CCTV New Year Gala Viewership Dips to Record Low, Box Office Hits Record High

Ratings for CCTV’s New Year’s Gala have hit a record low of 28.37 percent, Want China Times reports, regardless of the gala being broadcasted across a whopping 189 channels. With that many channels quite a few people must have just had no choice but to watch it.

This is the first time ever that viewership of the spectacle fell below 700 million people, and that ratings dropped below 30 percent. Honestly, we're impressed that that many people managed to watch the hours and hours of cheesy Xiaopingguo renditions performed by children in crazy costumes seemingly on crack.

Interesting enough, cinema box office numbers show a different side to the New Year’s break: total box office sales were 34 percent higher than last year. It seems that people are starting to turn to film rather than government television during their holidays.

Global Times reported the increase in box office sales from RMB 1.39 billion to RMB 1.73 billion during this week-long holiday. This huge increase is shocking, especially considering the availability of free film streaming websites on the Internet and the popularity of TV boxes throughout the country.

Even on the first day of Spring Festival, during which spending time at home with family is traditionally very important, box offices reached RMB 360 million in sales. The Chinese cinema industry is still raking in cash, as its earnings in 2014 were also unbelievably high.

If you're looking for some film suggestions, Sina reported that throughout the holiday period, the most popular films were Jackie Chan’s Dragon Blade, Wolf Totem, and From Vegas to Macau 2.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com
Instagram: @s.xuagram

Photo: popsci.com