New cultural business formats led the first half of the year: revenue of large-scale cultural enterprises surpassed RMB 7.2 trillion, up 4.6% year-on-year

According to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on July 30, in the first half of 2026, China's 82,000 large-scale enterprises in the culture and related industries delivered a mixed performance—some thriving while others struggled. Overall, these enterprises generated cumulative revenue of RMB 7,202.6 billion, an increase of 4.6% year-on-year on a comparable basis, maintaining positive growth amid a complex economic environment.

Notably, new cultural business formats centered on digitalization and intelligent technologies are emerging as a powerful engine driving industry-wide growth. Statistics show that the 16 sub-sectors exhibiting clear characteristics of new cultural formats reported combined revenue of RMB 3,523.9 billion in the first half of the year, surging 9.6% year-on-year—a pace significantly outpacing traditional formats and exceeding the average growth rate of all large-scale cultural enterprises by 5.0 percentage points, accounting for nearly half of total industry revenue.

From the perspective of the industrial ecosystem, cultural services showed the strongest expansion momentum. In the first half of the year, cultural services generated revenue of RMB 4,323.5 billion, up 8.1% year-on-year, serving as the primary driver of overall sector growth. In contrast, cultural manufacturing (RMB 1,785.1 billion, down 0.4%) and cultural wholesale and retail trade (RMB 1,094.0 billion, down 0.1%) remained largely flat compared to the same period last year or even saw slight declines, indicating ongoing market pressures in physical production and sales channels.

Performance across specific sub-sectors also revealed pronounced divergence. On one hand, sectors tied to information consumption and content creation posted strong gains: news and information services generated RMB 1,095.8 billion in revenue, up 9.2%; creative design services reached RMB 1,398.7 billion, also growing 9.2%; and cultural investment and operations, though relatively small in scale (RMB 25.3 billion), saw its revenue surge by 10.0%, reflecting a rebound in capital activity. On the other hand, traditional cultural distribution channels faced challenges, with revenue totaling RMB 751.2 billion, down 3.2% year-on-year, underscoring their continued struggle to find breakthroughs amid the wave of digital transformation.

From the perspective of regional development patterns, the eastern region—long a hub for the cultural industry—continues to serve as a 'stabilizing anchor,' generating RMB 5.8661 trillion in operating revenue, an increase of 5.1% year-on-year, outpacing the national average. The western region followed closely with growth of 4.7%, while the central region saw modest growth of 1.0%. In contrast, the northeastern region experienced a decline of 6.3%, highlighting persistent regional imbalances in cultural industry development.

In terms of profitability and asset quality, large-scale cultural enterprises reported total profits of RMB 574.7 billion during the reporting period, down 7.5% year-on-year. As a result, the operating revenue profit margin fell to 7.98%, a decrease of 1.04 percentage points from the same period last year. Despite profit pressures, corporate asset bases continued to expand. By the end of the first half, total assets of cultural enterprises reached RMB 23.2991 trillion, up 6.4% year-on-year. However, revenue generated per RMB 100 of assets stood at RMB 62.3, down RMB 1.6 year-on-year, indicating room for improvement in asset utilization efficiency.

Industry analysts noted that amid the current economic cycle, emerging cultural business models—with their high growth potential—have become a 'confidence anchor' for the sector. However, translating this advanced productive capacity into tangible profits and leveraging regional coordination to revitalize underperforming areas such as the northeast will be key challenges for achieving high-quality development in the cultural industry in the second half of the year.

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