China's venerable nightly news show connects with young viewers online

Xinwen Lianbo, China's most-watched daily TV news program, available on Douyin on Saturday, August 24, 2019.[Photo: Douyin]

Xinwen Lianbo, the daily prime time news program on China Central Television (CCTV) that has been on the air since 1978, has taken to using the short video apps Douyin and Kuaishou to reach younger audiences.

Short video apps are hugely popular social media platforms for young people. An employee of Douyin told the China Youth Daily that 85 percent of its users are under 24 years of age, with the most influential users born after 1995. First launched in September 2016, Douyin's popularity took off in 2017 and it soon became the most popular short video app in China, with more than 10 billion daily views.

Since CCTV News opened an account on Douyin nine months ago, it has gained a large number of followers, according to Li Zhe, a producer at the CCTV News New Media Center. Over the past few months, CCTV News has gradually begun publishing shorter videos and switched to using vertically-formatted videos better suited to being watched on a phone screen.

The first short video posted on the Douyin account of Xinwen Lianbo featured Kang Hui, one of the program's anchors. Within a day, Xinwen Lianbo had 15 million followers and it topped Douyin's list of its most popular accounts, reports Beijing Youth Daily.

Xinwen Lianbo has since opened an account on Kuaishou, another popular short video app, and has gained more than 12 million followers.