(Photo/huanqiu.com)

CHENGDU, May 28 (Xinhua) -- China's short video market saw explosive growth of 744.7 percent year on year to 46.7 billion yuan (about 6.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, according to a report released on Monday.

Total short video users in China stood at 648 million last year, accounting for 78.2 percent of the country's overall online population, the report said. It was released during the 7th China International Audio &Video Convention held in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Entertainment and social interaction are the main functions of short videos, with quality content driving market development, said Zhou Jie from China Netcasting Services Association.

The report also showed that in China, average time spent on the Internet increased 62.9 minutes from 2017 to 5.69 hours a day by mobile phone users, who spent 11.4 percent of their time online watching short videos, next only to instant messaging.

The use of audio and video applications continues to grow and makes up more than 80 percent of the total internet traffic as data charges have been brought down, the report said.

Wang Changqing, head of the Internet development research department of China Internet Network Information Center, said 5G technology will bring a historic opportunity for industry development.