网络视频广告将迅速增加

American drama Desperate Housewives.

Just one of the many foreign TV shows available for free in China on the internet.

There's also a wide range of domestic programmes.

This is one reason an increasing number of Chinese people are watching TV over the internet.

Another is the government's recent reduction of entertainment shows on Chinese television. Two thirds were scrapped at the end of 2011 after being judged of low taste.

Edward Yu is head of Chinese internet consulting firm Analysis International.

"So advertisers are likely to find alternatives for their advertising dollar. Online video sharing is definitely one platform that they would like to consider."

And some experts reckon this will mean a boom in online video advertising. Because in China, when you watch a video online, you usually have to watch a commercial, too.

A recent report from financial analysts Barclays Capital says revenue from online video advertising is likely to grow 70 percent in 2012 to 7.3 billion RMB, or 1.1 billion dollars.

It says online video is likely to account for over 10 percent of all television advertising revenue by 2014. That's compared to just 3 percent in 2010.
Edward Yu from Analysis International says young people are behind the growth.

"Generally speaking we're seeing the trend of the young generation, the majority of the mainstream audience, the young generation naturally spend more time on the internet than watching TV. So that's the fundamental driving force."

He says this is bad news for TV.

"TV is definitely the loser of that advertising dollar. Not only because of the user demographic change but also because of the policy impact."

Less TV advertising revenue means less money to invest in programmes. To what extent this will affect the quality of Chinese television remains to be seen.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.