Winter Olympics scores gold in China

On 1 March 2010, the Olympic flame was extinguished, symbolising the closing of the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The excellent performance of the Chinese athletes added to the celebration of the Lunar New Year. The events broadcast on TV brought even more viewing options to the audience.

According to CSM Media Research, 850 million people watched the Winter Olympics on TV between 13 February and 1 March. Chinese people spent an average of 64 minutes watching games programmes, and 140 million people watched the opening ceremony.

In contrast to other sports broadcasts, the percentage of male and female viewers was quite close; female viewers accounted for 41 per cent of the entire viewing population, and 69 per cent were above the age of 35.

It is easy to see that throughout the Winter Olympics, television viewership peaked during the events in which China had a chance to win a medal, such as speed skating and figure skating.

Curling too proved attractive to the Chinese audience. The female curling tournament alone attracted 370 million TV viewers, and on February 22, ratings for the China versus Canada game reached 1.1 per cent of the total viewing audience, taking seventh place on the Winter Olympic TV ratings ranking.



This article was originally published in the 11 March 2010 issue of Media.