Chapter 3 Characteristics of China’s advertising Market…
3.4 Limited Grouping of Newspaper …
acceptance of advertising, such as television, radio ads, etc. in China declined in 2008 (CTR, 2009). Another survey shows that Chinese people watch TV for 2.23 hours per day on average on normal weekdays, and 3.15 hours at weekends. Yet another result from the survey shows that 44.3% read newspapers every day and 29.7% read them at least 3 times a week (Search in a Research Inquiry, 2009). China’s advertising industry was forecast to rise 19% and exceed a turnover of RMB 200 billion in 2008, of which TV stations are expected to occupy a 36.4% share, which substantially leads newspapers (17.2 %), new media (15.1 %), outdoor advertising (14.0 %), magazines (8.4 %), radio (2.5 %) and direct mail (1.3 %).
Table 3-4: Distribution of Advertising Expenditure in Different Media:
2007-2008
Media Magazine Radio Direct Mail 2007 36.2% 19.1% 13.5% 12.1% 8.8% 3.1% 1.6%
2008 36.4% 17.2% 14.0% 15.1% 8.4% 2.5% 1.3%
Source: Huang, Ding, and Shiao (2009)
3.4 Limited Grouping of Newspaper
Since the 1980s, in accordance with the principles of entrepreneurial business, a series of major changes have taken place in the field of the media in China, particularly in terms of maintaining their survival and the pursuit of economic efficiency. In January 1996, the Guangzhou Daily Group was set up with the formal approval of the State Press and Publication Administration as the first newspaper group in China (Administration of Press and Publication of Guangdong Province, 2006).11 Although
11 The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) is the government’s administrative agency responsible for drafting and enforcing China’s prior restraint regulations.
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the newspapers in China are continuously merging into groups, the grouping of Chinese newspapers is still limited by the scope of the region and inter-industry.
Firstly, China’s current grouping of newspapers has focused on media of the same nature due to policy restrictions, since the fragmentation of China’s administrative system is inseparable. For example, newspaper operators cannot be involved in radio or television. Secondly, according to China’s current public information policies, newspapers can operate in other industries, such as retail, tourism and real estate, but those industries are not allowed to operate in the media. Thirdly, the grouping of Chinese newspapers is still limited to the scope of the region, and any inter-territorial operation can be considered to be an invasion on other newspaper marketing in another place, which may face strict local protectionism (Zhang, 2007). Even though grouping has various restrictions, newspaper groups are consistently developing, and compared with 2005 and 2007, China newspaper sales have steadily increased from 96.6 to 98.7 million copies daily (World Association of Newspapers, 2006). Official statistics of China also show that, in 2000, China had 2,160 newspapers with an annual circulation of 26 billion copies.
More than a decade before, in 1978, the “People’s Daily” and several other media organizations in Beijing jointly made a request to the Ministry of Finance for a trial of operating policies, “the management of enterprises and institutions”. On January 28, 1979, Shanghai’s “Liberation Daily” published the first commercial advertisement. In 1985, Henan’s “Luoyang Daily” was the first to embark on the path of the self-management issue, which initiated a new wave of newspaper reform in China. In the late 1980s, the rapid growth of the advertising market led to newspapers being eager to expand their number of pages to meet the growing demand from the advertising market. On Jan 1, 1987, the “Guangzhou Daily” was the first to be
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extended to 8 pages from the original 4-page version. During the 1990s, real estate, commodities and trading advertising grew constantly, which provided the elements for developing new newspapers, and the local official newspapers of the CCP began to publish the Evening News and the Metropolis News. Eventually, the innovation of operating systems and the distribution of news editing systems contributed to the formation of China’s newspaper market (Chen, 2006).
As a result of the prosperous expectation of subsidiaries of official newspapers, the State Press and Publication Administration formally approved the formation of the
“Guangzhou Daily” newspaper group in 1996. In 1998, the Hong Kong Economic Times newspaper group, the Guangming Daily Newspaper Group, the Nanfang Daily Press Group, the newspaper Yangcheng Evening News Group, and the Wenhui Xinmin United Press Group were approved. At the same time, the restructuring of newspapers became the most important management of newspaper reform, and the administrative implementation of the newspaper industry continued. By 2006, with the exception of the Tibet Autonomous Region, every municipality and autonomous region in China had formed newspaper groups, which totaled 39 groups (Wu, 2006).
In 2005, the People’s Republic of China was the country with the largest number of 23 newspapers in the top 100 list of 215 countries and regions around the world by average circulation. The Cankao Xiaoxi (參考消息) issued by CCP retains its influence on the Nation with a circulation of 3.18 million, which accords the Cankao Xiaoxi the position of number one in China, and 7th in the world after five Japanese newspapers (Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, Nihon and Chunichi News) and one German
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newspaper (Das Bild).12 The People’s Daily with its 5 foreign languages (English, Japanese, French, Spanish and Arabic) ranked second in China with a circulation of 2.8 million (Table 3-5).
Table 3-5: Major Newspaper Groups in China by Circulation:2008 Rank Newspaper
3 Yangtse Evening Post Nanjing 1.810 Chinese
(Traditional Chinese)
4 Guangzhou Daily Guangzhou 1.680 Chinese
5 Information Times Guangzhou 1.480 Chinese
6 Nanfang City News Guangzhou 1.400 Chinese
7 Yangcheng Evening
News Guangzhou 1.170 Chinese
8 Chutian Metro Daily Wuhan
13 Yanzhao Metro Daily
Shijiazhuang (石家莊)
0.995 Chinese
12 The Cankao Xiaoxi (Reference News), issued by the Xinhua News Agency, and the People’s Daily
“Global Times” are the only two newspapers which can publish foreign news in China.
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Newspaper Release Million Language Rank
Group Location Copies (Online)
14 Qianjiang Evening News
Hangzhou
(杭州) 0.951 Chinese
15 Metro Express Shanghai 0.950 Chinese
16 Today Evening News Tiangjin
(天津) 0.910 Chinese
17 Peninsula City News Shenyang
(瀋陽) 0.900 Chinese
18 Nanfang Daily Guangzhou 0.850 Chinese
19 Wuhan Evening
21 Liaoshen Evening News
Shenyang
(瀋陽) 0.826 Chinese
22 Beijing Evening
News Beijing 0.800 Chinese
23 Modern Express Nanjing 0.790 Chinese
24 Jinling Evening
News Nanjing 0.700 Chinese
Source:Wikipedia (2008)