Beijing is China's largest advertising market with revenues of 31.3 billion yuan (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 21 percent from 2006.

The number of financial service adverts, which amounted to 59,170 by the end of November, increased 25 percent year-on-year with the booming stock market, said Ou Shufang, head of the advertising department of Beijing Municipal Industry and Commerce Bureau, on Thursday.

The number of medical beauty treatment ads dropped drastically from 10,475 in 2006 to 2,402 in 2007, down 77 percent, because of the authority's tougher control.

Since July, China has run a campaign against illegal drug ads to tighten its supervision. Earlier this year, the country's authorities ordered the closure of 51 websites found to be carrying illegal drug adverts, the Ministry of Information Industry said.

Currently, there are 1,449 presses in Beijing, including four radio stations, 22 TV stations, 1,231 magazines and publishing companies and 192 newspapers. There are also 845 network media in the city, whose ad revenue jumped 36 percent year-on-year, the big increase among all media.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2008)