BEIJING, May 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ — China Mass Media Corp. (China Mass Media or the Company) (NYSE: CMM), a leading television advertising company in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011.

First Quarter 2011 Highlights:

• Total net revenues were RMB50.9 million (US$7.8 million), a decrease of 9.1% from the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 32.8% from the fourth quarter of 2010.
• Operating income was RMB13.1 million (US$2.0 million), a decrease of 5.7% from the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 53.7% from the fourth quarter of 2010.
• Net income was RMB8.3 million (US$1.3 million), a decrease of 17.9% from the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 56.3% from the fourth quarter of 2010.
• Net cash inflows from operating activities were RMB34.8 million (US$5.3 million), a decrease of 13.7% from net cash inflows from operating activities of RMB40.3 million in the first quarter of 2010 and an increase of 34.2% from the fourth quarter of 2010.

Mr. Shengcheng Wang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Mass Media, commented, The first quarter of 2011 was a challenging time as we entered the seasonally weak period of the year. In our advertising agency service business, in order to secure long-term commitments from our clients in the face of intense price competition in the advertising market, we initiated a presale promotional campaign last November to attract longer-term contracts by offering sizable discounts. These contracts, which are with both advertising agencies and direct advertisers and range in term from three to six months, will serve as a solid foundation of our revenues in 2011. Due to these promotional activities, there was a significant decrease in the sales price of certain products in the first quarter 2011 compared with the first and fourth quarters of 2010. As a result, revenues from advertising agency services declined despite the increase in our utilization rate. The sequential decline was also primarily because the fourth quarter is traditionally the peak season in our business.

In an effort to diversify our business, towards the end of 2010, we entered into the outdoor advertising business by partnering with the outdoor media company Goto Media. Goto Media operates 80 large LED advertising screens and 1,000 advertising light boxes in 17 high-speed railway stations in China, including Beijing South Station, Shanghai Hongqiao Station, Guangzhou South Station and Tianjin Station. We focus on the sale of advertisements on these LED screens. We believe outdoor LED screens allow advertisements to reach consumers with similar content at a much lower price than traditional television ads. We also believe there are synergies between the outdoor advertising business and television advertising business and many of our existing clients find our services for both appealing. We have formed a dedicated sales team to focus on the sales and marketing of such outdoor services. In the first quarter of 2011, revenues from the sales of outdoor media totaled approximately RMB230,000.

Our production and sponsorship services business continues to show solid growth. During the first quarter of 2011, we produced a number of commercial and print advertisements for clients such as Suning Appliance, Ping An Insurance of China and Yunnan Baiyao.

Our arrangement with CCTV for the Guang Er Gao Zhi program, a 30-second daily public service announcement that is broadcast twice a day on CCTV-1 and CCTV-2, will not be renewed once it expires on June 30, 2011 due to programming changes. This will have a negative impact on our top and bottom line in subsequent periods.

Looking forward, we believe content production will become an important component of our strategy as we attempt to reorient our business towards growth. In 2011, we plan to produce at least one TV entertainment program and one TV drama series. We are also in discussions with a satellite TV network for the production and broadcast of a TV entertainment program in exchange for advertising time slots. We believe that by providing television networks with high quality content, we will be able to gain access to such advertising resources. We will release further details in the coming months.

First Quarter 2011 Financial Results

Revenues

Revenues from advertising agency services were RMB46.7 million (US$7.1 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 15.8% from RMB55.5 million in the first quarter of 2010, and a decrease of 32.8% from RMB69.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. Given the intense price competition in the advertising market, in order to secure a full-year budget from clients and remain competitive in the market, the Company offered sizable discounts to certain clients. Due to these promotional activities, there was a significant decrease in the Companys average sales price in the first quarter 2011 compared with the first and fourth quarters of 2010. As a result, revenues from advertising agency services declined despite the increase in our the Companys utilization rate. The sequential decline was also primarily because the fourth quarter is the traditional peak season for the Companys business.

Revenues from production and sponsorship services were RMB7.2 million (US$1.1 million) in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 127.9% from RMB3.1 million in the first quarter of 2010, and a decrease of 37.5% from RMB11.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Companys efforts to both improve production capabilities and proactively source new clients helped support momentum in the Companys production and sponsorship services business, as compared with the first quarter of 2010. During the first quarter of 2011, the Company successfully produced a number of commercial and print advertisements for clients such as Suning Appliance, Ping An Insurance of China and Yunnan Baiyao. The decrease in revenues from the fourth quarter of 2010 was mainly because of the general higher level of production activity and the payment of two advertisements produced for CCTV in 2008.

Operating costs and expenses

Cost of revenues was RMB27.1 million (US$4.1 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 7.7% from RMB29.3 million in the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 19.5% from RMB33.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The decrease in cost of revenues compared with the first and fourth quarters of 2010 was mainly because time slots available for sale on CCTV-4 decreased from 90 seconds to 60 seconds during the quarter.

Sales and marketing expenses were RMB4.4 million (US$0.7 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 16.0% from RMB5.3 million in the first quarter of 2010 and an increase of 7.6% from RMB4.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The decrease from the first quarter of 2010 was due to lower sales commissions paid to the sales team following the decline in sales performance during the first quarter in 2011. The increase compared with the fourth quarter of 2010 was mainly because management increased the basic salaries of the sales team in order to attract more talented people.

General and administrative expenses were RMB6.2 million (US$1.0 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 16.0% from RMB7.4 million in the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 35.1% from RMB9.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The decrease was mainly due to lower professional service fees in the first quarter of 2011.

Other expenses included an exchange loss of RMB2.5 million (US$0.4 million) in the first quarter of 2011, which compares with an exchange loss of RMB2.8 million (US$ 0.4 million) in the fourth quarter of 2010 and RMB0.1 million (US$0.01 million) in the first quarter of 2010. The Companys functional currency, the Renminbi, continued to appreciate against the US Dollar (USD), while the Company maintained significant USD deposits.

Income tax expense was RMB4.9 million (US$0.7 million) in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 4.1% from RMB4.7 million in the first quarter of 2010, and a decrease of 43.5% from RMB8.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Companys effective tax rate was 31.6%, 31.3% and 37.0% for the three months ended March 31, 2010, December 31, 2010 and March 31, 2011, respectively. The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2011 was higher than the PRC statutory tax rate mainly due to the exchange losses of RMB2.5 million incurred by the offshore companies that were not deductible from PRC tax.

Operating income, as a result of the foregoing factors, was RMB13.1 million (US$2.0 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 5.7% from RMB13.9 million in the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 53.7% from RMB28.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The companys operating margin was 24.9%, 37.5% and 25.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2010, December 31, 2010 and March 31, 2011, respectively.

Net income was RMB8.3 million (US$1.3 million) in the first quarter of 2011, a decrease of 17.9% from net income of RMB10.1 million in the first quarter of 2010 and a decrease of 56.3% from RMB19.0 million in net income in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Companys net margin was 18.1%, 25.1% and 16.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2010, December 31, 2010 and March 31, 2011, respectively.

Basic and diluted earnings per ADS for the first quarter of 2011 were RMB0.32 (US$0.05), compared with basic earnings per ADS of RMB0.38 for the first quarter of 2010 and RMB0.72 for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Each ADS represents 30 ordinary shares.

Business Outlook

The Company currently expects to generate total net revenues of between RMB48 million ($7.3 million) to RMB53 million ($8.1 million) for the second quarter of 2011, which represents a potential decrease of 7.0% to 15.8% compared with the second quarter of 2010 due to continued pricing competition in the market. This forecast reflects the Companys current and preliminary estimate, which is subject to change.

Conference Call

China Mass Media will host a conference call and live webcast at 8:00 am Eastern Time (EDT) on Monday, May 23, 2011(8:00 pm Beijing time on May 23, 2011).

The dial-in details for the live conference call are as follows:

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