E-publishing revenue in China 2013-2023
With a drastic increase in technological development and the consistent decline in print circulation, the publishing industry has been taken over by digitalization. China is among some of the largest digital publishing markets in the world, with revenues running almost as high as 1.6 trillion yuan in 2023.
Online advertising: China’s goldmine
A bulk of China’s digital publishing revenue has been generated by the online advertising sector. Held within this segment are various forms of digital advertising, with e-commerce and search engine advertising being the most prominent revenue contributors. With increasing online consumer spending power in rural regions, Chinese retail media industry was expected to grow steadily in the coming few years. In terms of medium, mobile advertising has grabbed a greater proportion of digital ad spending, which was paralleled by the increasing smartphone adoption.
A new chapter of online learning
Besides advertising, the online education sector has proved to be a viable market for the Chinese digital publishing industry. This can be attributed to the rising smartphone adoption and omnipresent digitalization in the country. In 2024, the e-learning business was estimated to reach 490 billion yuan, a majority of which was generated from the higher education segment. Some companies which offered free streaming courses during the pandemic quarantine period have undoubtedly tapped into new revenue pools in lower-tier cities – the less developed cities making up about half of the country’s population.
