China Media Monitor Headlines Archives

CCTV's advertising income is expected to exceed RMB15 billion in 2010, according to an unnamed industry insider quoted in Legal Evening News. The national broadcaster's advertising income was RMB16.1 billion in 2008 and RMB11 billion in 2007.

CCTV is currently preparing to host its annual auction for prime time ad slots on November 18. All of the advertising agencies and companies qualified to participate in the auction have received a catalogue outlining the minimum bids for all ad slots. The ad slots for the finance and business program Economic Information Network (Jingji Xinxi Lianbo) on CCTV 2 are currently the most expensive in the catalogue, with a minimum bid price of RMB360 million.

Mainland Internet TV and online video site operator Letv.com's profits have grown by more than 100% every year over the last 3 years, according to a Beijing Business Today report quoting Letv.com Vice President Liu Hong.

Since it was set up in 2004, Letv.com has acquired exclusive New Media rights to more than 10,000 films and TV drama episodes by offering the copyright owners flat fee payments or revenue-sharing deals. The bulk of the websites profits are generated from advertising revenues and users can watch all of the content for free on their computers. Alternately, users can opt to pay RMB2,180 for a 3 year package that provides them with a set top box allowing them to watch Letv.com content on their TV sets.

US disaster film 2012 will premiere across China on November 13, making it the last foreign film to secure a release date under the 20 films-a-year quota for revenue-sharing films in 2009. Director Roland Emmerich's earlier disaster film The Day After Tomorrow performed well when it was released across China in 2004 and 2012 is expected to be the top-performing release in November.

Beijing cinemas made RMB530 million (US$77.65 million) at the box office by the end of September, a year-on-year increase of 53.2% year-on-year, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). Audience numbers grew 45.8% year-on-year to 60.20 million over the same time frame.

Box office growth was particularly marked during the third quarter, when the box office figures shot up 73.4% quarter-on-quarter and 75% year-on-year to RMB231 million (US$33.84 million).

FremantleMedia has announced that shooting has wrapped up on Marvin and the Chinese Panda (Mawen He Zhongguo Da Xiongmao), a documentary co-production with Asia Union and Discovery. The documentary is expected to be picked up by major TV stations in Great Britain, China, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia after June next year.