TV in China Compared to that of United States

As different as some people believe the United States and China are, they are actually quite alike in the ways in which they view TV.

One of the main similarities is the TV shows in which the two countries watch. Consisting of close to 25% of its shows, China places a heavy emphasis on dramas (with popular shows like Big Sister and The Camphor Tree), as does the United States (with hit shows like CSI and Law and Order).

A large part of Chinese TV viewership is reporting of the news, as is the same in the United States. Chinese citizens watch 22 minutes of news coverage everyday. And while I do not have the statistics for the United States, I would guess it to be quite the same, if not a bit more (taking into account all of the different times major networks show news on TV).

Sporting events and reality shows are very popular in both China and the United States also, with MTV and ESPN being two major channels in both countries.

Lastly, both the United States and China's TV viewership is measured by Nielsen Media Research.

Though both countries are very similar, they also have quite a few differences, as well. Because the Chinese TV industry is still state owned, a lot of the networks do not get full access to broadcast what they would like. Many have to be run by SARFT before going on the air. Though the United States has the FCC to censor what may be inappropriate, it is not even close to as harsh as the SARFT is on Chinese TV. Up until 2005, Chinese reality shows were very popular, but because of SARFT, reality shows can no longer air in prime time. Cops and robber shows were also quite popular in China, but SARFT has put a lot of restrictions on these as well.

Another difference is the size of the viewership. China's TV viewership equates to 820 million viewers, a much larger audience than that of the United States.

The United States has had a very big impact on China's TV over the past 30 years. Since the cultural revolution of the 1970's, Chinese TV has become more and more popular. Starting with the airing of the Ping Pong tournaments in thr 70's, it seems as if China has always mimicked the United State's TV shows.

In the United States, sports on TV became very popular (due to Roone Arledge). This led to China airing Ping Pong tournaments. In the 1980's, China signed a contract with a US company to air 7,000 hours of US television shows. Beginning in the 90's, Chinese TV executives began creating more "American" shows such as cops and robber dramas and shows about national heroes. In the 2000's, China got heavily involved in broacasting reality shows and airs such shows as China Next Top Model.

Who Measures TV Viewership in China?

Not only does the Nielsen Media Research company measure TV viewership in the United Stated, but they are also the company who measures the "world's fasting growing market" as well. Nielsen just recently announced that they would be launching a Homescan Consumer Panel in China, which will provide reads for key cities and provinces, as well as city-tier reporting. The Homescan panel will cover over 40,000 households in an attempt to give a true indication of the average Chinese buyer. According to Nielsen, "The panel's size and design will provide marketers with a far superior capability to measure and understand the purchasing behavior of Chinese consumers."

Over the past few years, Nielsen Media Research company has invested a lot of money in researching the behavior of Chinese television viewers. Mitch Barns, President of Nielsen Greater China, said, "Our ability to integrate the Homescan data with data from Nielsen's other services in China will enable us to provide our clients with a complete and integrated view of retail sales, media activity, and consumer purchase behavior.

ESPN Star Taken Off Air in China in 2007

ESPN Star, which is a joint venture in China between ESPN and Star Sports, was just taken off the China airways in February 2007 but was reinstated in 2008.

ESPN Star airs several different sports, including soccer, golf, tennis, cricket, badminton, motor sports, boxing and gymnastics.

There is even a Chinese Sportscenter.

Government Gives TV Reality Check

After it seemed as if China officials were beginning to warm up to reality TV shows (as they even let CBS film Survivor China there), in 2007, the Chinese government gave Chinese TV a reality check when they banned China TV from airing any reality TV shows in prime-time TV. The State Administration of Radio, Film, and TV (SARFT) issued a notice that took reality TV shows off the prime-time schedule and introduced new restrictions on format, scheduling, and content, and also demanded all broadcasters received SARFT approval before airing "talent shows".

Because of the removal of reality shows, many are predicting Chinese TV to begin to go back to its old form, in which a lot of cultural shows were shown, such as operas, variety shows, and evening galas.

TV dramas still remain a very popular form of show in China, accounting for 22% of all brodcasts in 2007.

News broadcasting is also very important, as it is reporting that the average Chinese citizen watches 22 minutes of news TV every day.

History of TV in China

TV in China really began with the creation of China's first TV station, Beijing Television, which began broadcasting on May 1, 1958. After about two years, there were over two dozen stations set up throughout different cities in China. However, during the 1960's little was aired other than news, operas, and random televised thoughts from leader Mao Zedong. In 1967, television productions were basically shut down, and not until 1970 was TV anything but a thought of the past. By 1970, TV broadcasts were on 3 or 4 nights a week, but still, little was being shown at all. Another struggle of TV in China came when the Soviet Union stopped giving China economic aid in the 1960's, which forced many TV stations to close (stations went from 23 to 5 in 60's).

Beginning in the 70's, TV became the fastest growing medium in China. In 1978, Beijing TV became China Central TV, the country's largest and only national network.

By the numbers, TV stations in China grew in number from two to 683 (between 1958 and 1994). Set ownership increased dramatically as well, from a few thousand to 260 million between 1960 and 1994. And from 1975 to 1994 viewers increased from 18 million to 900 million. The great increase in TV set ownership is the fastest increase in the world's history among any developing country.

One of the biggest problems with TV in China is that it is all state owned. No TV broadcasting in China is private or foreign owned. Communist leader, Mao Zedong believed, "Broadcasting must keep in line with the Party voluntarily, and serve the main Party objectives of the time."

Stations in China include:

1 national (CCTV)
30 provincial
300 regional
350 local

Today, every Chinese family has a TV set, and most of the audience watching is urban viewership. In the early 90's statistics showed that 55% of the population watched TV everyday, while only 32% read a newspaper.

In the early days of Chinese TV, it was entirely funded by the government. Advertising did not come into effect until the 1970's.

TV programs consist of four different types:

news - 15%
entertainment - 50%
feature and service - 10%
education - 15%

Though entertainment makes up the biggest percentage of programming, much of the variety currently seen in China did not come in until the 1980's. In the 80's, CCTV even opened an English channel. Today, there are many English channels on Chinese TV.

A unique part of Chinese TV is the education it offers. Millions of college students are able to study from the comfort of their own home because of TV in China. Plus, millions of people learn how to do practical farming techniques because of TV as well.

The positive about Chinese TV is that they are becoming much more open about broadcasts on TV.

In 1986, US Lorimar Products signed a contract with Shanghai TV to provide over 7,000 hours of American TV shows to air on Chinese TV. Now, all stations are looking to other countries for programs. Today, foreign programming accounts for over 20% of the TV broadcast in China. That is a huge jump from 1% in 1976 and 8% in 1982.