"I was so happy to get the news," said Zhang. "Finally I can celebrate the most important holiday of the year with my favorite singer."

Talented netizens were even asked to recommend themselves to the committee, and the top vote-winners had their performance recorded by BTV and broadcast on television and on the Internet.

Popular members of the online community were also invited on the show, such as a mother who donated her liver to her son (named best mom of 2009), a man who threw his bicycle at a thief on a motorbike to stop him escaping (most brave man of 2009) and a middle-aged female singer who claims she can compete with Russian tenor Vitas.

What gave BTV an edge over tianya.cn's Spring Festival gala, and the reason why BTV can credibly claim to be setting a new Spring Festival milestone, is that tianya's bash only targets members of the online community.

Chen Sixin, who directed this year's tianya Spring Festival gala, said programming was based on contributions from the public rather than employing the services of paid-for celebrities and entertainers. Everything from logo design to virtual entrance tickets is designed by netizens, he said.

"It is like an end-of-year carnival for all of our members," Chen said. "We guesstimate that about 50,000 Internet users will sit down in front of their computers this year and enjoy the programs posted by their peers," he said before the show was broadcast.

He said growth has been explosive, with 20,000 people participating in the production of content this year, up from 5,000 in 2007.

Chen said some of the programs are simple and juvenile. Doctored celebrity photographs is a popular form of social comment but the tone is light and it is a creative atmosphere.