Everybody loves CCTV

It’s been a good few weeks for CCTV. First, the four new anchors the network introduced to its evening news broadcast were a hit with audiences. Then the CCTV.com website won Internet broadcast rights to the Olympics (as if there was any doubt). The same day that news was announced, Hai Xia, one of the new Network News Broadcast anchors whose bio claims a news-reading speed of 160 characters per minute, was awarded the Golden Microphone award, together with fan favorite Cui Yongyuan.

Crowning all of this was a survey that revealed the Network News Broadcast (新闻联播) to be the “best-loved TV program in the country.” This was a surprising result: although CCTV’s evening news has a large audience, it’s not usually thought of as a program anyone particularly enjoys watching.

In a piece titled “How far is the Network News Broadcast from a national ‘favorite’?” posted on the People’s Daily website, commentator Li Xueren discussed whether the program’s high ratings really mean that it is beloved by viewers:

On the morning of 19 December, CCTV announced the results of the “2007 National TV Audience Sample Survey.” The survey revealed that the national audience’s favorite TV program was the Network News Broadcast; of the top twenty programs, eighteen were from CCTV.

To guarantee the objectivity, fairness, and accuracy of the results, the survey’s sample design and data weighting was undertaken by Feng Shiyong, a researcher with the Systems Research Institute at CAS, and was certified by a team made up of experts from the National Bureau of Statistics, the Communication University of China, Renmin University, SARFT’s Accounting Department, and CCTV-Sofres Media Research Company. The expert group’s proof undoubtedly increased the scientific nature and public credibility of the survey results: no one questions the position of CCTV’s Network News Broadcast atop the ratings charts. In terms of ratings, no other program right now can shake the dominating position that the Network News Broadcast occupies.

However, high ratings do not equal “favorite.” When CCTV praises its Network News program as “the nation’s best-loved TV program,” it is just tooting its own horn, something that could easily harm the goodwill shown toward the program by a portion of the audience. This writer noticed that practically all of the numerous comments from Sina netizens expressed suspicion; it may be too early to issue a verdict calling the Network News Broadcast the nation’s best-loved TV program.

This writer does not know if CCTV used “like or dislike” as part of the survey. This is obviously different from using “watch or not watch”: the former ought to reflect the extent to which the audience likes a program, while the latter reflects its ratings.

At Rednet, Chen Guanghao explained how the survey results were inevitable:

That so many people watch the Network News Broadcast means that it is a program that people must watch, not one that they enjoy watching. This is not hard to understand; a diabetes sufferer takes medicine every day and must avoid all kinds of food—can you say that he likes taking medicine, and that he’s a picky eater?

Besides, at 7:00 pm every night, the first channel of all local stations must rebroadcast the program on schedule. With the Network News Broadcast covering the entire country during prime time, I don’t think getting high ratings is anything out of the ordinary—if the ratings were low, that would be odd.

In addition, although it is possible to receive lots of outside TV channels on digital TV and satellite TV these days, there’s frequently no comparison between CCTV and local stations. Take news, for example: audiences prefer watching things that are related to their lives, so naturally lots of people will watch their local news program instead of programs from other places. CCTV airs national, comprehensive news, so many people will watch that, too.

For this reason, if we compare the Network News Broadcast to individual local news programs rather than looking at them in aggregate, then the total number of people who enjoy watching local news is divided among the local news programs, while those who enjoy the Network News Broadcast are added together. Thus we arrive at a strange conclusion: even if the audience for local news programming is greater than that for the Network News Broadcast, the ratings leader will still be the Network News Broadcast. And from the news we learn that CCTV does indeed compare local programs separately. So of course it has an absolute advantage in ratings.

Here’s the top twenty list that was announced; the number is a percentage that seems to have something to do with how well-liked the program is:

1. Network News Broadcast (新闻联播), CCTV-1: 32.26
2. Focus Interview (焦点访谈), CCTV-1: 15.71
3. The Same Song (同一首歌), touring music show, CCTV-1: 12.65
4. Law Today (今日说法), CCTV-1: 11.52
5. Weather Forecast (天气预报), CCTV-1: 8.94
6. Avenue of the Stars (星光大道), “Pop Idol”-style reality competition, CCTV-3: 6.9
7. Approaching Science (走近科学), CCTV-10: 5.38
8. Law on the Line (法治在线), CCTV-News: 3.87
9. Headquarters of Happiness (快乐大本营), Hunan TV: 3.52
10. Lucky 52 (幸运52), game show, CCTV-2: 3.52
11. Two Sides of the Straits (海峡两岸), News from Taiwan, CCTV-4: 3.18
12. Great Stories (传奇故事), human interest stories, Jiangsu TV: 2.92
13. Happy Dictionary (开心辞典),quiz show with Wang Xiaoya, CCTV-2: 2.81
14. Animal World (动物世界), CCTV-3: 2.5
15. Feichang 6+1 (非常6+1), game show, CCTV-2: 2.33
16. News 30min (新闻30分), CCTV-1: 2.29
17. Lecture Room (百家讲坛), CCTV-10: 2.24
18. Ethical Review (道德观察), social issue discussions, CCTV-12: 2.22
19. First Time (第一时间), morning show, CCTV-2: 2.19
20. The Way to Wealth (致富经), business stories for farmers, CCTV-7: 2.17

The only two non-CCTV program on the list are Hunan TV’s Headquarters of Happiness, in 9th place, and Jiangsu TV’s Great Stories, in 12th.