I am still on vacation but I couldn't resist writing this one. So how is the Pinoy teleserye Cautiva/Hanggang Makita Kang Muli faring in Peru? It has been battling the Turkish telenovela Elif which has been lording over its time slot since its opening last year (the Turk slugged it out with another teleserye La Promesa/Pangako Sa Yo earlier, preventing the latter from scoring more than 3.5 points, blunting the what-could-have-been Kathniel upsurge in Peru ). The other day, while Elif had 7.3 points, Cautiva had 4.6 points. Yesterday, Cautiva upped its score to 4.9, the highest score for a Pinoy teleserye, or Asian drama for that matter, in the Peruvian ratings chart. It is expected to go way past 5 points as its popularity gains.
This development has created an emergency situation to the other Asian being shown in Peru. The Koreans have been shown in Korea for nearly 15 years but they have been generally stuck at the bottom of the Peruvian charts, mainly getting 1-2 points rating except when the Pinoy teleseryes arrived & they were lifted slightly on the Pinoy's wake (2 kdramas were shown before the teleserye then). The first Pinoy teleserye, Bridges of Love/Puentes de amor, shot up way past that, up to 4.4, very high rating for an afternoon telenovela then in the Panamericana TV station of Peru. The kdrama preceding it broke through its usual ratings on the wake of the teleserye's surprise success (though as always, still lower than everybody showing telenovelas in Peru- lower than the Mexicans, Brazilians, Peruvians, Turkish, Greeks, Filipinos). So much so that when Puentes de amor ended, its timeslot of 5:30 pm was given to another kdrama, Mundos opuestos, that inherited its audience & became the highest-rating kdrama (though again, still low compared to everybody). But soon enough, the kdramas returned again to their usual 1-2 points in the bottom of the ratings chart. The return of another teleserye, La Promesa/Pangako Sa Yo, proved once again that a teleserye will always rate higher than the kdramas. When La Promesa ended , its timeslot again was given to another kdrama, Amor secreto, which managed to retain the audience for a few episodes until it dived again to the usual nook of the kdramas at the bottom of the ratings. The third teleserye to be shown, Cautiva, caused more sensation, & as the strategy of the Koreans to duplicate Mundos opuestos failed, the lackluster track record of the Koreans became more obvious and the Peruvian forums finally decided the Pinoys are performing better than the Koreans. Some were even openly commenting the Korean dramas be stopped altogether. Despite long years of being stuck at the bottom of the Peruvian charts, for whatever mysterious reasons, the Koreans were still being shown. And now they are being openly ridiculed. How will they cling on, as they have proven they would cling one way or the other just to pretend there is a Korean wave in areas which ignore them?
The blog has confirmed the so-called Korean wave outside East Asia is a propaganda fiction. The vast propaganda apparatus might be noisy in proclaiming the Koreans are very popular but the usual gauges used to detect audience acceptance proved they were practically ignored. The reality beyond the digital propaganda of questionable viewcounts and paid army of trolls is very much dismal. Their permanence at the bottom of the Peruvian ratings chart for nearly 15 years was probably first confirmed publicly in this blog (we also confirmed it in Indonesia & lots of other places). The reason they were being shown in Peru is certainly not due to audience acceptance, they were practically ignored. So why were they still being shown after that long-standing unpopularity?
The tenacity to remain in Peru & everywhere else is simply amazing. But disquieting, because there lies the dark clouds. The blog also confirmed the forces behind the Koreans are not above sabotaging their competition, especially the Pinoys. This blog has annotated the series of sabotage done on Pinoy stars way back 2 years ago in the Sabotage series (read it below the banner or click Tales of SABOTAGE at the sidebar). The initial sabotage was on the surprise resurgence of Pinoy stars in the Spanish-speaking pirate sites. We discovered these pirate sites were actually designed to promote the Korean wave, using the pretense of promoting Asian artists. But when other Asian artists get hotter than the Korean artists, they were immediately cut down so as not to outstage the Koreans. The Pinoys were pointedly sabotaged in Spanish-speaking sites because the Pinoys were naturals with a Spanish or a Latin American audience. As being proved in Peru right now.
Could the initial sabotage on the Jadine loveteam when the film Diary ng Panget became big in the Spanish-speaking pirate sites in 2014 (read Sabotage #2) be a portent? The first sabotage was apparently designed to blunt the connection of a target audience to a competition which has a cultural, & even physical, connection to such an audience. Now that connection was made in the real world, far from the dark fringes of the pirate world. Worse, they are being humiliated in the real world. What is the next move of the Koreans? If they have proven to tenaciously cling no matter how unpopular they were, will they be willing to stay under the shadows of the now more popular Pinoys?
Interesting times ahead in Peru.
