China's ad spending moderates in 1st half

China's advertising spending in the first half posted moderate growth with Internet advertising being the biggest growth sector, an industry report shows on Wednesday.

Expenditure through traditional advertising channels was up 0.9 percent, and remained sluggish after briefly picking up in April and May due to World Cup related campaigns, while total advertising income were up 4.1 percent, according to CTR China, a joint venture between research consultancy Kantar Group and China International Television Corporation.

Television stations' ads income growth slowed to 2 percent in the first half, compared to nearly 10 percent annual rise in 2013.

New advertising screening rules and less ads slots for China Central Television reduced its official ad ratings and thus it suffered the greatest decrease, falling 11 percent from the same period last year. Provincial and satellite TV stations added 6 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Internet advertising, excluding online search ads income, surged 39 percent in the six months ended June 30 from a year ago.

Newspapers and magazines' ad sales went down 13 percent and 8 percent respectively, due to the impact of an industry-wide advertising spending cut.

Food and beverage and over-the-counter medicines remained in the top 5 categories in terms of advertising spending volume, with commercial services reducing 3 percent and food industry adding 6 percent.