The survey, conducted by the CVSC-Sofres Media (CSM), a joint venture between the Central Viewer Survey and Consulting Center and the Taylor Sofres Group, also showed that Chinese spend an average of three hours a day watching TV.

CSM's TV ratings survey indicated that the popularity of different soap operas varies from the north to the south, considering China's vast territory and its people's different tastes.

Although the Liulaogen program, a TV play telling the story of a farmer businessman in northeast China, has sparked a viewership fever in northeastern, northern and northwestern parts of China, it has gained only moderate viewership in southern provinces like Guangdong and Fujian, according to CSM.

In general, soap operas set in China's imperial past attract larger audiences in the north, while modern love stories are more popular in the east and south, revealed the survey.

However, regional diversity in the viewership of different TV programs does not imply that certain soap operas are insignificant in certain regions.

More than 90 percent of the 2,000-plus television channels in China are airing TV dramas which account for more than one-fourth of their air-time.

Soap operas generate substantial revenue for TV stations, in some cases up to 70 percent of total revenue, said CSM general manager Wang Lanzhu.

Wang said China's current annual investment in TV soap operas has reached about 2 billion yuan (US$241 million), and annual returns on the investment total about 20 billion yuan (US$2.41billion).

Prime time TV (from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm) is dominated mainly by soap operas, Wang said, adding that advertising during this period accounts for more than half of their daily revenue.

Incomplete statistics show that more than 800 domestic soap opera producers in China produce more than 20,000 hours of TV dramas every year, while the total soap opera air time exceeds 50,000 hours a year.

The gap between supply and demand has resulted in a serious duplication of soap operas in China, creating a situation in which viewers can watch the same drama simultaneously on a number of different cable channels.

However, Wang warned that soap opera production is still a high-risk industry, adding that only 15 percent of the current soap operas in China are making profits, and many have difficulty breaking even and are even incurring losses.

Currently, all of China's TV channels are state-owned, but several overseas TV channels, such as News Corporation's Star TV and Time Warner's China Entertainment, have been authorized.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2003)