Many people all over the world have been watching the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this past August. But Brazil would rather have their eyes glued to watching telenovelas.
Around 91 million people in Brazil sit, relax, and tune into TV Globo each day, which was addressed in The Economist. That number is almost half of Brazil's population, and the numbers the United States hope to get once a year. Their popular soap operas called telenovelas, get the largest viewers, ratings, and word of mouth around Brazil.
According to a 2011 study conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, featured in this New York Times article by Vanessa Barbara, it shows that the percentage of people who have a television set, 96.9%, is higher than people who own a refrigerator, which is 95.8%, and 64% just have one television in their household. This shows that many people in the country really do love their telenovelas!
In this additional New York Times article by David Segal, he mentions the schedule for weeknight shows on TV Globo, which is: five one-hour telenovelas, with two newscasts and one sitcom in between. The most viewed time slot is 9:15, when about 50 million people sit to watch TV Globo, which is approximately one fourth of the country's population.
In the same article, Monica Albuquerque, the head of Globo's artistic development said that "the country would stop" if soaps went on hiatus, especially during the Olympic Games. Alburquerque also added that "it's culture and a part of life".