Table Tennis is the Most Viewed Sport in China and Numbers are Rising

Whatever the location, whatever the city or the country the fans in there in numbers; they are there in numbers when the China is in action, whether it be at the World Championships, the World Cup or the ITTF World Tour.

The recent ITTF 2013 World Tour Qatar Open, which came to a conclusion in Doha on Sunday 24th February, illustrated the point indelibly; Chinese supporters came in force to support and pay home to their idols.

Simply the likes of Ma Long and Ding Ning who won the respective Men뭩 and Women뭩 Singles titles in the Gulf state are superstars; a fact reflected by television figures.
London Olympic Games
A record 34 million viewers watched the Men뭩 Singles final between Wang Hao and Zhang Jike at the London 2012 Olympic Games!

Table tennis is the most viewed sport in China.

Inside the Games
Inside the Games reported on Monday 18th February 2013

Record television audience of 34 million in China watched London 2012 table tennis final, new research shows

by James Crook

February 18 - Table tennis is now China's most watched sport and is still on the rise, with the sport accumulating nearly one-billion viewers in the world's most populous nation last year, including 34 million to watch the final of the men's singles at London 2012, according to a report published by CMS Media Research.

"It seems that the Chinese population's appetite for table tennis continues to increase", said Adham Sharara, President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).

"Despite the fact that China is in a period of domination on the international scene, the Chinese TV viewers are increasing dramatically.

"In relation to number of hours televised, table tennis has become the number one most watched sport in China.

"This of course is very good news for our sport in China and also for our sponsors that target the Chinese market."

The most-viewed table tennis match of the year in China was from the 2012 London Olympic Games, when 34 million viewers tuned-in to watch the men's singles gold medal match between Zhang Jike and Wang Hao, who are ranked number three and four in the world respectively, with Jike coming out on top.

Chinese players won all four gold medals available at London 2012 for the second consecutive Olympics.

The ITTF's top-four ranked men's players and top-four ranked women's players all hail from China.

The report also states that there was a total of 1,856 hours of table tennis broadcast across all channels in China, and more than 357 hours on leading sports channel CCTV-5 alone.

Table tennis is now the most-watched sport in China, according to a report by CMS Media Research

Pierre Justo, managing director of media and sports research at CSM Media Research, said: "Once again, table tennis has managed to attract strong audiences across all the channels that aired its competitions in 2012, be it the World Tour, the World Championships, the World Cup or the Olympics and local competitions,"

"Interestingly, table tennis succeeded because it is very ''popular' in China in the sense that it has the capability to reach out to wide target groups such men and women, people from different age categories, as well as both urbanites and rural citizens.

"With that potential, it is not a surprise that table tennis still continues to be one of the leaders of sports on TV in China."

http://ittf.com/_front_page/ittf_full_story1.asp?ID=30664&Category=