It will be the biggest change in its 31 years on the air.
On Saturday, May 2, ABS-CBN revealed two major announcements regarding ASAP, which is longest-running weekly musical variety show in the country.
Foremost, the program, currently known by the said title, will be rebranded to ASAP XP on May 17, which is the title of its upcoming major concert at the Araneta Coliseum this May 10.
In fact, that concert will be filmed and broadcast on TV starting on the said date, bringing the concert experience straight to viewers at home and elsewhere.
But perhaps, the much bigger news to come out of the said teaser plug is the revelation of the show’s new time slot.
After running in the prime Sunday noontime slot for 31 years, ASAP XP is moving to much later time as it becomes part of the network’s expanded primetime block every Sunday and will air at 5:30 pm, effective on the same date as the relaunch.
This marks a departure from its traditional lunchtime slot that it once dominated for much of the past three decades until the terrestrial network shutdown of ABS-CBN in 2020.
Since then, it has struggled to maintain TV viewership—with some episodes even rating as low as 0.8%, as per the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM)—as audiences continue their shift to online platforms, including Kapamilya Online Live on Facebook and YouTube.
ASAP XP will air on ABS-CBN sa ALLTV2, Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z, iWant, and TFC.
At present, ABS-CBN has not yet revealed the replacement for the slot that will be vacated by ASAP.
ASAP is an acronym for All-star Sunday Afternoon Party and was first launched on February 5, 1995.
Throughout the years, it has underwent several reformats, such as ASAP Mania in 2003, with the offshoot teen-oriented program titled ASAP Fanatic premiering the following year.
It also used the last two digits of the year as its subtitle (i.e. ‘ASAP ’08’) from 2005 to 2009; XV for its 15th anniversary, and more.
In 2016, it finally reverted to its original title after 13 years, although that was short-lived as the program once again took on a new title upon its 2018 relaunch as ASAP Natin ‘To.
It was back in September 2024, the show reverted to their original title, in time for their 30th anniversary the following year.
Throughout the years, it also faced stiff competition head-on, specifically from GMA Network. ASAP faced the likes of GMA Supershow—which is the second longest-running Sunday noontime variety show in the Philippines, SOP, Party Pilipinas, Sunday All-Stars, Sunday Pinasaya, and currently, All-Out Sundays.