Recently, it was learned from the industry level that the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Cyberspace Administration of China and other departments are formulating a special top-level policy for digital cultural exports, and have introduced a package of precise measures to target the pain points of online articles, mobile games, animation, online film and television, digital publishing, AIGC cultural and creative industries, etc., to make up for the shortcomings in cross-border compliance, funding, copyright, computing power, overseas distribution and other links. my country’s digital content foreign trade is expected to officially enter a period of accelerated release of policy dividends.
1. The core direction of this round of new policies, and five major implementation measures to provide precise support
1.
Reform of the fiscal and taxation export system: Solving the vague pain points of export tax rebates for non-physical digital content, it is planned to clarify the tax items for digital audio and video, electronic publications, and online copyright services, and unify the tax refund rules for cross-border digital content; expand the coverage of special funds for cultural exports, include AI-generated content, overseas localization translation, and overseas social media placement into the scope of subsidies, and provide stepped rewards to companies with annual overseas revenue growth. This is also the current policy direction that overseas companies are most concerned about.
2. Expansion of cross-border data compliance channels: copy and promote the pilot of the port-bound data export negative list, roll out dedicated cross-border compliance lines in the national cultural export base, and reduce cross-border content transmission costs; simplify the pre-review process for overseas version content, implement a whitelist mechanism for pre-review of overseas content, significantly shorten the launch cycle of overseas versions of games and TV series, and reduce corporate compliance costs.
3. Funding and ecological support for the entire industry chain: The Service Trade Guidance Fund will increase equity investment in digital cultural projects and leverage social capital to invest in overseas IP incubation and localization studios; local governments will support overseas computing coupons and AI tool subsidies to reduce AIGC cultural and creative overseas production costs, and project subsidies of up to tens of millions will continue local pilot experience; at the same time, officials will form groups to connect with overseas platforms, offline comic expos and e-sports festivals, build a global distribution alliance for Chinese digital content, and expand overseas channels.
4. Overseas intellectual property risk control closed loop: establish a legal aid database for copyright due diligence and foreign-related rights protection before going overseas, and link up with overseas law firms to build a cross-border copyright protection network; encourage domestic IP overseas trademarks and copyrights to be deployed in advance, severely crack down on overseas piracy and diversion of revenue, and protect the rights and interests of overseas companies.
5. Gradient cultivation of industrial clusters: Expand the national cultural export base and create characteristic industrial clusters for overseas games, online articles, and short plays; promote a key enterprise cultivation database, where enterprises entering the database can enjoy one-stop convenient services in customs clearance, foreign exchange, and talent, reducing corporate operating costs.
2. Multiple subdivisions will directly benefit
This special policy covers the entire industry chain, and multiple subdivisions will receive clear dividends: First, the game industry chain, self-developed mobile games, two-dimensional content, overseas publishers, and localized dubbing and translation companies are the core benefiting sectors of this round of policies; second, the long and short video & short drama track, overseas versions of micro-short dramas, online dramas, Chinese animation, and overseas streaming media distribution links
The dividends are clear; the third is the online literature + IP derivative track, the overseas translation platform for online articles, and the IP adaptation licensing link, which will further open up the monetization path of the entire chain from text to film and television games; the fourth is the AIGC digital cultural creation track, and new technological content such as AI painting, AI comics, and virtual digital people going overseas are included in the support catalog; the fifth is the supporting service provider track, cross-border compliance, overseas marketing, copyright agents, and multilingual localization service providers will also usher in business growth windows.
3. Digital culture has become a new growth pole of foreign trade
In recent years, my country’s export of digital cultural services has continued to maintain a high growth rate. Domestic mobile games, online short dramas, fantasy online articles and other content have swept the Southeast Asian, European, American, and Latin American markets, and have been widely welcomed by overseas users.
Different from traditional physical foreign trade, the marginal cost of digital content is almost zero, and the output attribute of cultural soft power is the core starting point for the transformation of my country’s foreign trade structure.
This special policy is intended to upgrade the previously scattered support measures into normalized institutional dividends, which will further lower the threshold for companies to go overseas and enhance the global competitiveness of China’s digital content.
The policy is currently in the preparation stage for implementation, and the implementation of subsequent detailed rules will continue to release industry catalysts and promote my country’s digital culture overseas industry to enter a new round of rapid growth cycle.
