Window of opportunity on the entertainment stage

Sometimes when films co-produced for the Chinese domestic market suit an international audience, the foreign partner would help bring it to a global audience, he says.

Fenez says another growing opportunity is the theme reality show sector, where many foreign TV companies are selling their formats to Chinese TV companies, who then produce a program using Chinese characters in the same format.

"It's not a matter of the original program getting exported, but the format being exported, which is a different arrangement," he says.

"The foreign parties will obviously help the local production, to teach them how to produce that particular show, but then everything else is done locally. The key thing with content is localization."

Fenez says another growing sector is games, which is growing particularly fast in China, where demand is no longer driven by teenage boys but by a diverse population including housewives.

"In the gaming sector, we see a more open playing field. Most of the games popular in China currently are made in China."

Growth in all art and entertainment industries in China in turn creates opportunities for advertising companies, to help these entertainment events reach their audiences, Fenez says.

He says most of the globally renowned advertising holding companies have an established presence in China, including WPP Plc, Interpublic Group of Companies Inc, Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group Inc. These holding groups have made a lot of domestic acquisitions.

"They have the expertise of serving global companies, so they benefit from the network and experience. In China, many of their clients are foreign companies in China and Chinese companies hoping to have a global reach," he says.

"The overall advertising growth in China is still one of the strongest in the world, especially the digital advertising market."

Fenez says as China urbanizes more, growth opportunities for the art and entertainment sector will increase, particularly in the live performance sector, such as dances, concerts and theatre. "Live performances are already in China's first- and second-tier cities, " he says.