United kindom-based advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty opened its sixth world office in Shanghai, the first agency to be awarded a license to operate independently in China under the country's commitment to the World Trade Organization.

China's advertising market has been growing around 15 percent a year and has reached 244 billion yuan (US$30.5 billion), spurred by increasing spending by 1.3 billion consumers.

BBH, which posted US$1.5 billion in revenue last year, said it is in talks with two Chinese news media companies for help in producing ads.