GMA’s Eleksyon 2013: An unusual day in the office

(Editor’s Note: While Bibsy Carballo is on her month-long annual vacation abroad, representatives from the three networks will alternate in writing Live Feed: Butch Raquel for Kapuso, Peachy Guioguio for Kapatid and Kane Choa for Kapamilya. Every now and then, Bibsy will email a story from wherever in Europe she is.)

While most poll precincts were crowded with people falling in long lines all determined to cast their votes, there were voting areas that endured a day longer than usual, an Election Day as indelible as the purple ink on their fingers.

Bomb explosions rattled the people of Shariff Aguak in Maguindanao; a mayor’s supporter was found dead in Abra; several police attempts were made to search the Revilla home in Cavite; panic stirred in an elementary school in Manila due to a commotion caused by armed members of the MNLF; and frustration was high in many precincts because of faulty PCOS machines.

From wherever in the country they may be, viewers were able to witness all these breaking stories — first — via GMA News and Public Affairs’ Eleksyon 2013, widely-regarded as the biggest and most comprehensive coverage of the mid-term elections.

Live voting of many senatorial candidates in their respective hometowns was also broadcast first by GMA. And then there were reports about citizens determined to cast their votes, despite disabilities and other physical factors, that showed hope amidst the present state of Philippine politics.

All these stories were speedily brought to the public through GMA’s 47 strategically selected remote live points enabling the network to deliver the biggest and latest updates on the mid-term elections ahead of competition.

Seemingly, the viewers recognized such effort from GMA as it emerged as the most-watched elections coverage nationwide based on overnight data from ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

On May 13, Election Day, GMA’s Eleksyon 2013 special coverage between 6 a.m. and midnight scored an average household rating of 11.6 percent in the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM). ABS-CBN’s election coverage (Bayan Mo I-Patrol Mo Halalan 2013, TV Patrol 25 and Bandila) managed only 10.6 percent, while TV5’s coverage (Pagbabago 2013 and Aksyon) posted 2.8 percent.

Meanwhile, in Urban Luzon, which accounts for 76 percent of the total urban TV household population of the Philippines, GMA’s election coverage scored 13.5 percent, up by 3.7 points from ABS-CBN’s 9.8 percent, and up by 10.7 points from TV5’s 2.8 percent.

In Mega Manila, the network’s bailiwick, which represents 59 percent of the total urban TV households nationwide, GMA’s Eleksyon 2013 registered an even bigger margin over competitors with a household rating of 14.4 percent, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 9.2 percent by 5.2 points, and ahead of TV5’s 3.1 percent by 11.3 points.

GMA News and Public Affairs, through its portal GMA News Online, utilized the combination of different platforms — from radio and television to online — which effectively took this year’s elections coverage to the next level.

And following the ratings success of its on-air coverage, GMA News Online also dominated the Philippine online rankings with 9.1 million page views on May 13, according to industry metrics source Effective Measure. It posted a wide margin of six million page views over second ranked abs-cbnnews.com, which registered 3.1 million page views on the same day.

Having its very own search engine, GMA News Online made count data easily accessible to the public at split second speed. Its count data also enabled the public to access election counts all the way down to the councilor level of every municipality of every province.

Eleksyon 2013 also featured two new web applications — the Kandidato Buzz Index (http://www.gmanews.tv/kandidatobuzzindex) and the Voting Experience Poll (http://www.gmanews.tv/votingexpreiencepoll) — and a series of online programs through its E13 Google Hangout.

The Kandidato Buzz Index is a real-time visualization of which senatorial candidates are being talked about the most online. It also presented readers with the freshest and most relevant social content. The Voting Experience Poll, on the other hand, allows the public to report on how their voting experience was. For these applications, GMA partnered with US-based Mass Relevance, which has powered similar visualizations for CNN’s coverage of the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections.

In the E13 Google Hangout, netizens were able to watch a panel of experts discuss election-related issues such as Election Day problem resolution, overseas absentee voting and controversial candidates. They were able to join in the discussion by tweeting their questions using the hashtag #e13hangout.

GMA’s E13 call and data center, which was manned by hundreds of AMA volunteers throughout the coverage, mapped election-related incidents all over the country.

Crossing all platforms — from the airwaves, to television, to online, GMA News and Public Affairs redefined elections coverage with an inerasable Eleksyon 2013 as it proves once again that it is the country’s most trusted news authority.