World audience huge for Games opener

August 10, 2008 The size of the television audience for the live broadcast of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony reflected a wide spread of viewer interest around the world, from a record-breaking market share in China to near-ambivalence in Germany. Competing poll data shows that the four-hour TV spectacle Friday night drew between 63% and 68.8% of China's total audience, smashing a 51%-58% market share record previously held each year by the Chinese New Year gala broadcast in the spring. China, with a population of 1.3 billion served largely by state-controlled broadcasters, is forecast to overtake Japan as the world's second-largest advertising market by 2010.

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