On September 16, 2020, 2020 National Conference on Copyright Protection and Development in Digital Environment, hosted by the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC), took place in Beijing. At the conference, Report on the Development of China’s Online Copyright Industries (2019) was released by Online Copyright Industry Research Base of NCAC. According to the report, China’s online copyright industry in 2019 witnessed stable growth, constantly improved content quality and a more reasonable industrial structure, due to actively innovated business styles, adjusted structure, and technological layout.

 The report shows that in 2019, China’s online copyright industry market achieved a year-on-year increase of 29.1% to reach RMB 958.42 billion, with user payment, copyright operation, and advertising revenue as the main profit models. Specifically, advertising and other revenue was RMB 505.7 billion, taking up 52.7%; user payment was RMB 444.4 billion, taking up 46.4%; copyright operation revenue was RMB 8.32 billion, taking up 0.9%. In terms of the market structure, China’s online copyright industry in 2019 had its core businesses being stabilized, industrial structure more diversified, profit model gradually taking shape, and new businesses with huge potential. Online news media and online games were still the core businesses of China’s online copyright industry, with a combined market size of 63.7%. Online videos embraced a new round of rapid growth, and the overall industry share of online long videos (excluding animation), online short videos, and online live streaming approached 29%.

 The report analyzes the development and highlights of nine sub-industries, that is, digital reading, online long videos, online animation, online game, online music, online news media, online live streaming, online short videos, and virtual reality/augmented reality. The report also puts forward five new prospects for the development of China’s online copyright industry in 2020. First, new markets—the silver economy and the markets in third-tier cities and below and rural areas will drive the future online traffic growth. Second, new business type—short videos affect the overall layout of the online copyright business. Third, new opportunities—5G technology enables seamless matching between content and the platform. Fourth, new overseas development—copyright content and applications help to open up new overseas market. Fifth, new missions—online copyright supports the fight against the epidemic and poverty alleviation.

(Source: NCAC)