LEADER: Marathon session hides weaknesses

That China's national broadcaster still managed to beat the odds in the current climate and post a double-digit revenue growth in its annual auction is truly astonishing. Despite the many and frequent complaints levelled at China Central Television, the broadcaster has once again confounded critics with a marathon and frenzied auction of its peak-time slots. In today's weak market conditions, the auction is an anachronism, belonging to another age and time when the national broadcaster had no competitor to speak off and adspend was in a boom mode. But with a fair share of rivals nipping at its heels and despite the active bidding at this year's auction - the fourth held by the company - the process clearly cannot continue for much longer. Even if local competitors have yet to dampen Chinese advertisers' appetite for CCTV prime-slots, the opening of the mainland's media market under WTO membership rules in the next few years will change the television landscape in more ways than can be currently imagined. The auction of peak-time slots demonstrates two things: both the station and local advertisers are still enamoured with buying slots rather than audiences, unlike the situation in most other parts of the world. CCTV is making programing improvements next year - a jewel in its 2002 line-up is the broadcasting of the World Cup football tournament - but the broadcaster could still do a lot more to build viewership outside peak-time. Until it does so, it stands little hope of stemming the slide in its rankings, which have fallen from 38.6 per cent in 1997 to 32.6 per cent this year. On a broader level, as rosy as the figures are for CCTV, few in the industry are comforted into thinking that 2002 will be banner year for China, monitored adspend figures notwithstanding. If anything, the steep prices paid to CCTV could mean a rougher ride for provincial stations, which are already looking at the unfamiliar prospect of declining revenues this year.

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