CCTV annual ad auction draws banner response

Purchasers could either participate in Monday's live auction or apply for a negotiated subscription from mid-September to October. The live auction, targeting the big-budget customers, offered the most valuable ad slots.

But this year, about two-thirds of CCTV's ads were sold through signed subscriptions as the mode allowed different-sized entities to compete for slots and offered diverse ad packages.

Another area of focus was sports. Next year is rife with major sporting events, including the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Asian Games and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. CCTV is the sole station in China to broadcast these games, and companies showed great interest in investing in sports-related ads.

Chinese e-commerce giant Tmall threw 142 million yuan at TV spots for the 2014 World Cup.

Tmall's purchase of ad slots in the World Cup's top scorer list drew industry attention as it is one of the boldest marketing steps to date taken by the business-to-customer website that is owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Few e-commerce companies had previously spent much on CCTV commercials, but analysts noted that the rapid rise of China's e-commerce industry is certain to spur more businesses to build up branding on the traditional media platform.

He said CCTV holds advantages over local TV stations in terms of attracting clients. "If you look at the overall viewership in China, CCTV takes about one-third of the total."

The CCTV advertising manager also refuted the opinion that the television industry is facing a slump.

"Globally, TV is the largest and most trustworthy advertisement platform out of all media categories, and occupies about 60 percent of the world's ad market," He said.