GMA vs. ABS-CBN vs. TV5: Why the 2025 Christmas Station IDs fail to captivate this year
Let’s just say it as it is: This year’s Christmas Station IDs are not as fun and festive as they used to be.
On the one hand, this lamentation feels misplaced. Why even expect a lot from these televisual identifiers? The relevance of these Christmas Station IDs stemmed from the fan-induced network wars between ABS-CBN and GMA from the 2000s until the late 2010s. Kapamilya and Kapuso fans used to argue endlessly, discussing—often not civilly—which network produced the best station ID that year.
But the network wars are no more. ABS-CBN now regularly collaborates with GMA and TV5. Since the Kapamilya network lost its broadcast franchise, it’s not uncommon to see ABS-CBN stars featured in Christmas Station IDs of other networks.
The lack of immediate competition has made the Christmas Station ID clawless, losing its grip on the pop culture zeitgeist.
On the other hand, it’s not hard to remember the time when these music video-esque productions meant something. Network press releases would say these station IDs are meant to uplift the Filipino spirits during the holiday season. Of course, this is corporate lip service. But the best of these productions actually managed to do that.
This year’s Christmas Station IDs are more of the same. Production-wise, they might even be better. They offer uplifting, catchy songs that encourage Filipinos to be thankful, hopeful, and happy as we celebrate yet another Christmas. They offer the usual parade of stars. They offer the now-common production placements.
Maybe it’s because of the current political and economic climate—a climate that gaslights us to believe P500 is enough for our Noche Buena shopping; one that asks us to deal with our elected officials’ lack of accountability over the huge infrastructure scandal that has seen politicians, lawmakers, and construction firm owners accused of corruption. But celebrating the holidays is a bit more difficult than usual this year.
Maybe it’s a reach to connect these issues with these (corporate-branded, communications team-approved) Christmas Station IDs. But just the same, the station IDs lack that joy we expect them to have.
Once unintentional cultural and political markers, these Christmas Station IDs are now empty. Though maybe that is the point.
Instead of just proclaiming which among the three Christmas Station IDs is this year’s best—a tradition PhilSTAR L!fe has been doing since its launch in 2020—we will try to answer a simple question: Why are the 2025 Christmas Station ID campaigns of content company ABS-CBN and television networks GMA and TV5 a failure this year?
Here’s our humble—and overwritten, much like the products we’re commenting on—assessment.
ABS-CBN's Love, Joy, Hope: Sabay Tayo Ngayong Pasko
Without a doubt, the Kapamilya network’s 2025 Christmas Station ID—titled Love, Joy, Hope: Sabay Tayo Ngayong Pasko—is a spectacle. Launched on Nov. 14, the campaign aims to make Filipinos feel the “real meaning of the holiday season.”
The video features non-celebrity “ambassadors of love, joy, hope” who have done good work for their communities.
There is much to say if we are to read the Station ID as a media product. For one, it’s interesting how Kathryn Bernardo—who didn’t have a major product this year apart from a judging stint in Pilipinas Got Talent but has an upcoming show with James Reid—opens the ABS-CBN Christmas Station ID this year. “Inimbitahan po naming kayo ngayon Pasko para alamin ang mga istorya ninyo,” the actress tells the so-called ambassadors. Is this ABS-CBN declaring that Kathryn remains to be its biggest marquee star?
The stories of these ambassadors are intertwined with footage of ABS-CBN stars doing what can only be described as holiday-esque activities of preparing gifts, sharing meals, going to mass, and promoting their programs and sponsors. And because this year’s station ID clocks at a whopping 24 minutes and six seconds, that’s a lot of footage. More time for the network to squeeze in its mighty roster of stars, to be sure.
One YouTube comment reads: “Sinampal na naman tayo ng ABS-CBN ng katotohanan na kahit ilang years na silang walang franchise, nananatili parin sa kanila 'yung mga artists nila mapa-big star man or hindi!”
But it also prompted viewers to ask online, both sincerely and sarcastically: “Sino dito ang tumapos ng video?”
And that’s one of the campaign’s biggest issues. At 24 minutes, Love, Joy, Hope: Sabay Tayo Ngayong Pasko packs in a lot of content. It showcases the stories of ambassadors while giving fans seconds-long footage of their favorite stars and Kapamilya celebrities.
That’s the thing: Since it became a local media tradition, the Christmas Station ID has just been a mere media product instead of thoughtfully merging skillful storytelling and popular star-driven content.
The production of the campaign—too long and too glossy to allow any message to stick to its audience—hinders the station ID from delivering thoughtful messaging. Or any sort of messaging, for that matter. The Christmas Station ID is now just content, a vessel for product placements, and a product that can be monetized on online platforms. And based on recent news, one cannot blame ABS-CBN for monetizing every aspect of its content—even if it sacrifices quality.
(A personal gripe is how, at 11 minutes, the Love, Joy, Hope song is produced not to be a song but a container to allow as many Kapamilya artists to sing a verse or two. This isn’t bad, per se; these things are mainly for fan service, so it is better to get as many artists to be part of it. But maybe the network can shake it up a bit by producing a Christmas song performed by maybe just a handful of artists. Maybe that will allow ABS-CBN to produce a cohesive and enjoyable song.)
Of course, without the overreading, it can be said that ABS-CBN’s 2025 holiday campaign isn’t so bad. There is room to reinvent to prevent the form from getting stale. But it is what it is, and sometimes you can’t ask anything more than that.
TV5’s Walang Patid ang Paskong Kapatid
The Kapatid network’s Christmas Station ID became the most interesting among the three released this year due to recent news that its TV Content Supply Agreement with ABS-CBN "may end."
TV5, for years, struggled to make any significant impact on television with its original shows. But a content agreement in 2022 allowed the Kapatid network to become a significant presence in the local media landscape. This gave TV5 popular content to air, while giving ABS-CBN a broadcast television platform. ABS-CBN shows FPJ’s Ang Batang Quiapo, Roja, and What Lies Beneath, and the weekly variety show ASAP are currently aired on TV5. ABS-CBN’s noontime show It’s Showtime aired on TV5 from 2022 to 2023.
If the two networks fail to meet an agreement, the content partnership will end in January 2026—putting the broadcast television fate of these ABS-CBN shows.
This context colors TV5’s Walang Patid ang Paskong Kapatid Christmas Station ID. The video features popular stars from Kapamilya shows and shows produced by/co-produced with Studio Viva. Perusing the comments section on YouTube will show that Rabin Angeles and Angela Muji from the teen drama Seducing Drake Palma, a TV adaptation of a popular Wattpad novel, are among the popular stars from the TV5-adjacent star staple.
This is huge, a sign that TV5—for the first time in years—is on its way to becoming a relevant television force. Does it mean the multi-network partnership model is not sustainable? It will be interesting to see how the end of its content agreement with ABS-CBN will shape TV5.
As for the actual Christmas Station ID: Apart from its parade of stars and celebrities, it feels empty and numbing, thanks to its overbearing product placements. And we don’t need nine minutes of product placements; we get enough from everywhere else already.
The surprising twist, however: The official lyric video version of the 2025 TV5 Christmas Station ID, seems fun—it's the most fun I’ve had watching these overly produced holiday videos, in fact. If we’re to judge all the Christmas Station ID content released this year, this may take the crown: simple, no overly produced visual representation of supposed Pinoy holiday values, no product placements, just these young stars vibing.
GMA’s Puno ng Puso ang Paskong Pinoy
GMA’s Puno ng Puso ang Paskong Pinoy Christmas Station ID elicits mixed feelings. Released Nov. 9 and clocking in at just two minutes, it’s safe to say that it’s one of the shortest Christmas Station IDs, if not the shortest ever.
According to the network, the Christmas Station ID features “seven Filipino values—mapagmahal sa pamilya, maabilidad, mapagmalasakit, makabayan, masayahin, malikhain, and maka-Diyos.” It adds: “This year's message goes beyond extravagance, to put the warmth of home and the love that connects us all at the heart of the campaign.”
While that’s all well and good, the station ID is just two minutes of—surprise, surprise—product placements.
A commenter said, defending the video: “This one's not so bad. But I'm glad it shows Filipino values!” But another said accurately laments: “A tribute to all kapuso at mga sponsor ang tema ng CSID ng GMA.”
Which brings us here. If there is a running theme among these Christmas Station IDs, it’s the fact that every media second has become an opportunity to sell something to its audience, a model that is arguably taken from its online content and online influencer counterparts. Everything is an opportunity to sell. And that has always been the case, but we’ve become so shameless about it that we don’t care to be artful with how we sell anymore.
But, again, can we blame traditional media for wanting to get those sweet, sweet content coins? To quote TV5’s statement about the end of its content agreement with ABS-CBN: "We need the funds." As we live in an age of P500 Noche Buena meals and multi-billion peso corruption allegations, who doesn’t need the funds?
