While provincial satellite channels are draining their brains for program ideas to meet the audiences' growing needs for entertainment, China Central Television believes in another function of TV shows—social responsibility.
Though they often look serious, these CCTV productions have a way to win audiences. One of the good examples is Inventors' Dream Workshop.
After its well-received run on CCTV's science-and-education channel last year, the program has now successfully launched its second season, which started airing weekly on the same channel on Nov 21.
The new season brings together 48 new inventions, created by grassroots participants ranging from a junior high school student to a 70-year-old amateur engineer. All with official patent eligibility, these inventions include both cutting-edge technologies such as 3-D printing and practical home appliances like an easy-to-use oil press.
In addition to documenting these inventors' personal stories, the program will serve as a technology incubator, with participants demonstrating the use of their inventions in the studio where 50 investors bid in competition for products that they believe have a market potential.
According to CCTV, 29 projects have been sold through the program, with an estimated total investment of more than 300 million yuan ($48.89 million).
In recent years, the number of applications for national patents has been increasing by 50 percent annually, among which 60 percent are from ordinary people rather than academicians and technicians.
On the other hand, however, investment institutions find it difficult to approach appropriate projects. The program therefore is intended as a bridge between inventors and investors to help turn these inventions into marketable commodities.
"This is what we call social responsibility. We try to push made-in-China to become created-in-China, by tapping the intelligence resources of all Chinese people," says Jin Yue, director of CCTV's science-and-education channel.
"When many programs today try to attract audiences with star power and large investments, what we have to offer is wisdom."
In recent years, CCTV has produced a series of programs that hold education and social responsibility as their core values, such as Dictation Assembly of Chinese Characters, similar to the US program Scripps National Spelling Bee, and Chinese Idiom Congress.
All these have been CCTV's original creations, while buying program formats from overseas has become a trend among provincial satellite channels. Jin says they are trying to fill a void in Chinese TV shows.
"Everybody today in the TV industry is talking about creating so-called phenomenal programs," says Jin. "I think in order to be phenomenally successful we first have to be original. More importantly, we should be able to influence the society."