Arts, Entertainment, and Media
While China’s censors put tight restrictions on expression in the country’s art and media scene, writers, filmmakers, artists and others continue to churn out cultural products within the guarded boundaries of acceptable discourse. China’s film and music industries draw from domestic artistic traditions while also incorporating Western and other styles into their offerings. As disposable incomes among China’s middle class rise, entertainment and media products are set to see corresponding growth.
China’s film industry has grown significantly in recent years, with the number of movies being shown in theaters growing by over ten times, and domestically produced movies gradually taking up a higher share of the cinema market. China’s huge market is an enticing prospect for foreign film production companies, leading studios to increasingly consider Chinese viewers’ (and CCP leaders’) tastes and preferences. China has also become an enormous market for the music industry, where live performance makes up the lion’s share of revenues, though digital music streaming is gaining ground. As newly implemented intellectual property protections have taken effect, artists have seen revenues from digital streaming sharply rise. Still, streaming platforms differ from their Western counterparts in that they gain much of their incomes through concert ticket sales and live streamed events. As internet access improves across the country, the more bandwidth-heavy activities of streaming music and movies will only gain more ground in China.
Other Chinese online media include successful business and news websites, popular video platforms such as Youku, iQiYi, and Bilibili, and social media companies like ByteDance, responsible for the worldwide social media sensation TikTok (and its Chinese domestic counterpart, Douyin).
China’s government can and often does intervene in the operations of these kinds of companies in order to mold their activity to its interests and send signals to other entities to adhere to its preferences. In recent years, the government has emphasized “revolutionary culture,” and in 2021 banned the depiction of “effeminate men” on TV. Around the same time, Beijing moved to crack down on China’s gaming industry, reducing young people’s access to online games. These kinds of campaigns can have sweeping effects on entire industries at the drop of a hat.
All companies in Arts, Entertainment, and Media
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- Company name
- Revenue
- Assets
- Employees
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Qutoutiao
- USD 680.98 M
- 1,110
-
Shanghai Jifen Culture Communication
- USD 680.98 M
- 1,110
-
Guangzhou Tiger Tooth Information Technology
- $1.78 B
- 223
-
HUYA
- USD 1.78 B
- 2067
-
Wuhan Douyu Network Technology
- USD 1.44 B
- 2,155
-
Cheetah Mobile Inc.
- USD 188.1 M
- 1,044
-
Bilibili
- USD 3.04 B
- 12,281
-
Guangzhou Netease Computer Systems
- USD 11.3 B
- 28,239
-
Guangzhou Lizhi Network Technology
- USD 230.3 M
- 658
-
Guangzhou Huaduo Network Technology
- USD 2.6 B
- 7,449
-
Beijing Weimeng Chuangke
- USD 2.3 B
- 6,147
-
Beijing Sohu
- USD 186.6 M
- 3000
-
Sohu
- USD 186.6 M
- 4900
-
Beijing iQiyi
- USD 4.8 B
- 5,856
-
Beijing Pingxin Media Culture
- USD 59.3 M
- 522
-
36Kr Holdings
- USD 59.3 M
- 522
-
Qianjin Network Information Technology (Shanghai)
- USD 565.4M
- 8875
-
miHoYo
- USD 1.5 B
- 4,000
-
51job
- USD 565.4M
- 8875
-
KongZhong
- 20
-
High Great
- 50-99
-
ByteDance
- USD 34.3 B
- 110,000
-
DAMODA
- 50-99
-
iQiyi
- USD 4.8 B
- 5,856
-
Kuaishou
- 21,499
-
NetEase
- USD 13.7 B
- 32,064
-
Tencent
- USD 74.0 B
- 85,858
-
CMC Inc.
- 50-200
-
Weibo
- USD 2.3 B
- 6,147
-
Xiaohongshu
- 1000
-
JOYY
- USD 2.6 B
- 7,449