The Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP), the online counterpart of YES! magazine and the country’s premiere entertainment news site, has reached new record numbers. From garnering 34 million page views the previous month, PEP made an astounding jump to 50 million page views in July.

PEP Managing Editor Karen Pagsolingan cites the team’s credo of breaking the news as soon as it happens as a crucial factor to PEP’s success. “It pays to be the first,” Pagsolingan says. “The site’s most viewed gallery for July—LAST NIGHT OF WAKE: Tears, cheers, and gratitude for Dolphy—was uploaded the following day, and ahead of the other websites.”

Under the direction of YES! Editor-in-Chief Jo-Ann Maglipon, PEP’s editorial team is staunchly dedicated to covering all sides and angles of a story—another reason for the site’s skyrocketing statistics. PEP’s comprehensive coverage of Dolphy’s death and President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) were two of the stories that gained the most views in July. 

Furthermore, PEP consistently has its finger on the pulse of what showbiz fans seek. For instance, Sarah Geronimo and Gerald Anderson’s romantic trajectory—from the early stages of dating to the sudden end of the courtship in July—drew readers in droves to the site. “The abrupt end of the blooming Sasa-Gege romance had a lot of people very curious…and concerned,” Pagsolingan reveals.

Since breaking into Alexa.com’s list of top 100 websites in the Philippines soon after its launch in 2007, PEP’s numbers have been steadily rising each year. PEP started 2012 with a formidable 37 million page views and 2 million unique users—figures it has already surpassed halfway through the year.

For marketing and advertising inquiries, please contact PEP General Manager Marilyn See at marilyn.see@pep.ph. For more of PEP, visit www.pep.ph, become a fan of PEP on Facebook via www.facebook.com/PEP.philippines, and follow PEP on Twitter via Twitter.com/scoopbox.