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May 6 (NBD) -- "Unlike new economy businesses such as the take-out food delivery industry, the animation sector doesn't have a clear monetization channel," so said iQiYi's senior vice president Geng Danhao at a recent forum on the cartoon and animation industry.

Hayato Date, director of Naruto, Huang Weiming, creator of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Shang Linlin, executive president of Fantawild Group that produced Boonie Bears, and other senior practitioners gathered at the forum to discuss about both the business model and profit model of the cartoon and animation industry.

National Business Daily learned that China's animation sector garnered a revenue of 20.64 billion yuan (3.0 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018 and the total output value is projected to reach 195.5 billion yuan this year.

Buoyed by an increasing number of original animation IP in China, Hayato Date has started exploring cooperation with Chinese counterparts to tap opportunities in the expanding market.

However, despite the promising market potential, industry insiders pointed out there is still a long way to go for China's animation community compared with the animation products and production mechanism of foreign countries.

According to Huang Weiming, many animation firms in 2018 had hard luck and few could make a profit. Some of his peers were planning on switching to another job, Huang added.

To create a really big market, Shang Linlin said, "All cartoons and animations can be inspirers of the creative work, and all derivatives such as theme parks, dramas and books and related industrial chains should be integrated."

"Chinese culture constitutes the springhead for the IPs we create," Huang noted. The best marketing method is to create the most fascinating works and then the business model will be naturally formed without extra effort, Huang believed.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn