Beijing - China's cultural industry sustained steady revenue growth in the first half of 2025 as the cultural services sector expanded solidly and new business models continued to flourish, official data showed on Wednesday.

The combined operating revenue of major cultural companies amounted to over 7.1 trillion yuan (about 996.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-June period, up 7.4 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The cultural industry's profitability improved significantly, with profits of major cultural firms surging 19.3 percent year on year to 629.8 billion yuan in the reporting period, NBS data showed.

Revenue of the cultural services sector increased by 10.7 percent in the first half, which accounted for 55 percent of the total revenue of major cultural enterprises, 1.6 percentage points higher than the level a year ago.

"The cultural services have played a strong supporting role," said Pan Xuhua, a statistician with the NBS, noting that cultural services firms contributed 77 percent to the total revenue growth of major cultural enterprises.

Sectors featuring new business forms, such as digital publishing and online advertising, saw revenues increase by 13.6 percent to nearly 3.2 trillion yuan, 6.2 percentage points faster than the overall pace.

The NBS data came from a survey of cultural companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan or those meeting other standards set by the NBS.