Radio, film and TV industries generate $46b in 2011

BEIJING - China's radio, film and television industries generated 289.4 billion yuan ($45.8 billion) in 2011, a 17.7-percent year-on-year increase, according to a report released by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television Thursday.

The strong growth was mostly driven by the advertising and cable network sectors and surging box office revenue, according to Pang Jingjun, director of the SARFT R&D center and chief editor of the report.

Advertising revenue amounted to nearly 112.3 billion yuan last year, up 19 percent from the previous year, while an increase of 16 percent was seen in the cable network sector, which grabbed 56.37 billion yuan, said Pang.

By the end of January, Chinese cinemas boasted 9,600 screens, the second-most in the world, Pang said. Box office revenues in the Chinese mainland hit 13.1 billion yuan last year after marking 30-percent average annual growth in the past nine years.

In 2011, exports of Chinese film and TV products totaled $156 million, according to the report.

Last year, 469 TV drama programs went into production, yielding 14,942 episodes -- the most in the world. Meanwhile, 791 films were produced, including 55 that clinched 2.04 billion yuan in overseas box office revenue and scored 82 international awards.

The report also said that 356 million Chinese surfed the Internet on their mobile phones as of the end of 2011, and more than one-fifth watched online videos on mobile phones.