March 2 (NBD) -- Data shows that China's box office sales totaled more than 5.72 billion yuan (903.6 million U.S. dollars) during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, breaking the previous records for the period.

As of Thursday, 80 media companies have delivered their fiscal reports of 2017, 49 of which reported net profit growth while the remaining 31 saw negative growth.

Top-ranking firms in the media sector in terms of net profit growth are mostly listed game companies. Specifically, net profit attributable to shareholders of the Shenzhen-based gaming company zqgame.com.cn increased by 237.97 percent, the highest growth among media companies in 2017. The net profit growth rate of Xunyou.com and www.kingnet.com also exceeded 100 percent.

H.Brothers and Enlight Media perform strong

Huayi Brothers Media Corp. ("H.Brothers") reported operating revenue of 3.871 billion yuan (611.2 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 10.49 percent. Net profit attributable to its shareholders was 828 million yuan (130.7 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year increase of 2.5 percent.

It is noted that most of its revenue came from the film and entertainment services. In particular, films - Gangal, Youth, and The Ex-File: The Return of the Exes - each reaped over 1 billion yuan (157.9 million U.S. dollars) at the box office, outdoing its rivals thanks to the high quality and reputation.

Another large media and film company, Beijing Enlight Media Co., Ltd. ("Enlight Media"), reported operating revenue of 1.87 billion yuan (295.3 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year rise of 7.98 percent. Net profit attributable to its shareholders was 818 million yuan (129.2 million U.S. dollars), a year-on-year growth rate of 10.38 percent. In 2017, the company offered 13 films, including Buddies in India, Love off the Cuff, and Return to the Wolves.

Compared to H.Brothers, Enlight Media lacked blockbusters in 2017, but the company was behind several Spring Festival films like Detective Chinatown 2, Monster Hunt 2 and Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink. Detective Chinatown 2, in particular, has reaped 2.8 billion yuan (442.1 million U.S. dollars) at the box office, of which 37-48 million yuan (5.8-7.6 million U.S. dollars) would go to Enlight Media.

A few companies deliver astonishingly poor performance

Though the whole media and film industry was on the rise last year, a few companies presented astonishingly poor performance.

One of them was Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp ("Leshi"). The company's smartphone and automobile units have reportedly been  in shambles as of November 2016, unable to pay its suppliers due to lack of funds.

Leshi reported revenue of 7.463 billion yuan (1.2 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, a year-on-year decrease of 66 percent. Net loss was 11.609 billion yuan (1.8 billion U.S. dollars), plummeting by up to 2193 percent from a year ago.

The performance of Bus Online Co., Ltd. (Bus Online) was also poor. Heavily affected by the poor management, the company reported a loss of 1.88 billion yuan (296.8 million U.S. dollars) in 2017 with its net profit decreasing by 2108.09 percent year on year.

In addition, there were several other media companies seeing huge loss in 2017.

Industry insiders noted that 2017 witnessed the most restrict regulations in the media industry. Merger and acquisitions started to slow down, which can no longer be used as a way to make profits. Listed companies have to count on themselves.

China International Capital Corporation Limited said the major bottleneck for the development of the media industry would be structural oversupply because there are too many small participants. Industry leaders should expand its profitability through supply chain integration.   

Email：tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn