How digital news channels covered the 2022 Philippine General Elections for Gen Z voters
With more and more Filipinos getting their news through digital channels and mobile phones, local and international news media channels stepped up how they deliver the latest and most up-to-date election news through various online channels during the 2022 Philippine General Elections.
Major news outlets including ABS-CBN, GMA, TV5, and CNN, among others, provided special election coverage online and on microsites to help keep track of election returns, providing real-time leaderboards and infographics echoing figures provided by the Commission on Elections.
Media outlets also made use of flashy CGI visuals in broadcast coverage, delivered election-related news via livestreaming channels, and made use of modern social media platforms to reach first-time Gen Z voters.
Aside from the traditional broadcast, radio and print media coverage, here's a look at some examples of the digital campaigns and tech advancements for the 2022 Philippine General Elections.
GMA News Online: Eleksyon 2022
On air, GMA and GTV brought marathon coverage of the elections starting at 4:00 a.m. on May 9 and until noon of May 10, with results to be shown until official counts are over.
GMA News Online (GNO), the official news portal of GMA Network, brought the biggest Eleksyon 2022 coverage online with digital campaigns and voter educaiton campaings powered by the GMA New Media, Inc. (GMA NMI). GMA News made use of flashy computer graphics in their reporting to demonstrate the voting process.
To bring voters’ education to Gen Z audiences, GNO also created the Eleksyon 2022 quiz filter, the first augmented reality (AR) quiz filter produced in partnership with GMA NMI.
According to GMA, since it launched last March, the #eLeksyon2022 quiz filter has reached over 69,500 organic Facebook and Instagram users.
Kapuso personalities led by Jessica Soho, Vicky Morales, Howie Severino, Atom Araullo, Kara David, Kuya Kim Atienza, and Pia Arcangel tried the #eLeksyon2022quiz filter.
Kapuso stars like Rhian Ramos, Andrea Torres, Bianca Umali, Ken Chan, and Rita Daniela also joined the challenge.
Last April, GMA also launched the #DapatTotooDanceChallenge on TikTok where influencers and dancers published their dance challenge entries.
@unanghirit #DapatTotoo kung ika’y boboto! 😉 #UnangHirit #NewsPH #DapatTotooDanceChallenge #EleksyonSerye #SocialNewsPH ♬ DapatTotooDanceChallenge - GMA Public Affairs
For elections results, GNO’s Eleksyon 2022 microsite used Smart Search, a technology developed by GMA NMI that allows users to find results for a specific candidate complete with tallies and heatmaps.
The Eleksyon 2022 site also features a cartogram, which displays where votes for a specific candidate are coming from.
View GNO's Eleksyon 2022 website here: https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/eleksyon2022/
ABS-CBN News: Halalan 2022
Back in 2010, both GMA and ABS-CBN used augmented reality for their coverage of the first fully automated elections in the country.
ABS-CBN said it used a technology called "virtual presence," while GMA 7 claimed it employed the use of a "hologram."
This year, ABS-CBN focused their news reports online, livestreaming on the most subscribed Filipino news channel on YouTube with 13.6 million subscribers and over nine billion views, as well as on news.abs-cbn.com, one of the world’s top publishers on Facebook for March 2022, according to social media analytics platform NewsWhip.
Halalan 2022: The ABS-CBN News Special Coverage streamed on the ABS-CBN News YouTube channel starting at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, May 9 until 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 10.
ABS-CBN News’ coverage was also streamed simultaneously on other digital platforms such as the ABS-CBN News Facebook page and TikTok account (@abscbnnews). It was also made available on A2Z, Kapamilya Channel, and Kapamilya Online Live on Facebook and YouTube, except during the timeslot of “It’s Showtime.”
@abscbnnews TROLLS EXPOSED #abscbnnews #tiktoknews #newsph #SocialNewsPH ♬ News23 News / Incident / Suspense(900450) - Kei
Filipinos can also monitor and keep track of the count after the polls on the ABS-CBN News’ election results site which went live on May 9. The microsite includes the voter turnout and an interactive Election Results heat map to show the breakdown of votes.
View the special elections website and real-time results on https://halalanresults.abs-cbn.com/
News TV5: Bilang Pilipino 2022
To help with election coverage, PLDT and Kapatid broadcast network TV5 signed an agreement to enable the media broadcasting network’s comprehensive delivery of its election coverage campaign #BilangPilipino2022.
News5 provided comprehensive and detailed non-stop news updates through their special #BilangPilipino2022 election coverage on socila media.
The 2022 Presidential Elections was echoed across all of TV5’s media platforms: TV5, One PH, Radyo5 and News5’s YouTube and Facebook accounts.
Their election microsite also showed 2022 partial and unofficial results in real time, with separate tabs and sections on candidate profiles.
View the site here: https://news.tv5.com.ph/bilangpilipino
CNN: The Filipino Votes
CNN Philippines launched a special section on their website "The Filipino Votes" focused on Election Day 2022.
The news organization also aired broadcast coverage on Free and Cable TV channels as well as YouTube and Facebook, with other election related news and tips echoed in their TikTok account.
@cnnphilippines Pinky Webb has some reminders for election day 🗳 #TheFilipinoVotes #electionday #election2022philippines🇵🇭 #fyp ♬ DJ Wait a Minute - DJ Exe
CNN's microsite also provides the 2022 Partial Elections Unofficial Tally for national, local, and party-list positions. Users can view an interactive map that shows the rank of the candidates per district. View CNN's Elections 2022 website here: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/thefilipinovotes2022/results/
