On May 8th, the National Radio and Television Administration officially released the Statistical Bulletin of the National Broadcasting and Television Industry in 2023.
According to the bulletin, as of the end of 2023, there were 1.0591 million employees in the national broadcasting, television, and online audio-visual industry, an increase of 1.11% compared to the previous year.
In 2023, the total production time of national radio programs was 7.5924 million hours, a decrease of 3.61% compared to the previous year; the total broadcasting time was 16.1598 million hours, an increase of 0.86% compared to the previous year. The total production time of television programs was 2.6001 million hours, a decrease of 3.97% compared to the previous year; the total broadcasting time was 20.0163 million hours, a decrease of 0.10% compared to the previous year.
As of the end of 2023, the comprehensive population coverage rate of national radio programs was 99.71%, and the comprehensive population coverage rate of television programs was 99.79%, an increase of 0.06 and 0.04 percentage points respectively compared to 2022. The comprehensive population coverage rate of rural radio programs was 99.59%, and the comprehensive population coverage rate of rural television programs was 99.72%, an increase of 0.10 and 0.07 percentage points respectively compared to 2022. The governance of issues such as complex charging and operations in the TV market has achieved the first phase of governance goals, including "watching live TV after turning on, reducing package fees by 50%, and enhancing consumer transparency," effectively promoting industry development and attracting users back to TV screens.
The actual number of cable TV users nationwide was 202 million households, including 100 million households with two-way digital cable TV, and 152 million households with direct satellite TV. The number of interactive network television (IPTV) users was approximately 400 million households, and the average monthly active users of internet television (OTT) exceeded 300 million households. Broadcasting and television 5G users exceeded 23 million households. The number of annual paid users for internet videos reached 732 million households, the number of annual paid users for internet audio reached 182 million households, and the number of users uploading short videos exceeded 750 million households.
There are a total of 1,105 high-definition television channels at the prefecture level and above nationwide, with 8 channels in 4K ultra-high-definition and 2 channels in 8K ultra-high-definition. All provincial-level channels have achieved high-definition. There are 109 million households with high-definition and ultra-high-definition cable TV, including 42 million households with ultra-high-definition, an increase of 5.27 million households compared to 2022. The process of TV high-definition and ultra-high-definition is accelerating.
There are 1,995 emergency broadcasting platforms at the provincial, municipal, and county levels across the country, with 3.52 million active release terminals. A total of 2.07 million emergency messages were broadcasted throughout the year, playing an important role in timely disaster warning, relief promotion during earthquakes, floods, and low-temperature rain and snow freezing disasters.
As of the end of 2023, there were more than 50,000 institutions engaged in broadcasting, television, and online audio-visual services nationwide, including 2,521 broadcasting and television broadcasting institutions and approximately 41,000 broadcasting and television program production and operation institutions. There were 2,989 licensed and registered online audio-visual institutions.
The total revenue of the national broadcasting, television, and online audio-visual industry in 2023 was 1,412.608 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.74%. Among them, the actual revenue from broadcasting, television, and online audio-visual services was 1,221.208 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.47%; fiscal subsidies amounted to 99.854 billion yuan; other revenue was 91.546 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.30%. In terms of entities, the total revenue of traditional broadcasting and television institutions was 633.063 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.44%, moving towards diversified development, with broadcasting and television stations integrating development business and cable TV network company group customer business becoming new sources of revenue growth; the total revenue of online audio-visual service institutions was 779.545 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.57%, accounting for more than half of the industry's total revenue.