The Spring Festival Gala sets record with nearly 1.3 bln viewers
The Spring Festival Gala, the world's most watched TV program, was viewed by an audience of 1.296 billion at home and abroad with 7.133 billion views on CMG's multiple platforms on Monday night, the eve of the lunar new year, setting a new record in viewership.
The more-than-four-hour program featured musical and operatic performances, martial arts and comedy skits. The topics touched on main national events of 2021, including rural rejuvenation and the fight against COVID-19.
The Beijing Winter Olympics was also highlighted. Technologies, such as extended reality, were used to create visual effects.
More than 650 media outlets from over 170 countries and regions worldwide carried live coverage of the gala on the very day of Lunar New Year eve.
Ninety topics related to the Spring Festival Gala were trending on Chinese social media platforms, with 69 billion people having participated in the gala's interactive activities as of Tuesday.
The gala, also known as "Chunwan," has been broadcast live annually since 1983, and has been seen as a major cultural symbol for the traditional Lunar New Year celebrations in China.
An estimated of 1.14 billion viewers were tuned in to watch the Spring Festival Gala in 2021 online or on TV as of 24:00 Feb.11 last year, while clips of the show also saw over a billion views across various new media platforms, according to CMG.
The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese Lunar New Year, is an important occasion for family reunions, and falls on Feb.1 this year.