What Are The Differences Between The Motivations Of Taiwanese And Mainland Chinese Viewers In Watching Entertainment Talk Shows

There is a geal demand for entertainment television talk shows in Mainland China, only second to news and drama series as figures show. However, despite the constant new-coming entertaining television talk shows in Mainland China, their ratings have not shown much improvement, if not gradually decreasing. It is obvious that they have not satisfied the cultural and leisure requirements of the viewers. In contrast, Taiwanese entertainment talk shows such as "Kang Xi Lai Le" have shown a great success in Mainland China, with a soaring viewing numbers via the Internet.In fact, the television show "Kang Xi Lai Le" has shown tremendous triumph in both Taiwan and Mainland China. Although speaking the same language and sharing similar cultures, there are still apparent differences in social environment, entertainment cultural traditions, competitiveness of media and social norms between Taiwan and Mainland China. The audience's mutual fondness in "Kang Xi Lai Le" hence becomes an intriguing phenomenon to study for.The paper focuses on the audience response of the television show, comparing the motives behind the Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese viewers'choice of watching the program. Using Blumler and Katz's uses and gratification model (Blumler & Katz,1974) as a framework, the results gathered from two separate focus groups composed of regular viewers and content analysis of video streaming websites'comments showed that while "Diversion" was the main reason which prompted Taiwanese viewers to watch Kang Xi Lai Le, "Surveillance" ranked top among Mainland Chinese viewers. Case study research further showed that it is the limitation of media freedom in Mainland China is only of the major reasons that cause the difference between the motivations of the two regions.