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| (Image Source: PEP.ph/GMA Network) |
Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS) is still the most watched news and public affairs program on Philippine TV and the most followed Philippine TV program on Facebook. For the fourth consecutive year, KMJS is the favorite Sunday viewing habit of Filipino families with a strong 19.4 percent average NUTAM (National Urban TV Audience Measurement) people rating, equivalent to 9.4 million viewers on primetime, based on Nielsen Philippines’ data for 2021. KMJS has 27 million followers on Facebook, the highest among Philippine TV program accounts in the country. Last year alone, its online engagements reached over 164 million. It is also the leading show that drives traffic to GMA Public Affairs’ YouTube channel. In 2021, KMJS’ videos generated over 6 billion combined views on Facebook and YouTube. Its topics continue to trend weekly on Twitter.
“Our goal is to continue connecting and interacting meaningfully with both our TV audiences and online followers and subscribers. But what we‘re really most proud of are the lives we helped change for 2021,” program host and GMA News pillar Jessica Soho said. Through KMJS, two families — the Sifiatas of Rizal and the Mullenos of Bulacan — managed to correct what could have been a sad fate for their newborn babies: getting switched at birth in the hospital! The story has 17.2 million views on Facebook and made KMJS the Philippine winner for the Best Infotainment Category in the Asian Academy Creative Awards.
Then there’s the story of 11-year-old Reymark from Sultan Kudarat who plows the family’s field of radishes with his horse. Viewers were so moved with his story, they donated enough money for the boy to stop working and just concentrate on his studies until he finishes college. His family now has a brand new house and a more steady source of income. All Ranelyn ever wanted was to wear her favorite bestida again. But poverty and severe malnourishment has reduced the six-year-old girl to literally skin and bones. Thanks to KMJS viewers who donated money and goods to Ranelyn, she is now healthy and in school and can wear her favorite dress again.
2021 also saw the return of the Taliban into power. The almost 20-year old video of Jessica’s coverage in Afghanistan in 2002, which nearly cost her and her team’s lives when a landmine accidentally exploded, was posted in the KMJS website and got 20 million views. “This proves that not only are Filipinos global citizens. We do care about what’s happening in other parts of the world,” Jessica added. 2021 has also been most rewarding for KMJS. The program was a Finalist at the 2021 New York Festivals’ Documentary: Social Justice category for its “Babaeng Tinaga sa Mukha (The Woman Slashed on Her Face)” segment, and was given a Special Citation under the Best Adult Education/Cultural Program category last year in the Catholic Mass Media Awards after having been elevated to the Hall of Fame status as “Best News Magazine” in 2020. For the third time, KMJS was also named the Most Outstanding Magazine Show at the Gawad La Sallianeta Awards.
And like she has done for the past years, Jessica again pays it forward in 2021 by helping judge entries in two international award-giving bodies that champion good TV Journalism — the Emmy Awards and and the New York Festivals Film and TV Awards.
