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Newspaper industry presses
ahead
BEIJING - China's
newspaper industry has developed rapidly in recent
years. There were 2,007 titles by the end of March this
year - 10 times the number of newspapers two decades
ago.
A study shows that the industry consumed 90
billion folios of paper in 2001, and the annual
distribution of newspapers reached 31 billion copies,
with a turnover value of 21.6 billion yuan (US$2.6
billion). The actual revenue from newspaper distribution
was 11 billion yuan, and business revenue from
advertising was 15.7 billion yuan, accounting for 20
percent of the national total.
Urban dwellers
are the main readers of newspapers. On average, these
people spend about 2 percent of their cash income on
buying newspapers. About 90 percent of them read
newspapers at least once a week. The newspaper
penetration rate is estimated at 25 percent.
There are national, regional, and local
newspapers. Local newspapers get the most
advertisements. There are newspapers in most cities
whose distribution has topped 200,000 copies, with an
advertising business turnover reaching 100 million yuan.
Regional level newspapers are also expanding.
Following the Guangzhou Daily's lead in organizing
newspaper groups in 1996, 26 more newspaper groups have
come into being and more are expected in the next few
years.
The number of newspapers whose
advertising income has topped 100 million yuan increased
from 36 in 1998 to 50 by the end of 2001, with the
combined advertising business turnover making up 80 per
cent of the total.
With the People's Daily
taking the lead, more than 300 titles of newspapers are
now operating electronics editions on the internet,
making up about 13 percent of the total. There are 18
newspapers in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou that have
their own websites. The Peoplesnet and the Xinhuanet
created by leading media at the central level have
developed rapidly. Apart from the Chinese editions, they
also offer editions in other languages, such as English,
Japanese, French, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. The daily
content averages 3,000 stories and the average daily
number of hits has reached 10 million.
According
to WTO rules, China will have to allow the operation of
Sino-foreign joint venture enterprises in the
distribution of books, newspapers and periodicals. It is
expected that foreign investors will soon show their
presence in the area of newspaper distribution.
(Asia Pulse/XIC)
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