Chinese Original TV Show Enjoys Popularity in Overseas

2014/06/20

At the recent Spring TV Fair in Cannes, France, the international distribution rights and the broadcasting rights in UK of the Chinese original music reality show "The Song of China" was bought by the British International Media Group (ITV). The show became China's first original variety show exported overseas.
   
 
As soon as "The Song of China" was launched in the Arts Channel of China Central Television earlier this year, its ratings in China has soared, covering a total of 480 million viewers, accounting for 37% of the audience share, topping the ratings for a long time. Assistant Dean of School of Journalism and Communication in Tsinghua, Professor Shi Anbin believes, "The Song of China is the symbol of the shift from "Chinese Imitation" to "Created in China" , which reflects the taste and responsibility of CCTV as the national television station.
 
   
In fact, in recent years, the domestic TV variety show has gone  through the process from copy to imitation, creation and finally successfully exporting overseas. According to industrial professionals, in the past two years, the program mode trading market is very prosperous in China, but most of the transactions are still introducing foreign program mode. Now, thanks to the experience of "The Song of China", there would be  more and more Chinese TV shows going abroad in the future.
 
   
Among a variety of musical talent shows,  the highlight of "The Song of China" is its effort to respect and promote original songs. Jin Lei, the General Manager of Star Production and the director of the show says, his original intention of this show is to promote the prosperity of original songs.


Jin Xuedong, the Assistant Dean of Tianjin Conservatory of Music and music theorist comments: "the original songs in the show displayed a wide variety of forms, including jazz, blues, rock and hip-hop, but didn't forget to combine with original Chinese musical elements. Many of those not only followed the rules of pop creation, but also complied with the audience's aesthetic habits accumulated for many years. It greatly enriched and expanded our understanding of the connotation of ‘good songs'".
  
  
"When we make the worldwide exchange and cooperation in the cultural and creative industries, we focus that our program model has  unique Chinese cultural characteristics, but also in line with the marketing rules of the world TV market. I believe that in the very future, there would be more and more Chinese original TV program going abroad, on behalf of Chinese culture," said Tian Ming, the President of Star Production.   

Recently, there are reports saying that another original TV drama  "Soldiers Sortie 3" describing army life, produced by Yunan Tianze Media, might enter ITV's vision and become the second exported Chinese original TV program after "The Song of China". Nowadays as the international cultural communication is becoming more and more frequent, based on Chinese characteristics, international communication methods and original creation, it's believed that there are more and more Chinese show in the world market.


(Source: China IP News)