SPARKLING DIAMOND

Anchored on faith and her father's guidance, Annette Gozon Valdes reflects on the evolution of the media industry, the end of network wars and the critical factors behind GMA Network's 75 meaningful years

- Maritess Garcia Reyes

When her father Felipe Gozon took the helm at GMA Network in 2000, his dream was to make it the country's number one broadcasting network, both in terms of ratings and revenue-an aspiration Annette Gozon Valdes wholeheartedly shared since she joined the company in the same year. "At the time my dad took over, GMA was a strong number two but was quite far from being number one," says Valdes, who has followed in her father's footsteps and is currently GMA Network's senior vice president for programming, talent management, worldwide and support group and president of GMA Films. "That dream has come true, in all humility and with God's grace."

Under her father's leadership, Valdes recalls being a solid second best was no longer an acceptable position for GMA. This meant dropping the strategy the company has been using: counterprogramming. "Where ABS-CBN was winning in the ratings and revenue for their teleseryes, counterprogramming meant GMA opting not to meet their programming head-on and just show anime titles," Valdes tells Tatler.

Valdes had just joined her father's company as a programming consultant at that time. They then started developing soap operas, a proven effective strategy as the network began to gain some ground in ratings, albeit still unsuccessful in eclipsing ABS-CBN's teleseryes.