For me, there are 2 factors here which are slightly different.
China’s dominance of the World Table Tennis scene, and TV viewing.
With China, I just don’t see how anything will change whilst Table Tennis is the main sport in the country with the most people, and it’s a secondary sport in the majority of the rest of the world.
Even if the UK had the world champion, the popularity would barely increase, if it even did at all. It’ll simply never be as accessible as the other “main sports” here (and I imagine it’s the same in most other countries).
As for the TV thing….. Unfortunately, it’s just a really bad TV sport. 99% of the people don’t understand the levels of spin involved, so watching “world class” players push one in the net, or push one long, just looks really poor.
The rallies are over quickly, and there are just too many nuances in the game that are impossible to explain to the uneducated.
What’s probably worse, is that most people have picked up a bat at some point, and probably think it’s not that hard!
I don’t know how many people have heard of the World Championships of Ping Pong? But that’s shown on Sky Sports in the UK, which is about as “big” as it gets.
To put it into perspective, table tennis is rarely, if ever, shown on Sky Sports, or any other UK channel.
The Ping Pong is significantly better for TV, as the rallies are long, the crowd get into it, and it’s much easier to follow for the everyday person.
If anyone doesn’t know, they use sandpaper bats!
To me, this highlights the fact that table tennis as it is, just is never going to be a popular TV sport.
Oh, and I agree with others. Dear God, please, no more changes.