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RISSALIE ALVA, 2015-90063

MEDIA 210: Media Theory

CONQUERING TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA:

HOW DOES ALDUB CHANGE THE BALLGAME?

The formulaic programs in the Philippine television have been evident over the years.
Children shows and cartoons are morning programs, talent/game/variety is usually for noontime,
and teleseryes are for primetime, these are the formats that the Filipinos have become used to
for the past years, but recently, a new format was born and it has shaken the country like no
other, Eat Bulaga‟s Kalyeserye. Its uniqueness has garnered an overwhelming response from
all over the country and even from some parts of the world. This essay is an analysis of the
phenomenal tandem (AlDub) as a pop culture: masses and capitalists reception.
Noontime habit is never the same again with the emergence of Eat Bulaga‟s
“Kalyeserye”. It features the well-known love team of the Pambansang Bae, Alden Richards and
the Dubsmash Queen in the Philippines, Maine Mendoza a.k.a Yaya Dub. Their love team is
usually referred as Aldub by their fans. According to Mike Tuviera, director of Eat Bulaga, the
love team was a “happy accident” which “was born from the moment that the staff found out that
in real life, Yaya Dub had a crush on Alden.” (AJH, 2015).
Alden and Yaya Dub started being paired through a split-screen and the chemistry
between the two was immediately revealed, thus Kalyeserye was born and the concept of their
forbidden love was introduced to the viewers. It has been lauded by the public that in a matter
of months, Aldub has gained millions of fans.
While there are a lot of questions arising from the sudden fame of Aldub, it is interesting
to note the uniqueness of its format wherein Alden and Yaya Dub‟s way of communication is
through dubsmash and fan sign, features that originated from social media. Lip-syncing songs
that have lyrics describing their feelings and writing what they want to say to each other on a
paper and showing it to everyone are not typical on Philippine television, but, it was immediately
accepted. The TV ratings have proven it.
Eat Bulaga keeps winning the ratings war against its rival, It‟s Showtime of ABS-CBN.
Based upon the AGB Nielsen survey among Mega Manila households, Eat Bulaga garnered
43.1% of the ratings on their September 19 episode where Alden and Yaya Dub had their first
date, while It‟s Showtime only got 10.7% (Ching, 2015). Eat Bulaga‟s rating rose higher on their
September 26 episode where Alden visited Yaya Dub in the mansion to formally court her.
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According to AGB Nielsen, the episode garnered Eat Bulaga 45.7% ratings trampling It‟s
Showtime‟s Kapamilya Day which featured the top-rated artists of ABS-CBN with only 11.9%
among Mega Manila households. On a separate survey done by Kantar Media, Eat Bulaga got
30.8% while It‟s Showtime only got 22.5% ratings (Umbao, 2015).
To make things more exciting, the game doesn‟t simply end with the high ratings. Aldub
has conquered social media as well. The millions of fans avidly watching each episode of the
KalyeSerye have utilized social media to express their support and feelings towards the tandem.
Fans even make hashtag for AlDub episodes trend worldwide. Aldub‟s first date hashtag,
#AlDubMostAwaitedDate, trended worldwide with 12.5 million tweets while Alden‟s visit to the
mansion with #AlDubEBforLOVE also topped the trends with close to 26 million tweets
(Rappler, 2015). According to Twitter Asia pacific and Middle East Vice President Rishi Jaitly, it
was “global phenomenon” (as cited in Rappler, 2015).
In a news report on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho in GMA News TV, Professor
Gerald Abergos, a Sociologist/Pop Culture expert gave his insight, “Nakikita natin sa tambalang
ito „yung karakter na pino-portray nila, ay mga karakter na hinahanap ng mga manonood na
mga Pilipino” (GMA News and Public Affairs, 2015).
Clearly, AlDub has become a pop culture and is shaking the Philippine television and the
world of social media. This is not just a great feat for Eat Bulaga but also an evidence of
viewership acceptance and popularity of something new that was offered to them.
In a generation where the rapid advancement of technology causes the decline of the
traditional media including Television, Aldub emerged, and it “managed to stand at the cusp of a
huge digital revolution and succeed in finding an equilibrium between old and new media”
(Quimbo, 2015).
Aldub‟s success in both television ratings and netizens acceptance in social media could
be what Schramm is talking about in his Uses and Gratification Theory. The assumption of this
theory is that “individuals are active in making choices about selecting media and messages”
(Potter, 2012).
The audiences become active individuals the moment they chose to watch Eat Bulaga
for Aldub over its rival, It‟s Showtime. They have selected the message they would want to
accept, in this case, the story which promotes that love comes at the right time.
Katz (1979) who also expounded uses and gratification studies pointed that “the
audience selectivity is based on interest” (Severin & Tankard, 1988).
A self-confessed Aldub fan who works for one of the leading broadcasting networks in
the country chooses to stop whatever it is she is doing whenever Aldub hits the screen for
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KalyeSerye. Despite having means of accessing the episode through internet, she‟d rather
watch it live on TV, as she‟d put it, “iba yung feeling” (C. Tinaza, personal communication,
October 1, 2015).
A mother of two and a Sari-Sari Store owner and also an Aldub fan, admits that she is
willing to re-schedule going to the supermarket to re-stack her goods in the store for her to
watch Aldub. She even asks his son to stay in the store while she watches so there would be no
interruption (M. Dela Cruz, personal communication, October 4, 2015).
The Catholic Bishop‟s Conference of the Philippines even praised the KalyeSerye for
“supporting the noble cause of spreading virtue, values and morality that our nation deserves”
(CBCP, 2015).
It could be noticed that the fans described above are people of different types but are
willing to sacrifice something or do anything just for them to be able to watch Aldub. The
romantic and comedic elements of the KalyeSerye have touched the interest of the people,
regardless of their type.
Having these choices, they are active audiences. Considering the situation thoroughly, it
is ironic that individuals‟ power to choose media and messages also illustrates the influence of
media to them. Is it them affecting the media through their active participation or the media
shaping them through influence?
To gain enlightenment and further understanding, it seems important to note how GMA 7
represents the phenomenal AlDub. GMA 7, where Eat Bulaga is a block–timer, appears to
utilize the Aldub phenomenon whenever possible. Alden Richards is a talent of GMA 7 Artist
Center even before the whole Aldub phenomenon begun. The network is now making a re-run
of Alden‟s historical drama, Ilustrado, on GMA News TV, isn‟t it safe to assume that the network
is trying to sell it again? Alden also appears several times on various GMA programs since
Aldub has gained its popularity; entertainment programs and news and public affairs programs
likewise. The KalyeSerye also has its special segment on GMA‟s morning news, Unang Hirit,
and evening news, 24 Oras. These news programs recount what had happened during the
latest episode for the benefit of those who wasn‟t able to catch it. This is evident by just tuning in
to the Kapuso network.
This obvious take of GMA 7 on Aldub reminds the people that it is still business, the
work of a capitalist. This is where Culture Industry by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer
comes in. According to them mass society is manipulated through pop culture by standardizing
cultural goods such as films, radio programmes, magazines, etc. (Cram101 Textbook Reviews,
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2014). In this case, AlDub is a pop culture which may be used to gain profit due to its large
fanbase.
By presenting Alden to the public through most of the GMA programs, fans who can‟t get
enough of him would engage themselves to those programs. One great example would be the
replay of Alden Richards‟ story on GMA‟s Magpakailanman. It aired on September 12, 2015 and
got 30.3% ratings compared to its original airing date on March 9, 2013 which only got 25.9%.
The replay was also recorded as Magpakailanman‟s highest-rated episode for 2015 (Ching,
2015). In the game of ratings, it isn‟t new that the higher the ratings the more eager the
advertisers are in buying spots from a particular program. Higher program viewership is
translated to higher profit.
While it is good for GMA, which is now probably soaring high in terms of profit, and also
for Alden who finally had his break, and Yaya Dub who immediately rose to fame, Aldub has
become commoditized under monopolistic control. It is explained by Adorno in his argument that
this is:
a result of the capacity of those with power to control the production of cultural goods to
employ positivistic methods in an attempt to formulate a scientific measurement of
people‟s precise „tastes‟ and expectations, and in doing so increase profitability. (Klinger,
2012).
To further explore Adorno‟s argument, it is better to divulge some more how capitalists
commoditized Aldub, because as Adorno put it, culture industry is “motivated by profit” (as cited
in Walton, 2008). The love team started in July, and in just few months, they were able to close
deals with major brands in the country as endorsers.
Aldub is the newest endorser of McDonald‟s Corporation and TNT of PLDT. It is due to
their “huge popularity and their incredible ability to cut across demographics and social classes"
that they were chosen as McDonald‟s endorser, according to the fast food chain‟s Vice-
President for Marketing Margot Torres in the Philippines (as cited in Rappler, 2015). And they
weren‟t wrong, because upon the launch of the #ALDUBkoto TV commercial, their sales grew
more than 470% (adobomagazine, 2015). It was AlDub‟s popularity that influenced the sales.
TNT on the other hand, is expecting to exceed its target, according to Ramon Isberto,
the spokesperson of PLDT (Rappler, 2015). Yaya Dub has also become the endorser for 555
sardines and 0+ smartphone. This is what Adorno is talking about aligning the “cultural goods”
to people‟s tastes and expectations. The effect is crystal clear, high profit.
It is also important to take note that all of these commercials are dubsmash in format.
Dubsmash has already become a formula for Aldub when they are presented to the people.
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Their tandem has started to become standardized and Adorno pointed that, it will “pacify the
masses and in effect, they will conform to the system and resign themselves to these
conditions” (as cited in Walton, 2008).
Aldub could be deemed parallel to the early models of cultural analysis. Walton (2008)
visualized the basic steps of Adorno‟s argument against the product of culture industry through
the musical phenomenon of jazz. According to Adorno, when jazz begun, it possessed
originality but the moment it was commercialized it turned out to be predictable forms that
disempowers the musicians and fans alike (Walton, 2008).
In comparison, Aldub and the entirety of the KalyeSerye is being acclaimed for its
originality, something new and fresh in the realm of traditional media. With all the endorsements
and even an album for Alden Richards, it couldn‟t be denied that it is starting to get
commercialized. Referring to the Product Life Cycle (PLC) of marketing, that has four phases:
introduction, growth, maturity, and decline (Lacap, 2015), Aldub have passed the introductory
part given how well they were established at this point and by merely looking on how the
masses have come to accept Aldub both in TV and in social media. Aldub seems to be on their
second phase, growth. Alden (2015) confidently admits that the spark between him and Yaya
Dub would remain, “as long as we feel the magic inside us, every one of us po [and] all the
supporters of AlDub, this will continue” (as cited in Rodriguez, 2015).
Citing Adorno and Horkheimer, “every work of art is turned into a consumer product and
is shaped by logic of capitalist rationality” (as cited in The cultural reader, 2013). As long as the
Aldub tandem sells, they will remain a consumer product for the capitalists who earn profit out of
them. They have become widely accepted that the capitalists see their supporters as translation
to profit.
No matter how one looks at it, Aldub, has undeniably become a pop culture and have
reached every class in the society.

Wordcount: 2,081
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accidental-love-team-director
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Showtime gets low ratings even with Pastillas Girl; AlDub tandem conquers weekend

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