Table tennis, women's volleyball and the men's 110m hurdles competition are expected to be the most-watched events during the Beijing Games in Chinese households, according to TV rating experts.

People gather in a supermarket in Hangzhou to watch a volley game. [China Daily]

China has the potential to sweep all of the gold medals in these events and most Chinese will do whatever they can to avoid missing the experience - which for the vast majority will mean watching events unfold from the comfort of their own sofa or from a neighbor's living room.

"We don't have a crystal ball to predict what will happen exactly, but we think these three events will be the most viewed games," said Linda Chang, managing director of AGB Nielsen in China.  

Four years ago in Athens, the men's and women's table tennis singles finals and the dramatic women's volleyball final between China and Russia topped the bill for Chinese viewers.

The women's doubles tennis final also proved a dark horse thanks to some last-gasp Chinese heroics that resulted in a shock gold medal for Li Ting and Sun Tiantian.

AGB Nielsen, the media research company that has a regional base in Shanghai, said the top 15 most-viewed events in China during the 2004 Games featured Chinese medal winners.

Over 85 percent of the Chinese public switched onto Olympic programs during the Games, watching an average of 11 hours and 45 minutes of coverage per viewer, Chang said at a press briefing.

The Aug 8-24 Beijing Games will likely draw a record number of Chinese viewers. Not only has the event been wildly trumpeted as a source of massive pride, and people power one of the Games' lesser themes, but the lack of time difference will make viewing considerably easier on the domestic front.

This is music to the ears of state broadcaster CCTV, which is in a position to write its own advertising fees.

AGB Nielsen said it plans to survey 10 provinces in China, covering 669 million people, and another 38 countries and regions worldwide during the Games to further clarify the TV ratings.

"Both urban and suburban populations will be surveyed," Chang said. "We have set up more than 18,000 sample families in China to help us collect data."

Ratings will probably be way below-target in quake-affected areas in Sichuan province, she said, after the strongest earthquake in a generation claimed nearly 70,000 lives there in recent weeks.

She also said it is still too early to evaluate the impact that the time difference will have on North American audiences aiming to watch the Beijing Games.

"We can't say the time difference will definitely cause the ratings to drop in the US," she said. "If the match is the country's favorite sport or the most desired medal, the American fans will stay up."