E-publishing revenue in China 2011-2021
Online advertising: China’s goldmine
A bulk of China’s digital publishing revenue has been generated by the online advertising sector. Held within this segment are various forms of digital advertising with e-commerce and search engine advertising being the most prominent revenue contributors. With increasing online consumer spending power in rural regions, Chinese e-commerce advertising market was expected to grow steadily in the coming few years. In terms of medium, mobile advertising has grabbed a greater proportion of digital ad spending, which was paralleled by the increasing smartphone adoption.
A new chapter of online learning
Besides advertising, the online education sector has proved to be a viable market for the Chinese digital publishing industry. This can be attributed to the rising smartphone adoption and omnipresent digitalization in the country. In 2023, the e-learning business was estimated to reach 440 billion yuan, a majority of which was generated from the higher education segment. Some companies which offered free streaming courses during the pandemic quarantine period have undoubtedly tapped into new revenue pools in lower-tier cities – the less developed cities making up about half of the country’s population.