Philippines: Last News

Southeast Asia only added 7,000 net new SVOD subscriptions in the first half of 2023, a big slowdown from 7 million new subscribers in the second half of last year, according to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA). 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Short-form video platform TikTok enjoyed a huge increase in viewership in the first six months of the year in Southeast Asia, contributing to a sudden halt to the overall growth of premium (SVOD) video, according to a new report. Data from AMPD and analysis from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia show that TikTok is increasingly a major driver of viewership growth on mobile and web platforms in the region, responsible for over 70% of growth in streaming minutes over the past two years.

. Just one day after her family met David, her mother died the next morning unexpectedly.David traveled to the Philippines to meet his online girlfriend, Sheila. When he visited her home, he was heartbroken at the rundown conditions.

As expected, Warner Bros’ Barbie has now officially crossed the six-century mark globally with Friday’s figures included. The global cume is $637.5M through yesterday with the international box office repping $350.5M after a $30.1M Friday in 69 offshore markets. The Greta Gerwig-directed phenom should high-heel it past $700M through Sunday worldwide.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Award-winning scenic designer David Korins calls his work on Broadway’s newest sensation “Here Lies Love” the “most ambitious piece of theater I’ve ever done.” And that’s a high bar: Korins counts The Oscars, “Beetlejuice” and “Hamilton” among his credits. Set to throbbing beats from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, “Here Lies Love” centers on the Philippines’ controversial former First Lady, Imelda Marcos. The idea was to make the show as immersive as possible and turn a Midtown Manhattan theater into a disco ballroom.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines who became notorious for the way she used her position to fund a lavish lifestyle, will be at the center of a new limited series that is being developed by producer Lisa Saltzman. “Chasing Imelda” is inspired by journalist Katherine Ellison’s biography, “Imelda: Steel Butterfly of the Philippines.” The announcement comes in a moment of, I guess, rediscovery for Imelda. After all, Marcos is the central figure in a new Broadway musical “Here Lies Love” from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim (there’s just something about all those shoes).

Here Lies Love,” a stage musical created by David Byrne, is to let audiences know that the Broadway Theatre in Times Square is a disco. Or, at least, it has been transformed into a reasonable facsimile of one, with the audience on the floor standing, shifting and swaying, and occasionally even dancing, in an immersive experience the likes of which Broadway has rarely if ever seen.

The highly-anticipated new musical Here Lies Love has officially opened on Broadway!

Debutants Philippines shocked hosts New Zealand with a 1-0 victory to secure their first-ever Women World’s World Cup win on day six of the tournament.

a troubling and obsessive two-year online relationship, but of course, things are much more complicated than Brandan expected. On Monday's episode of, Brandan made it to the Philippines from Eugene, Oregon, but was put in an awkward situation due to Mary not fully telling him her family's strict expectations.Brandan's travel to the Philippines, which involved taking three different flights, already got off to a rocky start when Mary lashed out at him over sitting next to a girl on the plane — even though he had no control over who he sat by. Brandan switched seats in order to appease her and Mary told him to make sure that he doesn't talk to girls on his other flights.

, Sheila showed David her home for the first time and he also met her parents and son. David was not only stunned at the run-down conditions of Sheila's home, but him meeting her family was incredibly awkward given that he's deaf and they felt uncomfortable.Sheila, 31, and David, 42, connected online, and she is also deaf but uses a hearing aid and can speak. The two have had trouble communicating as she doesn't know much sign language and this is the only way he can communicate.

Here Lies Love (★★★★★) works so well. Patrons expecting the ambiance of a standard theater will be shocked to see the major transformation that has occurred at the Broadway Theater, which for 10 years was home to both the original production and revival of Miss Saigon.Gone are the plush crimson-red orchestra seats.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid deep concerns about the risks posed by artificial intelligence, the Biden administration has lined up commitments from seven tech companies — including OpenAI, Google and Meta — to abide by safety, security and trust principles in developing AI. Reps from seven “leading AI companies” — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — are scheduled to attend an event Friday at the White House to announce that the Biden-Harris administration has secured voluntary commitments from the companies to “help move toward safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology,” according to the White House.

Good Morning Britain was off air on Friday again due to a range of shake-ups to TV schedules across the BBC and ITV to make way for the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023. Instead of the usual instalment of the daily news show, coverage of the Philippines v Switzerland match was showing instead in the planned change to the running order.

Good Morning Britain fans were left baffled this morning after the ITV show was taken off air. Viewers who usually tune into the news programme from 6am every weekday were surprised to see the show removed from the usual schedule entirely on Friday (July 21).

Good Morning Britain will not air today in an ITV schedule shake-up, as the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 will be shown instead.This Morning and Lorraine will air as usual, after the former was absent from yesterday's schedule.The Women's World Cup will see the Filipino and Swedish teams go head to head, with the match airing from 6am until 8, where it will be followed by an episode of The Chase, before ITV's schedule returns to normal with Lorraine at 9am. It comes after regular host Susanna Reid paid her farewells to viewers as she left for her extended summer break.

Naveen Kumar Imelda Marcos demands to know, near the end of “Here Lies Love,” why we don’t love her. The unlikely belle of this propulsive and glittering ball, from musicians David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, is perched in the front mezzanine of the radically transformed Broadway Theatre, where the immersive musical opened on Thursday night. The answer to her question seems all too obvious.  In the world of “Here Lies Love” — a title that refers to the convicted former first lady’s desired epitaph — Marcos is addressing the Filipino people, over whom she ruled alongside president-turned-dictator Ferdinand Marcos until they were airlifted out of the country in 1986, after two decades of corruption, scandal and human rights abuses. 

Disco despotism isn’t exactly a new genre – Cabaret hinted the way, Evita made it clear, American Psycho, in its fashion, added a variation, all in service of social horrors offset by catchy tunes – but Here Lies Love, the rambunctious new immersive musical from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, pushes the concept to an extreme that likely won’t be matched until someone has the bright idea to transform Party Monster into The Michael Alig Musical.

's Edward «Big Ed» Brown and Liz Woods are back at it again with the relationship milestones!The popular couple is currently living together — once again — after their tumultuous split during last season's. In a since-deleted Instagram post shared by one of the couple's mutual friends, Ed holds the camera up to capture a selfie during the first party in their new space. In the selfie, which was also shared on Ed's account, the reality star holds the camera as a group of his friends and Liz pose in the background. In June, Ed and Liz put their love on display during a birthday celebration for Liz's 10-year-old daughter. Liz took to her Instagram Story to share a few pictures and give her man a shout-out, after he helped make her daughter's 10th birthday special.«Late post, but a moment to applaud this man.

An anti-Ted Cruz political action committee has released an ad trolling the Texas Republican senator for obsessing over what he claims are hidden messages in the Barbie movie rather than more pressing political issues.The “Lose Cruz” PAC’s ad mocks the senator’s obsession with culture-war issues — both real and imagined — by unveiling a collection of “Cruz-inspired Barbie dolls” mocking Cruz’s past actions, statements, or political positions.The three Cruz-inspired dolls featured in the video show an “Insurrection Barbie”, with included a “Stop the Steal” button and podium to speak from as you attempt to “destroy democracy,” a “MAGA Podcaster Barbie” to help “promote the MAGA agenda” — a nod to Cruz’s own political podcast — and a “Cancun Barbie,” referring to the time when Cruz left Texas to vacation in Cancun while millions of Texans were left without power and water following a historic winter storm.Cruz recently branded the Barbie movie as Chinese propaganda for a scene in the movie depicting a cartoonish map of the world, displaying a dashed line through the water surrounding the map’s crudely-drawn Asian continent. Some have argued that the line is meant to represent the so-called “nine-dash line,” which Chinese propagandists have drawn on maps in order to lay claim to disputed territory in the South China Sea that other nations say does not belong to China. The controversy over the imaginary map led Vietnam, which has an ongoing conflict with China over where their maritime borders begin and end, to ban the film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean TV series and films are increasing still further their hold on streaming audiences across East Asia. They accounted for half of viewing time in the first half of the year, according to new third-party research. Korean-made premium VOD content captured 50% of SVOD viewership and 42% of freemium viewership between January and June 2023, with a record 58 million VOD users tuning in nine East Asian territories (Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam), according to Singapore-based research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. The analysis is based on the measured media consumption activity of 40,000 Asia Pacific consumers, conducted by AMPD, the analysis firm’s sister company.