Local news programming makes inroads against CCTV
danwei.org, (June 20070607)Abstract
The 13th Shanghai Television Festival concludes today. The festival's
Magnolia Forum (白玉兰论坛), which brings together industry professionals
and academics from a number of countries, issued a Report on the
Chinese TV News Program Market 2007-2008. The report, edited jointly
by the Shanghai TV Festival and CCTV Softres Media (CSM), follows
earlier papers on other areas of programming.
As might be expected in today's regulatory climate, the report warns
news programs about stretching the bounds of taste, and looks to
the most recent crop of reality talent shows for lessons.
However, the Mirror finds evidence of a major change in the television
news landscape:
During the last year, news programs have become one of the leading
formats for attracting advertisements. CCTV holds 3/4 of the market,
but in regional markets CCTV has met with unprecedented challenges
from local stations.
In 2006, news programming amounted to a total of 640,000 hours. General
news made up half of programming; arts, sports, and legal news showed
growth. General arts and entertainment news made up more than 10%
of programming. Viewers watched an average of 22.8 minutes of news
every day.
...
The Report says that in the future, the country's news programming
will exhibit a few changing trends.
CCTV, using its advantages of position, resources, and policies, occupies
a leading position. Minority cable stations use financing, technology,
and innovation to compete with CCTV in certain time slots.
In regional markets, local stations have used "locally-targeted news"
(民生新闻) to break out and occupy a relatively large share of the viewership.
The Report predicts that in the next few years, "locally-targeted
news" will become a major player and may approach or even replace
the traditional broadcast position of CCTV's news.
CCTV has its own spin on this: Wang Lanzhu, general manager of CSM,
said:
A program that could run for two years has too serious a problem with
homogeneity, and if it is broadcast too frequently, it may be scuttled
in a very short time. A classic example is the "locally-targeted
news," because some cities have run too many repeats, leading to
declining ratings; exhaustion occurs very quickly.
This article from the Washington Post in March is also relevant.
Links and Sources
STVF (Chinese): News should preserve its strengths and be cautious
about vulgarization
Mirror via Tom (Chinese): Local news programs may force CCTV to äbdicate"
Image from Southern Weekly
Description
May08