BEIJING, July 2 -- China's cultural sector maintained steady growth in terms of revenue last year, with new business models emerging, official data showed.

The combined operating revenue of major companies in the sector reached 16.55 trillion yuan (about 2.29 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, up 1 percent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Profits in the industries rose 2.8 percent to 1.27 trillion yuan in 2022, said the NBS.

Sectors featuring obvious new business forms, such as digital publishing and animation, saw revenues increase by 6.7 percent to 5.01 trillion yuan, accounting for 30.3 percent of the total.

R&D spending in cultural companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan registered 152.9 billion yuan in 2022, 6.4 percent higher year on year, according to the NBS.