(off topic) Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Super Girl Contest
- From: "orang37" <orang37@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 01:04:22 GMT
copyright 2005, New York Times
"CHANGSHA, China - They called it "The Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Super Girl
Contest," and for much of the year, this "American Idol" knockoff was one of
the hottest shows on Chinese television.
Natalie Behring for The New York Times
Game shows like "Grand Ceremony for National Game" and "Who's the Hero?,"
above, are luring viewers and advertising revenues for Hunan TV. The
programming successes have made Hunan TV one of the most powerful television
properties in China.
What's on China's TV Tonight?
Super Girls, a TV show that resembles "American Idol", is just one of the
many programs that is redefining Chinese TV.
The game show "Who's the Hero?" features contestants in weird stunts.
By the time it ended in August, more than 400 million viewers had tuned in,
making it one of the most-watched shows in China's television history and
creating another blockbuster hit for a group of daring television producers
here at Hunan TV in south central Hunan Province.
No one really knows why a search for a new female pop star gripped much of
the nation. But analysts here say that in addition to capturing the pulse of
the nation's increasingly trendy youth, the producers allowed people to do
something quite remarkable in China: cast their own vote, albeit for a pop
idol.
Here at the headquarters of Hunan TV, on the outskirts of this dusty,
provincial capital, the station's producers say their formula for success is
simple: creating zany, off-beat and even risqué entertainment programs in a
country still dominated by bland and predictable state-run television
programming.
"We do a lot of market research," says Li Hao, director of the chief editing
department at Hunan TV, which produces the shows. "We try to find out what
people like, what they want to watch."
Hunan TV, which only began broadcasting nationally by satellite in 1997, is
now one of the most powerful television properties in China, behind only
China Central Television, or CCTV, the country's biggest broadcaster, and
the Shanghai Media Group.
Hunan TV is flourishing at a time when government support for Chinese
television is dwindling, creating a burst of commercialism as stations
compete for viewers and advertising dollars. The station has found its niche
in producing entertaining and rowdy variety shows, and other satellite
stations in China are eagerly copying its formulas.
"They've been at the forefront of making meaningless but entertaining TV for
a while, and 'Super Girl' is their climax," says Hung Huang, chief executive
of the China Interactive Media Group, or C.I.M.G., a media and publishing
company in Beijing. "They're also very good at ripping off American TV
shows, like dating shows and game shows, and then reinventing them."
Hunan TV is also facing increasing competition from foreign media companies
trying to break into a market that already has MTV and Nickelodeon cartoons.
The News Corporation, which is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, came here two
years ago and agreed to jointly finance and produce television shows with
the Hunan station. But Hunan TV could benefit from new restrictions placed
on foreign film and television companies in August by the Chinese
government.
Hunan TV's long-running game show, "Citadel of Happiness," is one of the
most popular shows on Chinese television. And another hit, "Who's the Hero?"
features people doing weird stunts, like biting the caps off beer bottles
with their teeth.
These shows resonate with viewers. They have even attracted the likes of
multinational corporations, including the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo,
which are suddenly seeking prime-time advertising slots.
"The huge success of this 'Super Girl' program really woke people up," says
Bessie Lee, chief executive at Group M, a media agency that places
advertising on Chinese television. "Now, everyone wants to advertise with
them."
Like all television stations in China, Hunan TV is owned and controlled by
the government. But Hunan provincial officials have allowed producers here
to experiment, and test the bounds of what is permissible on television.
A result has been news programs that cut from today's top news story to old
movie clips; variety shows with lively, unconventional hosts who do stand-up
comedy, sing, dance and even drag celebrities and audience members on stage
to compete in silly games.
Occasionally, however, Hunan TV is reeled in by censors. Two years ago,
government officials pulled the plug on a slightly erotic weather show that
featured several scantily clad beauty pageant winners cooing the weather
forecasts while lying on a sofa or bed.
The station's producers do indeed seem to have an eye for what is popular.
They produced an anticorruption drama called "Absolute Power," which was a
hit with viewers. They were also quick to purchase the rights to a Korean
soap opera that is popular with Chinese viewers.
Still, many are asking how a TV station from the less-developed Hunan
Province can produce such a string of national hits."
"Normally, the more economically developed the region, the better the TV
station," says Bai Ruoyun, a researcher at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and a specialist in the Chinese media. "Hunan TV is an
anomaly in this sense. It's puzzling. But they've gone so far in creating
titillating programs appealing to the lowest common denominator."
Super Girls, a TV show that resembles "American Idol", is just one of the
many programs that is redefining Chinese TV.
Hunan TV's rise really began in 1997, when the station introduced its
satellite channel hoping to reach more remote parts of the province, as well
as a national audience. Almost immediately, its dating and game shows were a
national sensation.
"China didn't have many entertainment programs at the time," said Mr. Li at
Hunan TV. "And we soon discovered that we had even larger potential
nationally, rather than within the province."
With the station's revenues growing, Hunan TV listed its production arm on
the Chinese stock market and then left its dingy headquarters for an
enormous 500-acre site north of downtown Changsha.
Today, their campus here has a four-star hotel, luxury villas, a 20,000-seat
convention center, a workers' dormitory, a bulky office tower and several
studios for live music and entertainment shows.
Yet soon after moving in, competition intensified and the station's ratings
soured, putting financial pressure on the fast-growing media conglomerate,
executives say.
Near the end of 2002, the station's toughest year, top executives met and
carved out a new direction: they decided to focus almost entirely on
entertainment programming and youth.
The station later adopted the slogan "Happy China," created a bright orange
logo and vowed to be hip and to aim at viewers 16 to 24 years old.
Li Jun, a 35-year-old producer, says he was directed to shift from a
cultural program to the entertainment show "Who's the Hero?"
"The only requirement was to change the culture program into a program that
had a mass audience and a high rating," he said. "There was no other
requirement."
Since then, revenues have soared, from about $35 million in 2002 to an
estimated $90 million in 2005. And nothing has succeeded like "Super Girl."
Originally broadcast as "Superboy" on local Hunan TV in 2003, the show was
picked up by the satellite station in 2004, and re-cast with new hosts and a
format that created more drama.
In this, the second year, the show's fortunes have soared. More than 120,000
women in five provinces participated. And the show got a huge promotional
boost from Mengniu, one of China's biggest dairy companies, which sponsored
the show (hence the show's full title).
Mengniu paid $3 million to become the lead sponsor and run television ads
during the show. The company then spent another $10 million to $12 million
for nationwide promotions of the show - a huge budget by Chinese standards.
The show succeeded, in part, because it allowed viewers to participate, by
paying a fee to vote by mobile phone - another source of revenue for the
station.
Much of the success, however, may have also come from the sassy and slightly
rebellious nature of some of the women who made it to the finals,
particularly Li Yuchun, the lanky, spiky-haired 21-year-old woman from
Sichuan who stole the show.
For months, Li danced wildly on stage, and sang with a husky voice, in
Spanish, English and Chinese, gyrating her hips. She wore her hair short,
and favored jeans and a black shirt.
She also exuded tremendous confidence on stage. And the fans loved her for
her androgynous look, some seeing it as a challenge to traditional ideas
about gender and femininity.
During the finals, Hunan TV producers turned up the emotional heat, showing
teary-eyed fans on the set. Outside thousands surrounded the Hunan TV campus
waiting for the final decision.
What's next for Hunan TV? A reality show based on a national search for
great Ping-Pong players. Who knows? It could be a hit."
.
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