Local media groups chase ad revenue

Chinese media owners, especially the internet ones, are quickly catching up with their international counterparts in terms of advertising income.

According to the Top 30 Global Media Owners report released by return-on-investment agency Zenith, Shenzhen-based Tencent Holdings Ltd saw its advertising revenue soar 697 percent between 2012 and 2016, coming only second to Twitter Inc's 734 percent growth and dislodging Facebook Inc. Search engine Baidu Inc's advertising income grew 190 percent during the period.

Zenith has been publishing the list since 2007. The list this year is based only on media owners' advertising revenue, excluding revenues from all other activities.