TV Patrol is still No. 1

TV Patrol, ABS-CBN’s flagship news program continues to dominate the evening primetime news block, topping ratings and audience shares locally. Fourteen years after it first debuted in 1987, the trailblazing program remains undefeated despite competing networks having thrown every format and programming strategy against it.

Evidence of TV Patrol’s sustained popularity is the latest ratings and audience share figures from AGB Philippines. In Metro Manila, for the period Aug. 12 to 18, TV Patrol got an average rating of 36.9 percent. Its closest news competitor, Saksi, received a 16.6 percent rating.

With the entry of TV Patrol’s main anchor Noli de Castro to the Senate, the program returned to the multiple-host, panel format it had during its initial debut. The program now has a formidable news team with anchors Korina Sanchez, Henry Omaga-Diaz and Aljo Bendijo. Viewers have since welcomed TV Patrol’s change in format, acknowledging the credibility and professionalism of the new anchors as evident in a recent study conducted nationwide by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) where all three received high net satisfaction ratings nationwide. Multi-awarded broadcast journalist Korina Sanchez, who stands as the lead anchor in the program, received a remarkable 81 percent net satisfaction rating among viewers.

TV Patrol also takes advantage of ABS-CBN’s resources nationwide with live satellite feeds from reporters in the network’s regional stations. Local TV Patrols in the various provinces such as TV Patrol Visayas and TV Patrol Davao have also proven to be successful with regional viewers. Even among audiences worldwide through ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel (TFC), TV Patrol is a perennial favorite among Filipinos abroad.

A spin-off from the Radyo Patrol of ABS-CBN Radio, TV Patrol also finds its home in DZMM 630 as it is aired simultaneously on the top-rating radio station.

TV Patrol broadcasts weekdays at 6 to 7 p.m. on ABS-CBN.