Industry development and government policy in China's animation sector

With a series of industrial development policies implemented by the China government, the past five years (2006-10) have seen China's animation sector grow at a rate making it among the nation's fastest growing industry segments. Looking forward, there remains a lot of room for growth. Based on the CNY39.7 trillion GNP achieved by the country in 2010, the output value for the cultural industries account for only 2% of the total, and the animation sector was less than a tenth of that sector's total output value.

China's animation industry includes production of animated TV series and films, as well as animation produced for use on the Internet (including cell phone animation), and the combined production value topped CNY20.8 billion in 2010. The industry scale is projected to exceed CNY50 billion by 2015, buoyed by government-led protective policies including incentives to push for more dedicated cartoon channels and restricted imports of foreign animation.

Animated TV series were the largest contributors to China's total animation production in 2010 with 220,530 minutes worth of output. If the output momentum remains strong, China is expected to surpass Japan in TV animation production in the foreseeable future.

With R&D and production capability improving, China's animation industry is seeing some initial success and has expanded its market reach beyond television to movie animation and animations for Internet-connected devices such as mobile phones. The sector's promising future has also attracted investment from venture capital firms. Having being involved in the government-led economic and social development program, China's animation sector is expected to boom over the next five years.