Revenue at Chinese internet companies grows as online consumption trumps weaker economy
- Although people have been turning to online services during the Covid-19 pandemic, China’s economy shrank 6.8 per cent in first quarter
- Some sectors such as online education, remote working and gaming, have seen a surge in their traffic during the health crisis
Revenue at internet companies in China grew 4.9 per cent year-on-year to 344.6 billion yuan (US$48 billion) in the January-to-April period, but the growth rate slowed from 20.2 per cent during the same period a year ago, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Most of the revenue came from companies located in the tech-dominated eastern region of China - including Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong province - where companies generated 287.8 billion yuan of revenue with 5.7 per cent year-on-year growth, according to data released on Wednesday.
By the end of April, there were 3.59 million apps on the domestic internet market, while gaming apps retained a leading position with around 884,000 apps, representing about a quarter of the entire domestic market.
In April, the number of new merchants using Taobao Live grew by 150 per cent year-on-year, according to information from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.