Business Revenue of Enterprises above the Designated Size Engaged in Culture and Related Industries in the First Three Quarters of 2025

According to a survey of 81 thousand enterprises above the designated size engaged in culture and related industries (hereinafter referred to as cultural enterprises) nationwide, in the first three quarters of 2025, the cultural enterprises achieved a business revenue of 10,958.9 billion yuan, up by 7.9 %[1] year on year on a comparable basis (see Annotation 2 for details). Among them, the 16 industry sub-categories with distinct characteristics of new cultural forms[2] achieved a business revenue of 4,886.0 billion yuan, up by 14.1% year on year, 6.2 percentage points higher than that of all cultural enterprises above the designated size.

By industrial type, the business revenue of the culture-related manufacturing was 3,076.6 billion yuan, up by 2.3% year on year; that of the culture-related wholesale and retail was 1,819.7 billion yuan, up by 5.5%; that of the culture-related services was 6,062.6 billion yuan, up by 11.9%.

By field, the business revenue of the core areas of culture[3] stood at 7,421.6 billion yuan, up by 11.5% year on year; that of culture-related fields reached 3,537.3 billion yuan, up by 1.2%.

By industry category, the business revenue of news and information services stood at 1,508.0 billion yuan, up by 11.6% year on year; that of content creation and production was 2,562.5 billion yuan, up by 14.0%; that of creative design services was 1,928.5 billion yuan, up by 13.2%; that of cultural communication channels was 1,230.6 billion yuan, up by 4.9%; that of cultural investment and operation was 40.5 billion yuan, up by 3.6%; that of cultural, entertainment and leisure services was 151.5 billion yuan, up by 6.6%; that of cultural auxiliary production and intermediary services was 1,171.8 billion yuan, down by 2.2%; that of cultural equipment production was 514.6 billion yuan, up by 4.4%; that of cultural consumption terminal production was 1,850.9 billion yuan, up by 2.5%.

By region, cultural enterprises in the eastern region achieved a business revenue of 8,756.1 billion yuan, up by 8.2% year on year; those in the central region achieved 1,222.3 billion yuan, up by 6.4%; those in the western region achieved 886.3 billion yuan, up by 8.7%; those in the northeastern region achieved 94.3 billion yuan, up by 1.8%.

In the first three quarters of 2025, cultural enterprises achieved total profits of 909.3 billion yuan, up by 14.2% year on year; the profit rate of the business revenue was 8.30%, a year-on-year increase of 0.45 percentage points. At the end of the third quarter, the assets of cultural enterprises totaled 22,422.7 billion yuan, up by 8.4% year on year; the business revenue brought by per-hundred-yuan assets was 66.8 yuan, up by 0.3 yuan year on year.

Indicators of Enterprises above the Designated Size Engaged in Culture and Related Industries in the First Three Quarters of 2025

Notes:

[1] Unless otherwise specified, growth rates in the table are nominal growth rates without deducting price factors.

[2] The 16 industry sub-categories with distinct characteristics of new forms are: radio and television integrated broadcast control, Internet search services, other Internet information services, digital publishing, other cultural and art industries, animation, game digital content services, Internet game services, multimedia, game animation and digital publishing software development, value-added telecommunication cultural services, other cultural digital content services, Internet advertising services, Internet culture and entertainment platform, copyright and culture software services, intelligent UAV manufacturing for entertainment, wearable intelligent cultural equipment manufacturing, and other intelligent cultural consumer equipment manufacturing.

[3] Core areas of culture include six industries: news and information services, content creation and production, creative design services, cultural communication channels, cultural investment and operation, and cultural, entertainment and leisure services. Culture-related fields include three industries: cultural auxiliary production and intermediary services, cultural equipment production, and cultural consumption terminal production.

Annotations:

I. Notes on Indicators

Culture and related industries refer to the collection of production activities that provide cultural products and culture-related products for the public. According to the Classification of Culture and Related Industries (2018), culture and related industries include nine categories: news and information services, content creation and production, creative design services, cultural communication channels, cultural investment and operation, cultural entertainment and leisure services, cultural auxiliary production and intermediary services, cultural equipment production, and cultural consumption terminal production.

Business revenue refers to the inflow of economic benefits from production and operating activities of enterprises, such as selling goods, providing labor services and transferring the right-of-use assets during the reporting period. Business revenue includes “revenue from principal business” and “revenue from other business”.

Total profit refers to the surplus earned by an enterprise during the reporting period through its production and operating activities after deducting various expenses from total revenues. It reflects the total amount of profit or loss realized by an enterprise during the reporting period.

Total assets refer to all resources owned or controlled by an enterprise through past trades or transactions that are expected to generate economic profits, measured at the end of the reporting period.

Profit rate of business revenue=total profit ÷ business revenue×100%, unit: %.

Business revenue brought by per-hundred-yuan assets=business revenue ÷ average assets ÷ accumulative months×12×100, unit: yuan.

II. Statistical Coverage

The scope of statistics on enterprises above the designated size engaged in culture and related industries covers the industries defined in the Classification of Cultural and Related Industries (2018): industrial enterprises with an annual principal business revenue of 20 million yuan or above, wholesale enterprises with an annual principal business revenue of 20 million yuan or above or retail enterprises with an annual principal business revenue of 5 million yuan or above, service enterprises with an annual business revenue of 10 million yuan or above, of which the sectors of transport, storage and post, information transmission, software and information technology services, water conservancy, environment and public facilities management shall have an annual business revenue of 20 million yuan or above, and residential services, repair and other services, culture, sports and entertainment shall have an annual business revenue of 5 million yuan or above.

As the coverage of enterprises above the designated size engaged in culture and related industries changes every year, the data for the same period used in calculating the year-on-year growth rates of indicators such as business revenue have been adjusted to be consistent with the statistical coverage of enterprises in the current period, so as to ensure comparability between this year’s data and those of the previous year. Therefore, discrepancies may exist between the current data and those released for the previous year due to differences in statistical scope. The main reason is that each year, some enterprises are included in the survey after having reached the designated size, and others exit the survey due to their smaller size. There are also the effects of enterprises that are newly established, bankrupt, and enterprises with their business licenses cancelled (revoked).

III. Survey Method

The identification of legal entities of culture and related industries above the designated size is conducted on a quarterly basis, and the data are aggregated based on information obtained from comprehensive surveys of industrial enterprises above the designated size, wholesale and retail enterprises above the designated size, and service enterprises above the designated size through the national statistical online direct reporting platform.

IV. Division of the Eastern, Central, Western, and Northeastern Regions

The eastern region includes 10 provinces (municipalities): Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong and Hainan; the central region includes 6 provinces: Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan; the western region includes 12 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities): Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Xizang, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang; the northeastern region includes 3 provinces: Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.