China's advertising industry is, for the first time, encouraged by the central government and will enjoy national incentives, the Shanghai Securities News reported Wednesday.

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Advertising creativity, planning, design and production are some of the encouraged categories in the newly released Guidance Catalogue for Industrial Restructuring 2011, said Gan Lin, vice minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC). The new policy will support the development of the advertising industry, he added Tuesday.

The incentives include credit aid by financial institutions, import duty and value-added tax-free policy for related equipment, the report said.

Gan said the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) also singled out encouraging “the healthy development of the advertising industry.”

According to SAIC's statistics, China's advertising revenue hit 234 billion yuan ($35.97 billion) in 2010. The number of advertising units was 243,000, with 1.48 million employees. It accounts for 3.5 percent of the global advertising market.