Viewers in China have more access to satellite TV, according to a
survey conducted by China Mainland Marketing Research and the China
Radio & TV Society.
Penetration has increased rapidly, with the number of channels reaching
more than 100 million viewers rising from 17 to 22 in the past year.
CCTV's eight channels have about 600 million to one billion viewers, an
increase of between four million and 90 million over last year.
The survey looked at access and ratings of nine official satellite TV
channels among 5,642 families in 45 cities and 88 counties from August
to October this year.
The channels included CCTV's movie and agricultural channels and seven
provincial satellite channels from Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Guangdong,
Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou.
Of all the nine surveyed stations, CCTV's movie channel and agricultural
channels were most popular, with cumulative audiences increasing by 600
million each within the survey period. Both channels have attracted an
extra 10 million viewers since 1999.
The CCTV Movie Channel was the first choice for 60 per cent of viewers,
compared with the average 30 per cent among the other seven CCTV
channels.
The survey also showed that viewers watch the two channels either
"frequently or every day", with an average daily viewing time of more
than 19 minutes.
Source: CMM Intelligence.
