Online stars shine as money floods in

China's internet celebrities are leveraging their popularity among young Chinese followers to make money like never before, creating an industry with real investment value, a new industry report has found.

According to the report published in Shanghai on Friday by iResearch Consulting Group, as of May the ranks of internet celebrities on Sina's Weibo with more than 100,000 followers had increased 57.3 percent from a year ago.

The report also found that the total number of their followers surged 20.6 percent to 465 million year-on-year.