China toon production up 18%

BEIJING -- China continues to push the domestic toon biz and last year produced 435 toons, some 261,224 minutes of animated material, a rise of 18% on the previous year, official data showed. China has been fighting a battle to push homegrown toons over foreign imports, especially manga and U.S. rugrat fare, and the country's broadcasting watchdog, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), believes that is paying off. "The growing production and trade of Chinese-made animation has largely enriched TV programming at all levels and generally meets the needs of teenagers," SARFT said in a circular, which was carried by local media. A report in July last year showed that China was the world's biggest toon-maker, but it suffers from worthy and dull fare that children do not go for, and has long suffered to compete against the Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network offerings. The government has responded with major subsidies and calls for better quality. SARFT said that 27% of animated content last year was made by national animation bases. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com