Companies face off in CCTV ad auction

Once a year, companies seeking dominant positions in China's booming economy compete in an auction for television advertising time. They face off on CCTV, China's most watched network.

With ad-spending growing at a rate that parallels the country's GDP growth, CCTV's annual advertising auction is broadly seen as a barometer for the Chinese economy.

A battlefield for advertisers. The CCTV auction hall was abuzz with marketers trying to reach deeper into China's hinterland to grow sales.

The 13-hour-long auction for China Central Television's primetime advertising slots raised a record high of 2.55 billion dollars, from 251 domestic and foreign companies.

Every year around this time, national and provincial broadcasters in China would hold their own ad auctions for the upcoming year. The bid for a primetime ad slot could be as high as tens of millions of dollars. And with one third of the country's audience share, CCTV's ad auction is seen as a benchmark for not only China's advertising industry, but the country's economy as a whole.

Top bidders of this year's auction are from food and beverage, home appliance and finance sector. Huiyuan Juice Group Limited, a well-known juice maker in China topped the chart by paying 54.5 million dollars for the exclusive titling rights of a signature talent show "Star Avenue".

Zhao Jinlin, V.P. Executive of China Huiyuan Juice Group LTD, said, "We are confident about the consumer market and the country's economy, Huiyuan's ad spending for 2013 more than doubled that of 2012, we see it as a valuable investment."

There was also an increased presence of e-commerce, automobile industry, alcohol sector and tourism. As much of the rest of the world copes with slowing growth, these excited bidders are pushing advertising rates on China's state television to new highs in hopes to reach ever more Chinese consumers.

Domestic companies became the biggest spenders, whereas multinational marketers had a more subdued presence than usual at this year's auction, reflecting the growing strength of domestic brands as well as a shift in ad spending from TV advertising to the thriving new media landscape.

Meanwhile, marketers have also been flocking to provincial satellite broadcasters, which have national reach and feature programs such as dating shows and talent contests that are hugely popular among younger viewers.