The majority of the viewing audience watched live TV coverage of the first day of the Party congress. This according to a survey released yesterday by AGB Nielsen Media Research.
The survey covered 400 million citizens through a TV rating monitoring system.
Up to 73 percent of the monitored TV audience watched special programs and news reports related to the congress at some point on Monday.
The figures indicate that the majority of the Chinese people are attentive to the Party congress, which charted a roadmap for the country's future development, political experts said.
Among the 257 monitored channels in the covered areas, 74 channels broadcasted the congress' opening ceremony on Monday, according to AGB Nielsen’s results.
The congress was covered by national broadcaster CCTV, with channels CCTV1 and CCTV News offering 100 percent dedicated coverage. Most satellite, provincial-level, and city-level TV stations also provided coverage, Xinhua reported.
The reception rate in Wuhan, capital of Hubei, was as high as 50 percent.
In other words, of all Wuhan's residents watching TV between 8:40 and 11:40 am on Monday, half watched the Congress opening. The city topped the monitored cities in terms of reception, the survey found.
Other cities with large viewership included Jinan, with 47 percent of people watching the opening ceremony and Tianjin Municipality, where 41 percent tuned in.
The survey also found high reception rates among audiences in Shanghai and Beijing.
（英语点津 Celene 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Jonathan Stewart is a media and journalism expert from the United States with four years of experience as a writer and instructor. He accepted a foreign expert position with chinadaily.com.cn in June 2007 following the completion of his Master of Arts degree in International Relations and Comparative Politics.
