EuroData TV released its annual report of television viewing, "1999: One Television Year in the World," analyzing the TV habits of 1.2 billion viewers in 59 countries.
The report noted the global trend of increased television viewing, claiming that the average viewer spent 201 minutes
Another finding was that fiction (including movies, soaps and sitcoms) represented the leading genre of the year in the ratings charts. Fiction was especially popular in Asia, topping the charts in South Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. Telenovelas were still the primetime favorite among Latin American viewers.
Locally-produced programs accounted for 70 percent of 1999's ratings successes. They grabbed all top-10 slots in Finland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland and the U.K.
EuroData called the United States the "undisputed leader in the export market" as it supplied 40 percent of all foreign programming; the remainder consisted of international events and assorted programs from Latin America, Europe and Asia.