China Internet Copyright Industry Development Report (2018)

The Internet Copyright Industry Research Center of National Copyright Administration released the China Internet Copyright Industry Report  (2018) on April 26, which analyzed and explained major features and development trend of China’s internet copyright industry.

According to the report, the market scale of China’s internet copyright industry totaled 742.3 billion yuan (USD110.2 billion) in 2018, presenting a year on year increase of 16.6%. Statistics show that since 2006, China’s internet copyright industry has grown rapidly for ten consecutive years and thus has become a pillar underpinning copyright industry and an important engine for digital economy. Its importance to the global internet copyright industry has also experienced steady growth.

China’s Internet Copyright Industry has Maintained Rapid and Steady Growth

market scale of China's Internet copyright industry

According to the report, the market scale of China’s internet copyright industry totaled 742.3 billion yuan (USD 110.2 billion) in 2018, presenting a year on year increase of 16.6%. Statistics show that since 2006, China’s internet copyright industry has grown rapidly for ten consecutive years and thus has become a pillar underpinning copyright industry and an important engine for digital economy. Its importance to the global internet copyright industry has also experienced steady growth.

All this comes from continuous improvement of national copyright environment and industrial innovation. In the past decade, China’s internet copyright industry which used to be chaotic has been well regulated. Enterprises are more likely to support genuine products and people are more willing to pay for authentic copies. The business model featuring paid-users and endorsement has been formed. In spite of global turbulence, China’s internet copyright industry embraced rocketing and steady growth with market share increasing a hundred billion yuan based on the 636.45 billion in 2017 thanks to industrial restructuring, higher-quality innovation, larger overseas market and advanced technologies.

Industrial structure and profit model have also changed. China’s internet copyright industry has developed in diverse fields, for example, short videos and livestreaming are thriving, though online news portals (including electronic sports), online videos (including animation) and online games are still three pillars, which accounted for 85% of the total value. In the past two years, especially, the blooming short video industry reaches 300% growth, much higher than that of subindustries. Although users of online livestreaming are not as active as before, other related industries are emerging such as online education and online game livestreaming. Traditional and new business models are further integrating; online game livestreaming, music short video, VR/AR game are mushrooming.

market scale of subindustries of China's Internet copyright industry

It is worth noting that users of China’s internet copyright industry paid a total of 368.6 yuan in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. Compared with 2016, users’ paid volume increased about 150 billion yuan. The market share of this volume account for 50% in 2018, while in 2016, it was only 44%. The growth rate of online games and livestreaming,which used to be main drivers propelling user payment scale, is slowing down in 2018 while the case is quite opposite when it comes to online video and digital reading. Unique contents of higher-quality are offered to users so that they will be more likely to pay.

The overall industrial scale cannot maintain steady growth without growing number of users  and increasing flow. When demographic dividend of China’s internet industry gradually turns negative, internet companies start to raise penetration rate of internet in smaller cities and countrysides. Now, the situation is becoming better. According to QuestMobile, per capita time spent on the internet in China has increased by 22% compared with last year and per capita time spent on the internet per day increased about one hour, a year-on-year increase of 22.6%.

May 26, 2019

Source: Tencent Research Institute

Photo from: Tencent Research Institute