Barça wishes China a happy new yea

The three team captains, Puyol, Xavi and Valdés, along with Messi, wish the Chinese, both living in China and abroad, a happy new year.



FC Barcelona, through video messages made by four of its biggest stars, Puyol, Xavi, Valdés and Messi, will be present at the Chinese New Year’s Gala. The Gala, which will take place on January 23rd, will be broadcast on TV and streamed online. The estimated audience between spectators and online viewers is over 1 billion.

The congratulatory messages from Barça ushering in the Chinese New Year will be part of the television programme that not only will feature well known Chinese personalities but worldwide figures like the financier and philanthropist, Warren Buffet.

This is the second year that CCTV, the Chinese state television channel, will broadcast the New Year’s Gala in its current format. The television feed will also be disseminated through online channels owned by the biggest Chinese Internet company. This means that the audience will considerably increase and possibly reach the Chinese populations residing all over the world. It’s expected that viewership will surpass last year’s numbers.

The Gala, which will not air live, will be broadcast this Monday, January 23. Reruns of the event will be re-broadcast for the next 15 days, the traditional celebratory period for the Chinese New Year. It’s expected that the broadcasts will reach over 400 million families with an estimated total audience of over 1 billion people. This includes the approximate 600 million people with Internet access plus 1 billion television viewers. An estimated 80% of the Chinese people not living in China will watch the broadcast.

Specifically the Gala will be aired on CCTV’s channels 1, 2, 3, and 4, and on the most influential web platforms: sina.com, CNTV (China Network Television) and on Tencent’s social network, FC Barcelona’s institutional partner in China. (via FCBarcelona.cat)