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Vivienne Chow

Korean period drama Jewel in the Palace has opened  a new chapter in Hong Kong television history, with almost half of the population tuning in to its final  episode.

The last episode, aired on TVB Jade on Sunday at  8.30pm,  enjoyed a  rating of 47, the equivalent of 3,055,000 viewers.

It beat the record set  in 2000 when TVB's  War of the Genders attracted an estimated 3,018,000 viewers.

AC Nielsen records  the weekly TV ratings.

Jewel in the Palace helped set new average ratings records for  prime-time weekend viewing figures between 7pm and 10.30pm.  The prime-time rating  for Saturday night was 35 points, the highest since 1992; and 37 for Sunday, which was the highest since 1998.

Assistant controller for external affairs at TVB, Tsang Sing-ming, said the station was happy with the record  but denied it meant that local productions were losing out to foreign shows.

'We are very happy. But it's not really about local productions losing the battle because apart from producing our own programmes, we also bring quality international programmes to audiences,' he said. 'This shows that we have good programme selection.'

He  credited  the success of Jewel in the Palace  to the station's marketing techniques. But he said TVB would  try to learn from the Korean production.



Finale puts biggest jewel in broadcaster's crown