24 Oras Makes History as the First Philippine Newscast to Livestream Locally on TikTok

GMA Network’s flagship newscast 24 Oras makes history as the first Philippine newscast to livestream locally on video-sharing app TikTok beginning last October 11.

This comes on the heels of the highly successful launch of the multi-awarded newscast’s official TikTok account @24Oras last month. Its handle currently has 691,900 followers, 5.3 million likes, and 276.5 million views as of October 14.

Anchored by GMA News pillars Mel Tiangco, Mike Enriquez, and Vicky Morales, 24 Oras continues to deliver news and information to viewers and netizens on weeknights. Its weekend newscast, 24 Oras Weekend, is anchored by Pia Arcangel and Ivan Mayrina.

With the 24 Oras livestream on TikTok, GMA’s primetime newscast widens its reach to make news and information available to more people including the younger audience. At the same time, it aims to teach more netizens about media literacy—using one of today’s leading social media platforms in promoting factual reportage.

“By streaming 24 Oras on Tiktok, we hope to bring GMA News' Serbisyong Totoo to millennial and Gen Z viewers. Keeping them informed is even more important as we approach Eleksyon 2022, which represents another critical moment in our history,” said GMA Network Senior Vice President for News and Public Affairs Marissa L. Flores.

Last month, 24 Oras also launched its #24OrasChallenge on the app wherein netizens are invited to join their favorite Kapuso anchors in reporting the news by reading from a teleprompter. The said challenge continues to make waves among TikTok users with over 47.7 million views and more than 21,000 duets made with 25 published challenge videos as of October 14.

Some of the Kapuso personalities who gamely accepted the challenge include Public Affairs personalities Mariz Umali and Drew Arellano, reporters Joseph Morong, Oscar Oida, Victoria Tulad, and Aubrey Carampel, and GMA News pillar Jessica Soho—whose duet is still the most viral with 1.2 million views and 164,300 likes.

Other Kapuso celebrities who joined are Michael V, Carla Abellana, Rocco Nacino, Max Collins, and Brgy. LSFM DJs Papa Dudut, Mama Belle, Papa Marky, and Papa Bol. TikTok content creators Ms. Everything, Macoy Dubs, Ayn Bernos, and Show Suzuki also participated. The #24OrasChallenge also produced spiels in local dialects such as Hiligaynon, Bisaya, Bikolano, Cebuano, and Tagalog which featured GMA Regional TV anchors and personalities.

“Tiktok is fast becoming the platform of choice for younger viewers. With new innovations by our Digital teams, we want to keep them informed, engaged, and up to date with the news they need to know,” said Jaemark Tordecilla, GMA Network Senior Assistant Vice President for News and Public Affairs Digital Media.

Aside from TikTok, 24 Oras is also one of the most followed news accounts on Facebook and Twitter. At present, 24 Oras has 9.2 million followers on Facebook and 439,100 on Twitter.

On television, both 24 Oras and 24 Oras Weekend are broadcast simultaneously on GMA-7 and GTV.

Follow 24 Oras and 24 Oras Weekend on TikTok via @24Oras.