hitting over 6 million as of writing. it
The Digital Video Lab, which produces original video for GMA News and Public Affairs Digital, produced 62 videos for the month which generated more than 50 million views. These ranged from breaking news, evergreen content, tips and guides, human interest stories, and prayers.
GMA News Online, which publishes up-to-the-minute news updates, posted its highest audience of unique users on record in March 2020, even breaking the record established during the May 2016 elections.