Entertainment & Media

China’s entertainment and media sector is anticipated to generate $526.9 billion in sales by 2026, outpacing the worldwide CAGR of 4.6% and rising at a CAGR of 5.7%, as forecasted by PwC China. [1] China will be the global leader in average growth for several industries, including virtual reality (VR), Internet advertising, video games, and eSports. As 2022 is full of uncertainty, with factors such as the pandemic and changes of supply chain continuing to affect consumer behavior and the entertainment and media industry. The metaverse is expected to set off a new wave of digitalization.

Five subsectors–Internet advertising, metaverse, OTT video (“Over-The-Top,” any streaming service that provides material via the internet), movie, video games and esports–are investigated for the entertainment and media industry in China. With a market size of $100 billion in 2021, China will be the second-largest Internet advertising market in the world, behind only the United States. [1] China’s total Internet advertising income is anticipated to surpass the regional and worldwide norms, expanding at a CAGR of 13.1% to reach $185.3 billion by 2026. The CMF (Chinese government-hold telecommunication firm) formed the Metaverse Industry Committee in November 2021 to direct the industry’s long-term growth. The government is encouraging the metaverse in order to draw talent, investment, and support economic development. 

China continued to be the second-largest market in the world behind the US in 2021, with total OTT video sales there reaching $11.4 billion. [1] By the end of 2021, there were approximately 300 million active smart TV devices (including set-top boxes) in the country, making OTT one of the fastest-growing ad platforms. The revenue mix is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% during the following few years, reaching $16.2 billion in revenue by 2026. China made up 35.2% of worldwide box office revenue in 2021. At one point, Chinese theatres brought in almost 80% of all box office earnings. The box office in China soared in 2021, more than doubling in size from the previous year to reach roughly $7.3 billion by the end of the year. The world’s largest market for video games and e-sports is China. The total number of video game players in China reached 666 million by the end of 2021, and the country’s total video game and e-sports revenue, which stands at $55.5 billion in 2021, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.3% over the course of the forecast period to reach $94.6 billion by 2026. [1]

The development of China’s eSports industry can be divided into five periods: 1998-2008 was the initial budding period; 2009-2013 was the (early) development period; 2014-2017 was the growth (diversified) period; 2018 to the present was the explosive period. In 2021, Chinese team EDG won the League of Legends Global Finals with 150 million official domestic (China) live stream views, reflecting the popularity of China’s gaming industry. [2] According to Newzoo’s 2020 Global eSports Market Report, the eSports audience is expected to reach 295 million in 2023. Chinese eSports users are predominantly male, and they are concentrated under the age of 30, accounting for nearly 80% of the entire user group. The users prefer to play MOBA-type (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games and play eSports for 11-20 hours per week on average. China’s video games industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.9%, and eSports at 12.3% in the following years.

The computer game sector in China had a total revenue of $8.7 billion in 2021. [1] At the same year, social/casual game revenues made up 81.5% of all consumer revenues from video games and eSports. Revenue from web-based gaming decreased again in 2021, falling 11.4% year over year to $161 million. While this is the case, app-based game income has been increasing and totaled $26.6 billion by 2021. The most common business models continue to be “free to play + props” and “in-app advertising,” with in-app advertising expected to generate 83.7% of all new income in the social/casual sector over the next five years. There were an estimated 489 million eSports fans in China in 2021, which is driving the worldwide eSports explosion. With a compound annual growth rate of 13.7%, total eSports revenues are projected to climb from a little under $474 million in 2021 to just under $900 million by 2026. [1]