CCTV expects to weather downturn

November 18, 2008 China Central Television on Tuesday hosted its annual auction for primetime advertising spots in 2009, with participants saying that the state-run broadcaster is set to weather a post-Olympics softening and the global economic downturn just fine. On a day when Chinese markets lost as much as 7%, the nation's state-run broadcaster, coming off a record Olympic summer, welcomed a host of first-time auction participants from the digital and online sectors. Pon de Dios, chief media buyer in China for Procter & Gamble, said the CCTV's handling of the Olympics, which drew record viewers, was helping the broadcaster as advertisers and consumers demand better value.

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