China's radio broadcast, film and TV industries reported revenues totaling $60.1 billion (373.5 billion yuan) in 2013, according to data from the state media watchdog, the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.
Box office revenues reached $3.51 billion (21.77 billion yuan) last year, with domestic productions grabbing $2.06 billion (12.77 billion yuan), or 58.65 percent of the market share, the data showed.
The report said domestic productions, which totaled 824 last year, were the dominant driving force for the increase of $760 million (4.7 billion yuan) in movie ticket sales from the previous year.
The figures are in line with the movie box office sales data from the Motion Picture Association of America, which report 27 percent growth to $3.6 billion in 2013.
The battle for box office share between domestic and international movies has been an ongoing theme in China, especially since it became the second biggest film market in the world in 2013.
Of the top 10 movies in the first half of this year, four were Chinese and the remaining six were from Hollywood. A Chinese movie was the biggest winner of last year, with Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons taking $201 million.
Film Bureau chief Zhang Hongsen said recently that China’s film business was at war with Hollywood and needed to dramatically up its game if it was to survive when the quota on foreign film imports is lifted in four years’ time.
Advertising revenues of the television and radio industries amounted to $22.3 billion (138.7 billion yuan), up 9.19 percent from the previous year, according to the report, which was carried by the People’s Daily newspaper.
According to the report, the revenues of the online audio-visual industry surged 41.9 percent from the previous year to $2.06 billion (12.81 billion yuan).