MANILA -- "Tala," a love song with sultry choreography, became Viva's biggest viral hit at a time when it least expected: 3 years after its release and during the Christmas holidays.

Starmaker and Viva boss Vincent “Vic” del Rosario said a recent commercial along with the online streaming technology made "Tala" a hit, years after it was released.

“It was used by a big company for a commercial. It’s been really more popular after the commercial with everybody copying the dance,” del Rosario said in an exclusive interview with ANC's The Boss.

“The streaming technology has made the consumer more powerful,” he added.

Different versions of the song have earned a total of almost half a billion views, he said. Del Rosario said Tala’s viral come back could help its quarterly revenue blow past targets.

"Tala" by Del Rosario protege Sarah Geronimo has been streamed 21 million times on Spotify. It had 877,332 mentions on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Tiktok from Nov. 1 to Jan. 27, based on data gathered by ABS-CBN News.

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From policemen, scuba drivers to a pack of rowdy volleyball players seeking to make peace with a neighbor who found them too loud, "Tala" dance covers flooded social media during the holidays, displacing Jose Mari Chan's "Christmas in our Hearts" and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."

"It was a hit when it was released. It went beyond our core audience," del Rosario said.

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The studio that made stars out of Sharon Cuneta and Anne Curtis plans to spend P1 billion to make 34 movies this year, almost double the 19 it made in 2019.

Viva ended last year with the prison drama "Miracle in Cell no. 7," the surprise top-grosser during the annual Metro Manila Film Festival. It also produced a Netflix movie, "Maria." "Maria 2" is on the works, del Rosario said.

“Given the emergence of several digital platforms, we took it upon ourselves to ramp up our production. It also gives us an opportunity to expose our newer artists…to be able to give a right exposure in terms of doing movies,” del Rosario's son and Viva COO Vince said.

Online streaming has created "a lot of additional revenues," del Rosario said.

"It’s the demand of the consumer in terms of theatrical but also the streaming has created a lot of additional revenue for us. Now there is these other platforms that sometimes the revenues we can earn from streaming can be bigger," del Rosario said.