China's big internet firms see steady revenue growth in Jan-May

BEIJING - China's big internet firms saw steady business revenue growth in the first five months of this year, with stable market expansion of online gaming and video and music streaming apps.

Chinese firms in the internet and related sectors whose business revenue exceeded 3 million yuan ($447,100) last year raked in 332.5 billion from January to May, up 23.9 percent year-on-year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

Information services were the biggest revenue contributor, raking in 300.4 billion yuan during the period, with e-commerce business making up over one third of the sub-sector's revenue.

Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing saw their internet business revenue up 32.9 percent, 19.9 percent and 34.2 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2018.

China had about 4.15 million mobile apps by the end of May. Gaming apps took the biggest market share, followed by daily service apps and video and music streaming apps.