Philippine Telenovelas Worldwide Success!

Philippine telenovelas boom worldwide in several territories
ABS-CBN reaches more territories in the global market making
Kristine Hermosa the most famous Filipina woman on Earth.
According to rating reports, the telenovelas Timeless and The Long Wait from the Philippine network ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation were top favorites in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Tonga, and various countries. Basing on the information reported by AGBNMR during the first quarter of 2006, Timeless ranked No. 4 in that country’s multi-weekly programs rating chart, scoring a 59% audience share. The same data revealed that Timeless and The Long Wait, outpaced a telenovela in the ratings game.

But it was not the only achievement of these telenovelas expanding successfully across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Indo-China and Europe. “African TV stations broadcast at least one ABS-CBN Philippine telenovela a day while the other TV stations air two to three times a week,” says Reena de Guzman-Garingan, International Sales and Distribution Director at ABSCBN Broadcasting Corporation. “There are channels that have been broadcasting two Philippine telenovelas from Monday to Friday and another one on Saturdays and Sundays. In countries like Kenya, Cameroon and Tanzania at least two networks are currently airing ABS-CBN Philippine telenovelas, which always consist in 45-to-50-minute episodes,” explains the executive.

A Philippine telenovela craze has indeed hit foreign countries, spawning websites and fan clubs, and making the Philippine cast hugely popular in the international scene. “Our telenovelas are the hot items in foreign newspapers; there’s the case of a TV station in Africa that delayed its launch hoping to have the Philippine telenovela stars to grace their celebration. The Philippine telenovela business in Africa is a phenomenon and has captured advertising revenues never achieved before by the networks,” states de Guzman-Garingan.
Why does Africa embrace Philippine stories?
The executive assures that the African telenovela audience has readily embraced Philippine telenovelas because of the mixture of distinct facial features on the screen, ranging from Asian to Spanish, and also explains that due to the infusion of multicultural context, they have captured both female and male audiences. “During the World Cup month, the time slots of The Promise, Timeless, The Long Wait and other ABS-CBN’s telenovelas airing on various networks across Africa were pre-empted. As a result, the male audience was warned by their wives of having no meals on their tables for not having their favorite Philippine telenovela on air.”

The company’s goal is to increasingly consolidate within the global market as their programs’ exports rise. Besides telenovelas, they sell and distribute formats, feature films, magazine programs and clips.

Among their most required programs, there are the telenovelas The Promise, Timeless and The Long Wait.
Article from the Fourth World Summit of the Telenovela Industry
Madrid, SpainKristine Hermosa is world famous and has fans on all of the world's continents, and not just among Filipinos, but fans of all backgrounds. Hermosa means "beautiful" in Spanish, and amazingly, it's also her real family name.