Ad spending surges ahead

Spending on advertising rose 22 per cent to Yn98bn last year, according to a study by ACNielsen Media International. China became Asia’s largest advertising market in 2000, but the figures put out by the industry monitoring company are a little inflated because they are based on published tariffs and do not include discounts. Television accounted for 74 per cent of all billings, with newspapers contributing nearly all the remainder. Pharmaceuticals made up nearly a quarter of all spending, followed by toiletries and services.