China's ad industry rises to world's second: SAIC

HANGZHOU -- China's advertising industry has grown to become the world's second largest in terms of overall market scale, behind the United States, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said Friday.

By the end of last year, the number of advertising agencies in China reached 377,800, with 2.18 million people working in the industry and total business revenues amounting to 469.8 billion yuan ($75.52 billion), SAIC head Zhang Mao said at an industry work conference in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The advertising sector has been one of the fastest growing industries in China, with business revenues rising 30 percent annually over the past three decades, Zhang said, adding that the sector's aggregate business turnover in 2012 was 50.32 percent higher than that of 2011.

Although the size of China's advertising market has risen to become the world's second largest, the sector is not as professional, organized and innovative as those in developed countries. It also lacks top professional talents, Zhang said.

The sector's contributions to China's gross domestic product remain on the low side, the SAIC head added.

In 2012, advertising industry revenues accounted for 0.9 percent of China's total GDP, up 0.24 percentage point from 2011, according to SAIC data.