With booming economic growth and increasing incomes, Chinese customers are paying more and more attention to entertainment and fashion. A neo-entertainment era is coming, reported the latest survey done by Sinomonitor International, a market watch institute based in Beijing.

According to the survey, audience ratings of TV programs covering popular culture, music, travel, romance, leisure and discovery have grown steadily in recent years along with other forms of media.

Chinese people are exhibiting stronger interests and higher self-esteem as witnessed by the entertainment and fashion programs. Booming interactive reality shows like Super Girls or Happy Boys, as well as the faces of Chinese showbiz stars splashed on the covers of Time and Newsweek all promise a new era of prosperity for the entertainment economy in China.

Media, as well as platforms and industries revolving around entertainment will fuel a new hot economic boom here, said the survey.

Another report indicated that interactivity is the primary attraction of reality shows. Interestingly, viewers holding master's degrees or above appear fonder of them than middle school students.

Among reality, interactivity and plot, the three major traits of television show programs, 50 percent of the informants surveyed chose interactivity as the key attraction.

Significantly, sport personalities directly influence ratings, based on their personal popularity and fans, the report indicates. Cute, lovely or elegant and noble types win more support than cool or sporty types. TV personalities projecting goodness and sincerity are the most popular.

Contrary to public opinion, highly educated audiences adore reality shows much more than middle school students due to the great stress placed on Chinese intellectuals. They need these kinds of light entertainment programs to relax and unwind.

The Chinese Search Activity Research Center joint established by Baidu (a leading search engine) and Peking University, conducted the survey. Their assessment is based on in-depth interviews with some netizens and data from quantitative questionnaires, case studies and analyses.

(Chinanews.com.cn translated by Li Shen, August 17, 2007)