Major bids at CCTV's 2014 ad auction (million yuan) Source: Compiled by GT Graphics: GT

 

Two bidders celebrate with others after winning a bid during the CCTV 2014 prime-time ad auction in Beijing on Monday. Photo: IC

China Central Television (CCTV), the country's State broadcaster, said that total revenue for 2014's advertising slots exceeded 2012's record amount but did not release any figures, after it held a nearly 10-hour auction for its prime-time advertising slots Monday.

"The food and beverage, home appliance and automobile sectors were the top three ad spenders on CCTV. The tourism and healthcare sectors also recorded significant growth in ad spending," CCTV Advertising Center said in a statement e-mailed to the Global Times on Monday.

With one-third of the country's audience share, CCTV's annual ad auction is seen as a barometer not only for the advertising industry but also for China's economy.

This is the 20th year that the national broadcaster has held such an auction, but the first time that it did not release the ad revenue raised from the auction. In last year's auction for 2013 prime-time advertisement slots, CCTV earned record revenue of 15.88 billion yuan ($2.6 billion), up 11.39 percent year-on-year.

Monday's revenue for prime-time advertising slots will not be representative of CCTV's total ad revenue, as 70 percent of CCTV's 2014 ad slots were sold between September 17 and October 31, He Haiming, director of CCTV Advertising Center, said in an early media interview on November 2.

Major bidders in Monday's auction included e-commerce platform tmall.com, home appliance retailer chain Gome Electrical Appliances Holding and domestic online education platform noahedu.com.

"Through advertising on CCTV this year, Gome's brand awareness and reputation have seen rapid gains, which is reflected in our third-quarter financial report," He Yangqing, senior vice president of Gome, told a media briefing on the sidelines of the auction.

Gome's net profit amounted to 582 million yuan in the first three quarters of 2013, compared to a net loss of 687 million yuan during the same period last year, according to the company.

"High-end liquor brands such as JNC, last year's top bidder, and Kweichow Moutai kept a low profile during Monday's auction, partly due to the country's crackdown on official spending and extravagance," Yu Fei, a brand expert with marketing consultancy Lange Zhiyang, told the Global Times on Monday.

Foreign companies were also less aggressive than their domestic rivals during the auction. US sportswear maker Nike Inc paid 46 million yuan for the exclusive titling rights for CCTV's 2014 Brazil World Cup program Brazil Action.

"Top bidders are mainly consumer-­related companies, signaling China's transition from relying on investment to relying on consumption," Li Guangdou, head of Beijing-based brand consultancy Wondersee, told the media briefing.

Li expects companies in the agricultural, education, insurance and healthcare sectors to have the potential to be major bidders for CCTV's prime-time advertising slots in the future.

Although CCTV dominates the domestic TV ad market, some provincial satellite TV broadcasters started ad pre-sales ahead of CCTV, trying to earn a bigger share of the advertising market.

East China's Zhejiang TV earned 1.3 billion yuan from an ad auction for its popular talent show The Voice of China on November 2, up more than 30 percent from the previous auction.

Three days later, Central China's Hunan TV raised 1.758 billion yuan from its auction, with the advertisement slots for its popular music show I'm A Singer contributing nearly 50 percent.

Li warned that CCTV's largest competitor is not a local TV station, but the country's search engine giant Baidu Inc.

"Baidu's advertising revenue is expected to surpass that of CCTV this year," said Li.