China Central Television auctioned all its 2009 advertising space for about 9.26 billion yuan (US$1.36 billion) last night, up 15.4 percent from a year ago, said Xia Hongbo, head of CCTV's advertising division.

Against 2008, the price of advertising on CCTV1 rose up to 10 percent, while other channels saw a rise of up to 30 percent, but the amount of ad space it offered was the same.

Kweichow Moutai, a Chinese liquor producer, paid 51 million yuan for ad space appearing before the 7pm CCTV news, considered the most prime ad slot.

Juren Group paid 43.3 million yuan for the space after CCTV's 7pm news.

(Shanghai Daily November 19, 2008)