AlDub is a Philippine supercouple which first appeared in the

Kalyeserye ''Kalyeserye'' is a soap opera parody segment that was aired live on the Filipino noontime variety show ''Eat Bulaga!'' on GMA Network. The mini-show, as it has evolved, focused on AlDub, the fictional couple pairing — or "love team" as it i ...

portion of the "Juan for All, All for Juan" segment of the variety show ''

Eat Bulaga! ''Eat Bulaga!'' (), formerly ''Eat... Bulaga!'', is a noontime Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Produced by TAPE Inc., it is the longest running variety show in the Philippines with over 13,000 episodes. Originally ...

'' They were also called as the "phenomenal love team" due to their rise in popularity after they were accidentally paired on the July 16, 2015 episode of the Problem Solving portion of "Juan for All, All for Juan" which later became the first episode of Kalyeserye. AlDub was derived from a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsAlden Richards Richard Reyes Faulkerson Jr. (born January 2, 1992), known professionally as Alden Richards, is an award-winning Filipino actor, singer, host, and entrepreneur. He is dubbed as "The Asia's Multimedia Star" after receiving the Asian Star Pri ...

, who portrays a fictionalized version of himself, and

Yaya Dub Yaya Dub is a fictional character in the ''Kalyeserye'' portion of the "Juan for All, All for Juan" segment of ''Eat Bulaga!'' played by Maine Mendoza. Yaya Dub who first appeared in the Problem Solving portion of "Juan for All, All for Juan" on ...

(Divina Ursula Bokbokova Smash, a playful reverse-acronym of

Dubsmash Dubsmash was an American video sharing social media service application for iOS and Android. Founded in Germany by Jonas Drüppel, Roland Grenke, and Daniel Taschik, the company relocated from Germany to Brooklyn in 2016. On December 13, 2020 ...

), portrayed by

Queen

personality Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, m ...

and socialite actress

Maine Mendoza Nicomaine Dei Capili Mendoza (born March 3, 1995), better known as Maine Mendoza (), is a Filipino actress and television personality. She is best known for her viral Dubsmash videos and her role as Yaya Dub in the noontime reality show ''Ea ...

, who initially does not talk and interacts through lip-syncing. Both joining the program's cast in 2015, Richards first appeared as a host of

segments, such as the "

That's My Bae That's My Bae (also known as EB Baes, TMB or Trops) is a Filipino dance group formed in the '' That's My Bae: "Twerk It" Dance Contest'' segment of the noontime variety show ''Eat Bulaga!'', and officially debuted on August 24, 2015 and officially ...

" portion; while Mendoza originally appeared as Yaya Dub in the show's portion "Problem Solving". During the first few months of

, they exclusively interacted through the show's

split screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing) Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into adjacent (and possibly overlapping) parts, typically as two or four rectangular ...

frame, the AlDub couple's main communication is through

lip syncing Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...

audio clips from popular songs, films and TV series. After they personally met in September 2015 and Yaya Dub was later allowed to speak, the couple's interaction is no longer limited to split screen and lip-syncing. Outside

, they're still referred to as AlDub even if they are no longer portraying their

characters. They have been product endorsers and have appeared in films, notably '' My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore'' and their very first solo film ''

Imagine You and Me ''Imagine You and Me'' (stylized as ''Imagine You & Me'') is a 2016 Philippine romantic comedy film directed by Mike Tuviera starring Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza under APT Entertainment, GMA Pictures, and M–Zet TV Production, Inc. The fi ...

''. In 2017, AlDub starred in the romantic comedy teleserye '' Destined to Be Yours'', which aired from February 27, 2017, until May 26, 2017.

Background

A 30-minute to 1-hour

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

parody entitled

(literally translated as "street series") was created within the "Juan for All, All for Juan"s segment for the tandem, featuring live improv acting from the AlDub supercouple and its additional characters–Filipino comedians

Wally Bayola Walter James Bayola (born May 3, 1972), popularly known as Wally Bayola, is a Filipino comedian and actor. He is best known for portraying Lola Nidora (sometimes Duhrizz, Rihanna and Doktora the Explorer) in the ''Kalyeserye'' portion of the no ...

(primarily as Lola Nidora),

Jose Manalo Ariel Pagtalonia Manalo (born February 12, 1966), known professionally as Jose Manalo, is a Filipino actor, director, and comedian best known for appearing regularly on the noon-time variety show ''Eat Bulaga!'' on GMA Network. He is also known ...

(primarily as Lola Tinidora), and Paolo Ballesteros (primarily as Lola Tidora) as various characters. The segment proved to be a success in both broadcast television and social media, resulting in a significant increase of viewership and popularity of ''Eat Bulaga!''. In addition, it has also contributed to the careers of Richards and Mendoza. As of late, different media outlets had hailed AlDub as a "social media phenomenon" following its success in trending everyday on Twitter and other social media platforms. Record-breaking tweets correlate to a pivotal episode of Kalyeserye, mostly about AlDub's continuing romance. Such is the case on September 5, 2015, as the couple finally saw each other for the first time after their respective performances in the Bulaga Pa More! Dabarkads Edition wildcard round. Subsequent meetings for the pair happened in the weeks that followed, advancing the storyline of Kalyeserye. On September 26, 2015, they first reached record-breaking tweets on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

for #ALDubEBforLOVE with 25.6 million tweets in just a day, breaking their own record of 12.1 million tweets within 24 hours for #ALDUBMostAwaitedDate on September 19, 2015. On October 24, 2015, the couple finally got to meet properly without hindrances through ''Eat Bulaga!''s grand

benefit concert A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate hu ...

at the

Philippine Arena The Philippine Arena is the world's largest indoor arena. It is a multipurpose indoor arena with a maximum seating capacity of 55,000 at Ciudad de Victoria, a 140-hectare tourism enterprise zone in Bocaue and Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippin ...

dubbed as "''Sa Tamang Panahon''" ("At the Right Time"). The concert was part of the show's 36th anniversary and held as a celebration to ''Eat Bulaga!'' and a tribute to the fans of AlDub. Proceeds were used to fund libraries for certain schools across the Philippines. That day, the hashtag ''#ALDubEBTamangPanahon'' reached over 41 million tweets within 24 hours (which is now the global record for the most number of tweets within 24 hours), beating the record of the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

semi-final match between Brazil and Germany, which consists of 37.6 million tweets within 24 hours. Rishi Jaitly, one of the executives of Twitter said that the tweets were "real, fresh and organic." Apart of social media records, the concert also recorded a live audience of 55,000 people and set another record after tickets for the event sold out in less than 3 days.

Beginnings

In 2015, Alden Richards, who had finished filming the miniseries ''

Ilustrado The Ilustrados (, "erudite", "learned" or "enlightened ones") constituted the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. Elsewhere in New Spain (of which the Philippines were part), the term ''gente de ...

'' (2014), was invited to join ''Eat Bulaga!'' as a host for a month-long trial period, hosting various segments such as "Pak Na Pak" and later, "That's My Bae" with Indian-Filipino radio disc jockey Sam YG. A month later, Maine Mendoza, who had initially gained popularity for posting

videos in various social media platforms, auditioned for the program after catching the attention of its producers. Mendoza officially entered showbiz on July 4, 2015. She recalled that she was originally cast as a lawyer for ''Eat Bulaga!''s "Juan for All, All for Juan" segment but was ultimately cast as Yaya Dub (Divina Ursula Bokbokova Smash), a

personal assistant A personal assistant, also referred to as personal aide (PA) or personal secretary (PS), is a job title describing a person who assists a specific person with their daily business or personal task,. it is a sub-specialty of secretarial duties ...

(although the Filipino term Yaya translate to

nanny A nanny is a person who provides child care. Typically, this care is given within the children's family setting. Throughout history, nannies were usually servants in large households and reported directly to the lady of the house. Today, modern ...

) for comedian 's Lola Nidora character. Utilizing her Dubsmash popularity, Mendoza only communicates in the series through vocal dubbing and was initially portrayed as the snobbish Yaya Dub. On the show's July 16, 2015 episode, Yaya Dub broke character when she was caught being '' kilig'' (a Tagalog word roughly translated in English as "feeling giddy" or much closer with the idiom "tickled pink") seeing Richards on the show's live

, prompting ''Eat Bulaga''s producers to make an onscreen couple of the two. On October 1, 2015, their first duet happened when Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards sang " Wish I May", a song by the latter, and "

God Gave Me You "God Gave Me You" is a song written and originally recorded by American contemporary Christian music singer Dave Barnes. It was released in January 2010 as the lead single from the album, '' What We Want, What We Get''. History Barnes wrote the ...

", a hit song by

Bryan White Bryan Shelton White (born February 17, 1974) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's '' Between Now ...

. Mike Tuviera, a resident director for the show, revealed that the tandem was made by accident. The name "AlDub" was conceived as a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words And despite being featured in the show, the couple did not meet with each other for the first few weeks of the segment and only interacted through the show's split-screen frame and conversing in dubbed

audio samples In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sounds or entire bars of music, and may be layered, equalized, sped up or ...

of popular songs and lines from popular films and TV series as well as through handwritten messages shown on screen.

Kalyeserye

Due to the audiences' positive reception to the AlDub pairing, ''Eat Bulaga!''s producers decided to make a 30-minute

parody in its "Juan For All, All for Juan" segment for the tandem. Pegged as a "Kalyeserye" (Filipino for "street series"), it was described as a parody of

Philippine television drama Philippine television drama, also known as ''teleserye'', Filipino telenovelas or P-drama, is a form of melodramatic, serialized, televised fiction in the Philippines. ''Teleserye'' is derived from two Filipino words: "tele", short for "''telebi ...

s performed by improv acting, which was broadcast live from a

barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolita ...

street featured in the "Juan for All, All for Juan" set. Poochie Rivera, one of the program's directors, described it as "natural and unscripted", saying that "Nothing is rehearsed. We are trying to maintain the spontaneity because that is a big part of its charm.". Starring the AlDub love team, the Kalyeserye also features

(as Frankie Arinolli, Tinidora and his various characters),

(as Lola Nidora and his various characters), Paolo Ballesteros (as Tidora and his various characters) and other casts and characters. Some of the

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

s and storylines throughout the parody include the " Pabebe Wave" (a deviation of a beauty queen wave gesture) between Alden and Yaya Dub, Lola Nidora lobbying for a pairing between Yaya Dub and Frankie (using the portmanteau "YaKie"), and the incompetence of the numerous Rogelios, Lola Nidora's bodyguards. The Kalyeserye's main storyline is the

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

-like forbidden courtship between the AlDub tandem, with its paramount goal being the first physical meeting between the two, a move continually opposed by Lola Nidora.

"Tamang Panahon"

On the October 24, 2015 episode of ''Eat Bulaga!'', approximately 55,000 people gathered at the

for a

that highlighted the love team of

and

Alden Richards Richard Reyes Faulkerson Jr. (born January 2, 1992), known professionally as Alden Richards, is an award-winning Filipino actor, singer, host, and entrepreneur. He is dubbed as "The Asia's Multimedia Star" after receiving the Asian Star Pri ...

. One hundred percent of ticket sales (Php 14 million) was allotted for the AlDub Library Outreach Project. With 41 million in total tweets within 24 hours (39.4 million in 24 hours on October 24 with remaining tweets from the following day considered as counted by Twitter itself), #ALDubEBTamangPanahon, the official hashtag of the event, broke their own Twitter record as well as breaking the global record for the most number of tweets within 24 hours previously held by the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final match between Brazil and Germany (which only gained 37.6 million tweets). Once again their television rating soared, this time beating the level of the Manny Pacquiao fights, posting a stunning 50.8 percent in Mega Manila and 40.1 percent nationwide. And this is the only time where Eat Bulaga (if not the only TV show) broadcast the show live and commercial-free.

Films

Beyond Kalyeserye, the AlDub love team has appeared in two films portraying different characters separate from their roles in Kalyeserye.

''My Bebe Love''

Their first full-length movie entitled ''My Bebe Love'', entered into the

2015 Metro Manila Film Festival The 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is the 41st edition of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival held in Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines. It organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA, a government agency. ...

was the top grosser with an opening-day gross of 60.5 million Philippine pesos. By day 5 it had grossed some 214 million pesos On the 10th day of 41st MMFF, the movie had earned P322 million pesos. The total gross of the movie is 385 million pesos. At the Metro Manila Film Festival awards night, Maine Mendoza won the title of Best Supporting actress.

''Imagine You and Me''

On July 13, 2016, three days before the anniversary of AlDub, ''Imagine You and Me'' was shown in cinemas worldwide as an anniversary gift to the fans of AlDub. In the film, Richards and Mendoza played as star-crossed lovers with the opposite view of love. A great majority of the film was shot in Italy and the

Cinema Evaluation Board of the Philippines The Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) is a body of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, tasked with grading Filipino films by quality. It is represented in the Philippine Film Export Services Office. The CEB was established in 2003, succ ...

gave a B grade. The film grossed over PHP21.5 million on its first day making it the highest-grossing opening day in 2016 to date.

''Love is...''

On October 21, 2017, the AlDub love team starred in ''

Eat Bulaga ''Eat Bulaga!'' (), formerly ''Eat... Bulaga!'', is a noontime Philippine television variety show broadcast by GMA Network. Produced by TAPE Inc., it is the longest running variety show in the Philippines with over 13,000 episodes. Originally ...

!''s "film made for television" titled ''Love is...'', directed by Adolf Alix, Jr. "The first ever telemovie that will redefine love, promise, and commitment. The story that will tell us what ‘love is.’"

Reception

The AlDub couple became an overnight phenomenon on both television and social media. The pivotal meeting episode between the AlDub tandem on August 8, 2015 scored a 32% percent rating and a 300% increase in viewership for ''Eat Bulaga!'' in the Mega Manila Region, according to the Nielsen ratings conducted by

AGB Nielsen Philippines AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines, commonly called AGB Nielsen, is a market research firm in the Philippines specializing in broadcast media. AGB Nielsen conducts audience measurement of television ratings for certain areas in the Philipp ...

. On a weekly survey by Kantar Media Philippines, the tandem was cited in helping the program to become a number one daytime program for weeks. According to AGB Nielsen's research, ''Eat Bulaga!''s August 12, 2015 episode marked an all-time high in viewership for the year with a 36.1% rating, in the Mega Manila Region, which was mainly alluded to the tandem's near-meeting. Rivera also theorized that the coupling's successful response from audiences was because of the Filipinos who can relate with their predicament. He remarked "People who have partners who work abroad often communicate and pursue their relationship online, through

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, deb ...

FaceTime FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple Inc. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-faci ...

Pauleen Luna Marie Pauleen Luna Sotto (born Marie Pauleen Javier Luna; born November 10, 1988) is a Filipino actress and television personality. She appears on GMA Network, particularly as one of the regular hosts of the long-running Philippine variety sh ...

, a cast member of ''Eat Bulaga!'', commented that AlDub "has brought a different kind of energy to the show." Anna Leah Sarabia, a Filipino anthropologist, cited the "Kalyeserye"'s use of fairy tale and soap opera's tropes helped in tandem's increasing popularity, saying that "It’s a 'Cinderella' story that's fake and true-life at the same time." Filipino television executive Malou Choa-Fagar also cited the unpredictable nature of the Kalyeserye had largely contributed to the AlDub success. In social media site

, hashtags with AlDub became top trending topics in both the Philippine and Worldwide trends. Various outlets also lauded the show's use of old and new media for the AlDub tandem, which also pulsated in raising the value of the Dubsmash app in the Philippines. The popularity of the tandem even reached some schools and became a topic discussed in classrooms; for instance in a

University of the Philippines Diliman , image = University of The Philippines seal.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = Official Logo of UP Diliman , motto = Honor and Excellence , established = February 12, 194 ...

Filipino class. Several Filipino politicians also referenced the AlDub couple in various interviews:

Ralph Recto Ralph Gonzalez Recto (; born January 11, 1964) is a Filipino politician, who, since 2022, is serving as the representative for Batangas' 6th district and is one of the House Deputy Speakers. He previously served three terms in the Senate: fr ...

cited the tandem as a symbolism regarding the Philippine

Land Transportation Office The Land Transportation Office ( fil, Tanggapan ng Transportasyong-Lupa; LTO) is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Transportation responsible for all land transportation in the Philippines. Functions of the LTO inc ...

license plates, while Mar Roxas also referenced AlDub in his

2016 presidential campaign This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

. The success of the AlDub tandem also contributed to the careers of Richards and Mendoza. The AlDub's success has helped Richards secure a four-year film contract with

APT Entertainment APT Entertainment, Inc. is a television and film production company in the Philippines. History APT Entertainment, Inc. is a subsidiary of TAPE Inc., and the producer of the longest-running noontime variety show, ''Eat Bulaga!''. APT stands ...

and a recording deal with

GMA Records GMA Music (formerly known as Infiniti Music and GMA Records) is a subsidiary of GMA Network Inc. and is engaged in the production, marketing and distribution of music and concerts. GMA Music is a member of PARI and has the distinction of havin ...

, while the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

teams

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (formerly, La Tondeña Distillers ...

Mahindra Enforcers The Terrafirma Dyip is a professional basketball team playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The team is owned by Terrafirma Realty Development Corporation and originally played under its affiliate company Columbian Autocar Cor ...

and Talk N' Text Tropang Texters was also reported to have been considering inviting Mendoza as their muse for the

2015–16 PBA season The 2015–16 PBA season was the 41st season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The league continued to use the three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup. The Commissioner's Cup and the Governors' Cup were the second and ...

but she turned down. Mendoza and Richards also appeared in separate profile interviews regarding the AlDub's success on the television program ''

Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho ''Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho'' (International title: ''One at Heart, Jessica Soho'' / ) also known as ''KMJS'', is a Philippine television news magazine show broadcast by GMA Network. Hosted by Jessica Soho, it premiered on November 7, 2004 on th ...

'', Richards also had an episode of his life story on

Magpakailanman ''Magpakailanman'' ( en, Forevermore) is a Philippine television drama anthology show broadcast by GMA Network. Hosted by Mel Tiangco, it premiered on December 2, 2002. The show concluded on December 27, 2007. It was replaced by the '' E.S.P.'' ...

. Tuviera also revealed in an interview about a possibility of making 2015 feature film starring the AlDub couple. Another report also confirmed that Richards and Mendoza will be part of

41st Metro Manila Film Festival The 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is the 41st edition of the annual Metro Manila Film Festival held in Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines. It organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA, a government agenc ...

entry ''

My Bebe Love ''My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore'' () is a 2015 Filipino romantic comedy film directed by Jose Javier Reyes, starring Ai-Ai delas Alas and Vic Sotto with Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza. It is an official entry to the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festiva ...

'' starring

Vic Sotto Marvic Valentin Castelo Sotto (; born April 28, 1954), professionally known as Vic Sotto, is a Filipino actor, singer and comedian known far and wide for his various television and film projects on the major Philippine television networks GMA ...

and

Ai Ai delas Alas Martina Eileen Hernandez delas Alas-Sibayan (born November 11, 1964), known professionally as Ai-Ai delas Alas, is a Filipino actress and comedian. She is widely regarded as the country's "Queen of Comedy" for her comedic talent and best know ...

. It also started taping two commercials, for Talk N' Text and McDonald's, they were also awarded the Most Popular Breakout Love Team of the Year, in the recently concluded EdukCircle Awards. AlDub tandem had granted the request, that they will not endorse any politicians running for the 2016 presidential election in which senator

Tito Sotto Vicente Castelo Sotto III (; born August 24, 1948), professionally known as Tito Sotto, is a Filipino politician, entertainer and athlete who served as Senate President from 2018 to 2022. Before that, had two stints each as Senate Majority Le ...

, one of the main hosts said as per advice from the Eat Bulaga's management. The two also scored magazine covers due to insistent public demands. The two were featured on ''YES!'' Magazine's November 2015 issue and for Preview magazine, Maine on Meg, and Alden for Megaman. The Tres Lolas (JoWaPao) were also featured in another celebrity magazine for the same month.

Social media

From 3.5 million tweets in 24 hours, the AlDub Twitter following grew exponentially, it doubled to 6 million plus on September 5, 2015, doubling further to 12 million on September 19, 2015, and On September 26, 2015, they have reached the highest tweets in

for #ALDubEBforLOVE with 25.6 million tweets in just a day, breaking their own record of 12.1 million tweets within 24 hours for #ALDUBMostAwaitedDate on September 19. Both episodes of the Kalyeserye marked special milestones for the relationship of the AlDub supercouple. They even surpassed the 25.6 million tweets when the two have their #ALDubEBTamangPanahon in the Philippine Arena last October 24, 2015 with a whooping 41 million tweets. Their television rating also went over the roof going to the level of the

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...

fights posting a high 45.7 percent in

Mega Manila Mega Manila is a megalopolis on the island of Luzon, Philippines. There are varying definitions of the megalopolis, but it is generally seen as encompassing the administrative regions of Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and Metro Manila. On some o ...

, while Philippine wide rating was at 30.8 percent. Rishi Jaitly, Twitter's Vice President of Media, Asia Pacific and Middle East, said that AlDub is a global phenomenon. He initially thought that tweets were not authentic but after internally checking it, he concluded that phenomenon is real and not a sideshow. AlDub has gained the global record for the most tweeter feed in 24 hours. Some sectors has referred to the phenomenon as an example of a black swan event.

The "AlDub Nation" fandom

Fans of AlDub are commonly referred to as "AlDub Nation", tagging the word

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

as it was able to capture three large audiences: overseas workers, people who are often at home (Team Bahay, as they are called), and millennials. These captive audiences factor greatly in the invention and reinvention of AlDub as a phenomenon. The fandom's large amount in numbers is one main reason to contributing to AlDub's success. In general, the AlDub Nation has established fan club chapters coming from the Philippines and abroad. As of date, there is an estimated number of 43 local chapters within the country and 44 international chapters from all over the world. A netizen who goes by his moniker “Don Simoun Ibarra” is one of the sources of Lola Nidora's old pictures, which have garnered thousands of likes and shares on Facebook and Twitter also founded a Twitter-based fan club of working professionals called "AlDub Elite". In an interview with INQUIRER.net, Don Simoun, who chose not to reveal his real identity, admitted that he is a certified “AlDub” fan. “''I am very inspired with the “hidden message” behind the story as well as Lola Nidora's lessons of LOVE. It is a lesson that the youth of today should always keep in mind'',” he said. The AlDub verified page on Facebook (username: facebook.com/aldenandyayadub) has over 1,000,000 likers; and the fan club with the highest number of followers on Twitter (handle: @MaineAlden16) has over 700,000 followers – numbers which may potentially increase as AlDub's popularity has yet to show signs of waning. On Saturday (October 24), records were broken when the hashtag #ALDUBEBTamangPanahon resonated all over the world, resulting in 41 million tweets sent. While a lot of tweets came from the Philippines, there was a large number of tweets from the East and West Coasts of the U.S., Japan, Europe, and the Middle East. Two-thirds of all the tweets came from outside of the Philippines. In an interview from

CNN Philippines CNN Philippines (abbreviated as CNN PH) is a commercial broadcast, cable and satellite television network in the Philippines. It is owned and operated by Nine Media Corporation, together with Radio Philippines Network (RPN) as the main conte ...

, it was said that the reason why AlDub-related hashtags work is because of teamwork between different fan clubs on

. There were subgroups which had primary goals such as hashtag trendsetters that sets up hashtags for the day to be used during the show, statistics to monitor tweet counts, hashtag policies that guards the fandom by making sure that they use the correct hashtag and its spelling, and its fandom and character parody accounts that help the fandom to communicate and keep on tweeting.

has raised P14 million from ticket sales from the "Tamang Panahon" concert for its library project.

, in character as Lola Nidora, announced this on Saturday during the opening segment of the noontime show. Powered by the AlDub phenomenon with the thrust of AlDub Nation,

sold out the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena in just three days. The show earlier said it was donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the show to its project which aims to build "AlDub Libraries" at selected schools nationwide. Fans who were unable to buy tickets were also given the opportunity to donate to the project. Outside of the series, AlDub Nation had also used their hashtags to participate in community service or "bayanihans" and other good deeds. Among them were supporting the campaign to stop lumad killings, gathering donations for a book drive for lumad children, charity concerts for the Mangyans, outreach and feeding programs, and an awareness campaign for dengue prevention.

Cultural impact

Sociological analysis

On Chika Minute of GMA News' ''

24 Oras ''24 Oras'' (pronounced as bente kwatro oras / ) is a Philippine television news broadcasting show broadcast by GMA Network. Originally anchored by Mel Tiangco and Mike Enriquez, it premiered on March 15, 2004, on the network's Telebabad lin ...

'', sociologist Brother Clifford Sorita linked the positive audience reception of the AlDub to the Yaya Dub's Cinderella complex. Sorita says that many can relate to Yaya Dub's situation, portrayed as an ordinary woman who hopes for someone popular or a "

prince charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, includi ...

" (Alden Richards) to notice her. Sonita also described that Maine Mendoza, who portrays the character of Yaya Dub as a "diamond in the rough" an ordinary person whose talent and potential maybe discovered through ordinary means. Mendoza was discovered through the internet through her

videos.

Cultural references

The Manila Times ''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrative offices at 2/F ...

'' in an editorial cartoon depicted that many national issues in the Philippines are being permanently ignored because of the popularity of AlDub,

Korean drama Korean dramas (; RR: ''Han-guk deurama''), more popularly known as K-dramas, are television series in the Korean language, made in South Korea. They are popular worldwide, especially in Asia, partially due to the spread of Korean popular cultu ...

s and K-pop in the Philippines.

Awards

People Asia Magazine hailed Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza as People of the Year 2016.

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

recognized AlDub as record-breaker in Twitter history for generating 40,706,392 tweets in the "Tamang Panahon" event in Philippine Arena. They are the only celebrity pair in the world with this world-class recognition. Here are AlDub's other awards: