Beijing, April 20 (IANS) The number of advertisement companies in China increased 17.9 percent in 2013 from the previous year, authorities said.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) also said the number of employees working in the advertisement sector rose 20.4 percent in 2013 year-on-year to 2.62 million, Xinhua reported Gan Lin, deputy head of the SAIC, as saying.

China’s advertisement industry registered a relatively fast expansion in 2013, but the growth rates of advertisement companies and employees both decelerated from 2012, Gan said at an industry conference earlier this week.

Online advertisement companies’ business revenue soared 46.1 percent in 2013 year-on-year, faster than their traditional advertisement peers, SAIC fig