2024 Spring Festival Gala sparks 26.7 billion social media discussions

This year's Spring Festival Gala, an annual event produced and broadcast by China Media Group (CMG) on the eve of the Chinese New Year on Friday evening, prompted lively discussions and attracted many favorable comments on social media. Discussions related to the gala exceeded 26.7 billion, representing a 49.76 percent increase from last year.

As China's most-watched TV program, the gala has become a cherished annual tradition since its debut in 1983, uniting Chinese people worldwide with their families to celebrate the Chinese New Year. This year, the live broadcast of the gala set new records in both the number of viewers and total views.

As of 8 a.m. on February 10, it has drawn 795 million viewers through new media platforms, with total views soaring to 1.689 billion, a 15.13 percent increase from the previous year. The mobile-optimized vertical format of the gala proved especially popular, garnering 423 million views, a 48.14 percent jump from last year, and achieving a new peak for the third consecutive year.

In terms of television, the gala captured a 75.61 percent share of the live TV viewing market in China. The broadcast channel of CMG alone contributed to 46.06 percent of the total viewership, achieving its highest share in nine years.

The gala's omnimedia coverage, spanning all media platforms, engaged a total of 14.2 billion people by 2 a.m. on February 10, marking a 29 percent increase from last year. Notably, nearly 52 percent of these viewers were young users aged between 15 to 44.

This year's gala showcased a mix of performances, from music, comedy and traditional arts like opera and martial arts to spectacular acts such as magic and acrobatics. It also incorporated cutting-edge technologies like extended reality (XR) and immersive stage interaction technologies to enhance the viewing experience.