Communication and journalism students flocked to St. Scholastica’s College recently for the fourth Pinoy Media Congress (PMC), where media professionals led by ABS-CBN executives, academicians, and students discussed current issues and trends in media and communications.
“You may not realize it, but the youth market is a baffling and challenging public to capture, whether we are selling our TV and radio programs, our movies, our magazines, our interactive products, or our international offerings,” ABS-CBN president Charo Santos-Concio told the delegates at the opening of the two-day event.
ABS-CBN head of corporate communications Bong Osorio pointed out that like media, audiences are very dynamic. “It is important to us as the biggest broadcasting network to hear their voices especially that of the youth which nowadays is very proactive and very critical on what they see on television.”
The event provided the students a venue to air their views on current TV offerings. Delegates representing different schools nationwide participated in a panel discussion where they talked about the media habits of today’s young generation. Most of them say they have shifted to Internet as the new medium offers them to do many things in one sitting — communicate, watch videos, listen to music, and search for information on-line for their academic requirements.
In her speech, ABS-CBN head of TV productions Cory Vidanes referred to the youth sector as the most elusive and hard-to-please market today with the emergence of news trends and technologies.
Vidanes also explained to the students how the Kapamilya network is sensitive to viewers’ feedback as they continuously come up with a program mix that will cater to the needs and wants of the Filipino households.
Head of research and business analysis Vivian Tin emphasized the need to offer a variety of programs since surveys showed that every household in the Philippines has an average of only one television set. She used the network’s current primetime grid as an example on how the shows cater to each member of the family.
Discussions on programming also shed some light on the news and current affairs genre. ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs head Maria Ressa encouraged students to watch documentary programs.
Pinoy Dream Academy scholars Miguel Mendoza, Liezl Garcia, Bugoy Drilon and Laarni Lozada graced the event.