China’s National Radio and Television Administration, or NRTA, has released its main service-industry figures for the first quarter of 2026. The numbers show that traditional broadcast networks are still large, while newer internet video and Broadcast 5G services continue to expand.
According to the preliminary data, the country’s radio and television service industry generated total revenue of 356.238 billion yuan in the first quarter. That was up 8.55% from a year earlier.
Actual operating revenue reached 317.497 billion yuan, rising 10.85% year over year. In other words, the sector was not just holding steady; it was still growing at a double-digit pace on the revenue that matters most to daily operations.
The NRTA also broke the total down by type of organization. Radio and television institutions reported 156.513 billion yuan in revenue, while online audio and video service providers brought in 199.725 billion yuan.
That split is important because it shows how much weight online video now carries in China’s media economy. Internet-based video platforms already account for the larger share of the two groups in this first-quarter snapshot.
Broadcast output remained substantial as well. Nationwide radio programming totaled 3.8245 million hours during the quarter, while television programming reached 4.5066 million hours.
By the end of March, China had 205 million actual China cable TV users. The report also said the country had nearly 43 million users on Broadcast 5G, the 5G service associated with China Broadcast Network.
For U.S. readers, those cable TV figures may look striking because pay-TV subscriber bases in many Western markets have been shrinking for years. China’s market is also changing, but the remaining cable base is still very large in absolute terms.
The 5G figure puts the broadcast network in a different context. China Broadcast Network is not one of the three traditional telecom giants, but it has become part of the country’s broader mobile market after receiving 5G spectrum and building out service.
IT Home also pointed to earlier data from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology covering the first four months of 2026. By the end of April, China’s three major basic telecom operators plus China Broadcast Network had 1.838 billion mobile phone users in total.
That total was up by 10.92 million users compared with the end of the previous year. The number of 5G mobile phone users reached 1.262 billion, an increase of 57.58 million from the end of last year.
5G users therefore accounted for 68.7% of all mobile phone users in China by the end of April. The figure underlines how quickly 5G has become the default mobile-network generation in the country, rather than a premium niche.
Taken together, the numbers show a media and connectivity market moving in two directions at once. Cable television remains a massive installed base, online video now represents a major revenue engine, and mobile 5G adoption continues to climb across the broader communications sector.
The main takeaway is simple: China’s broadcast and television system is no longer just about traditional TV. It now sits beside streaming platforms and mobile networks, with Broadcast 5G becoming part of the same industry story.
