ITTF World Championships Breaks Broadcast Records in China

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) enjoyed record broadcast hours on CCTV5 for their LIEBHERR 2013 World Table Tennis Championships.

Sixty-two hours were broadcast on CCTV5 with the two Singles Finals being the third most watched sports programme on the Chinese channel in 2013 so far.

The Men’s Singles Final had a unique viewership of 36.6 million people, and the Women’s Singles Final was watched by an incredible 50 million Chinese table tennis fans.

To put these figures in perspective, the matches attracted a higher audience than the AFC Asian Cup men football qualifier featuring China v Iraq, which now ranks fourth in 2013, the NBA, and English Premier League matches in 2013.

Eurosport also broke their record for coverage of the event, with a total of 32.5 hours broadcast on Eurosport and Eurosport 2.

Impact on social media

The ITTF also reported a significant surge on social media, with 2.65 million views on YouTube and thousands using the official hashtag on Twitter.

ITTF’s Facebook page also received 2.8 million page impressions over the tournament.