C
ongratulations on your purchase of the CMM-
I 2007 China Media Yearbook & Directory,
the most comprehensive English resource for
businesses active in the world's fastest growing, and
most complicated, market.
The 2007 edition features the same triple volume com-
bination of CMM-I independent analysis of major de-
velopments, authoritative industrial trend data and
fully updated profiles of China's major media players,
but the market described has once again shifted fun-
damentally on the inside over the last year.
Most basically, the Chinese economic miracle contin-
ued with GDP growth topping 10 percent over 2005-06
and, once again, parts of China's huge and diverse
media industry continued to expand even faster over
the last twelve months.
Adspend growth for 2006 hit nearly 20 percent and
China became the world's largest producer of TV dra-
mas. The feature film and animation sectors both saw
record levels of production. If there was a loser, it was
the newspaper sector that saw further cuts in govern-
ment subsidies and watched as readers and advertis-
ers defected to online and mobile alternatives.
Meanwhile, IPTV finally started revolutionizing the way
77 million broadband users receive their professional
video entertainment and generated huge volumes of
user generated content as well. An entirely new gen-
eration of risk taking firms is now staking its claim in the
middle of a fierce turf war between several interested
government departments. Interest is now focusing on
content for 400 million cellular users.
Despite all these internal developments, China's me-
dia infrastructure continues to remain largely off limits
for foreign media conglomerates. The overarching
foreign policy goal of China's media regulators is to
export Chinese culture via TV and radio shows, films,
books and other cultural products. But, of equal im-
portance, is the active regulation and limitation of for-
eign media influence inside China.
Although the door is now firmly shut on the establish-
ment of Sino-foreign joint venture TV production com-
panies, foreign content players are finding many other
opportunities to actively engage with the market.
Of prime importance is the run-up to the 2008 Beijing
Olympiad. At no other time in Chinese history have so
many foreign media organizations engaged in co-
production features exploring the modern as well as
old China. But while China has relaxed its reporting
procedures for the duration, it would be naïve to be-
lieve this signals any kind of fundamental change in
the government's position.
As China's leading independent media trade facilita-
tor, CMM-I's market analysis and industry databases
are informed by daily interaction with Chinese media
organizations and we cannot stress enough the impor-
tance of tracking the market on a continuous basis.
Indeed, the market dynamics captured in this publi-
cation are subject to continual change and serious
readers are recommended to subscribe to the month-
ly China Media Monitor for regular analysis. Please also
check our website for updated media statistics and
information on other CMM-I professional publications,
reports and industry events.
We sincerely hope the 2007 China Media Yearbook
and Directory will provide you with the essential intel-
ligence needed to help you actively engage in what
is one of the most exciting media markets in the world
and we welcome your comments and suggestions.
Kristian Kender, Anke Redl, Rowan Simons
2007 China Media Yearbook & Directory
WELCOMING MESSAGE
