CCTV auction seeing baijiu bids down, auto speeding up

The annual landmark advertisement auction by China Central Television drew active bids from companies targeting China's consumer market. Provided to China Daily

The winds of change are blowing. If the auction of advertising airtime on the Chinese national television system, or CCTV, is the bellwether for the nation's consumer market, then bidding for 2014 means that times have indeed changed.

First off, government offices, which had been big consumers of expensive goods, have bowed to Beijing's anti-corruption campaign and are refraining from squandering public funds for their personal uses.

Secondly, the urban middle class has unquestionably become the key player in the consumer market. Businesses are leading focused marketing drives targeting this stratum of society.

Third, automobiles are no longer simply the privilege of officials nor rich people's toys. As such, they are making their way into mass media advertising programs just like toothpaste and shampoo.

Fourth, despite its still immense influence and healthy advertising revenue, television broadcasting, as represented by CCTV, is losing share in ad revenue growth to the rising digital and Internet media platforms.

Even stronger winds are coming, industry specialists predict, which will further alter the landscape of China's advertising market.

CCTV's 2014 advertising airtime auction was held in mid-November in Beijing.

And, compared with the past few years, two distinct differences were apparent: the absence of high-end baijiu (Chinese liquor) companies and the meteoric rise of the automotive industry.

According to data released by Charm Communications Inc, the total spending by the beer and baijiu industries in the auction came to 674 million yuan ($110.6 million), while last year, the spending by the baijiu industry alone totaled 3.66 billion yuan ($600.8 million).

Charm is a large local advertising agency that focuses on TV and the Internet. It offered services for many of the year's bidding winners, such as Bosideng clothing, China Telecom and Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen.