Gaming Dominance Solidifies Tencent’s Leadership

Gaming remains Tencent’s most dominant segment, with revenues from its Value-Added Services (VAS) business—comprising gaming and social networks—rising 9% YoY to RMB 82.7 billion.

Domestically, hit titles like Honor of Kings and Peacekeeper Elite continued to deliver solid growth, supported by Valorant and the newly launched Delta Force. In the international market, Tencent expanded Valorant to consoles, boosting gross receipts by over 30% YoY.

This success underscores Tencent’s ability to maintain engagement in a competitive gaming landscape. The company’s investments in AI-driven personalized experiences and enhanced live-service elements further strengthen its position globally.

Social Media: Expanding Beyond Communication

Tencent’s social media platforms, Weixin (WeChat) and QQ, remain integral to its ecosystem. WeChat’s combined Monthly Active Users (MAUs) grew to 1.382 billion, while QQ saw a modest increase in MAUs.

WeChat Mini Programs achieved a Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) exceeding RMB 2 trillion, driven by expanded use cases like food ordering and electric vehicle charging. These initiatives reflect Tencent’s strategy of embedding commerce and services directly into its social platforms, enhancing user convenience and stickiness.

Leveraging AI, Tencent improved WeChat Search’s ability to handle complex queries, significantly increasing commercial click-through rates. QQ also saw innovation with upgraded infrastructure and new features, marking a return to YoY MAU growth.

Marketing Services and Advertising Resurgence

Tencent’s Marketing Services revenue, which rose 17% YoY to RMB 30 billion, demonstrates strong demand for its advertising solutions. Key contributors included Video Accounts, Mini Programs, and WeChat Search.

The Paris Olympics provided an additional boost, as advertisers sought to capitalize on high-profile events. Notably, eCommerce and gaming advertisers increased spending, offsetting weakness in categories like real estate and food and beverage.

FinTech and Business Services: Mixed Growth Amid Economic Headwinds

Revenue from FinTech and Business Services rose by 2% YoY to RMB 53.1 billion. FinTech services, encompassing payment and wealth management, showed stability, with the latter benefiting from increased user activity and assets under management.

Payment services, however, faced subdued consumption. In Business Services, growth in cloud services revenue was a highlight, aligning with Tencent’s broader focus on supporting digital transformation.

Tencent’s ongoing partnerships, such as the integration of JD Logistics with Taobao and Tmall, reflect its strategy of extending its influence across China’s digital ecosystem.

AI-Driven Innovations: A Key Pillar of Future Growth

Tencent’s AI investments came to the forefront with the launch of Hunyuan Turbo, an upgraded foundation model leveraging a heterogeneous Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture. This model delivers double the training and inference efficiency at half the cost compared to its predecessor, underscoring Tencent’s commitment to deploying cutting-edge AI across its businesses.

The company has integrated AI capabilities into various offerings, from personalized gaming experiences to Weixin’s search algorithms and targeted marketing services. These initiatives aim to enhance operational efficiency and deliver value to users and advertisers.

Financial Strength and Shareholder Returns

Tencent continues to demonstrate financial resilience, with gross profit rising 16% YoY to RMB 88.8 billion and non-IFRS profit for equity holders increasing 33% YoY to RMB 59.8 billion. Free cash flow stood at RMB 58.5 billion, reflecting strong operational performance.

The company’s share repurchase program, totaling HKD 35.9 billion during the quarter, underscores its commitment to delivering shareholder value. With net cash of RMB 95.5 billion, Tencent is well-positioned to pursue strategic investments and initiatives.

Challenges and Strategic Focus

While Tencent’s diverse portfolio shields it from sector-specific risks, challenges such as fluctuating consumer spending in FinTech services and intensified competition in the cloud space remain. However, its strategic investments in AI, content, and ecosystem integration signal a clear focus on long-term growth.

Tencent’s third-quarter performance highlights its ability to adapt and thrive in a rapidly evolving market. By aligning its core businesses with emerging trends in AI, digital transformation, and consumer engagement, Tencent is not just navigating challenges but setting a course for sustainable growth.

Tencent’s Q2 2024 Results

Tencent Holdings announced its unaudited consolidated results for the second quarter of 2024, showcasing robust growth and strategic advancements across its diverse business segments. The company’s performance underscores its commitment to leveraging its platform plus content strategy, with notable successes in both domestic and international markets.

WeChat Video Accounts and Mini Programs:

Video Accounts: Tencent reported a substantial year-on-year increase in total user time spent on Video Accounts, driven by enhanced recommendation algorithms and an expanded array of local content. The company is systematically strengthening transaction capabilities within this platform to deliver seamless shopping experiences, thereby driving sales for merchants.

Mini Programs: The total user time spent on Mini Programs also grew by over 20% year-on-year, benefiting from the platform’s robust commerce and content ecosystem. Notably, the gross merchandise value (GMV) facilitated by Mini Programs experienced double-digit percentage growth, and total gross receipts from Mini Games increased by over 30% year-on-year.

Tencent Channels and Long-form Video

Tencent Channels: This community-based platform, which evolved from QQ, was rebranded and upgraded to enable moderators to manage channels with customizable tools. Users can now interact through text, image, and live streaming features, accessible from Weixin/WeChat, game apps, and QQ.

Tencent Video: The release of popular drama series fueled a 13% year-on-year growth in long-form video subscriptions, reaching 117 million subscribers. Notable titles like “Joy of Life 2” and “The Legend of Shen Li,” based on IPs from China Literature and produced by New Classics Media, were significant contributors to this growth.

Gaming

Domestic Games: Tencent’s flagship domestic games, such as “Honour of Kings” and “Peacekeeper Elite,” resumed year-on-year growth in gross receipts. Additionally, “Naruto Mobile” achieved a new milestone with 10 million monthly average daily active users (DAU) in May 2024, while the newly launched “DnF Mobile” showed promising retention rates.

International Games: International Games revenues reached RMB13.9 billion, marking a 9% year-on-year increase. “Brawl Stars,” with frequent content updates and social features, achieved a historical high in quarterly average DAU and saw gross receipts grow more than tenfold year-on-year.

Advertising and AI Initiatives:

Online Advertising: Revenues from online advertising increased by 19% year-on-year, primarily due to the strong performance of Video Accounts and long-form video advertising. The company upgraded its advertising technology platform to analyze user interests more effectively, resulting in deeper insights and more relevant ad recommendations.

AI Initiatives: Leveraging its top-tier foundation model, Tencent Hunyuan, the company released its AI assistant application, Yuanbao, to the public. Yuanbao is noted for its competitive strengths, including accurate image understanding, advanced natural language processing, and enhanced AI search capabilities.

Financial Highlights

Tencent’s financial performance in Q2 2024 was marked by significant growth across key metrics, reflecting the company’s successful execution of its strategic initiatives.

• Total Revenues: Tencent’s total revenues for the second quarter reached RMB161.1 billion (USD22.6 billion), representing an 8% increase year-on-year.
• Gross Profit: The company reported a gross profit of RMB85.9 billion (USD12.1 billion), a 21% increase compared to the same period last year, with a gross margin of 53%.
• Non-IFRS Operating Profit: On a non-IFRS basis, operating profit grew by 27% year-on-year to RMB58.4 billion (USD8.2 billion), with an operating margin of 36%.
• Net Profit: Profit attributable to equity holders of the company increased by 53% year-on-year to RMB57.3 billion (USD8.0 billion), highlighting strong profitability.
• Free Cash Flow: Tencent generated RMB40.4 billion (USD5.7 billion) in free cash flow during the quarter, up 35% year-on-year, contributing to a total cash position of RMB415.2 billion (USD58.3 billion).
• Shareholder Returns: The company repurchased approximately 103.7 million shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for a consideration of HKD37.5 billion and paid a final dividend of HKD31.7 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Tencent’s Q2 2024 results underscore the company’s resilience and adaptability in a competitive market, with its diverse business segments continuing to deliver strong growth and profitability.

Tencent’s Impressive Q1 2024 Financial Performance Sets Strong Foundation for Future Growth

Tencent Holdings Limited has announced its unaudited consolidated results for the first quarter of 2024, showcasing robust growth across various sectors despite challenging market conditions.

The company, a leading internet and technology conglomerate in China, has reported substantial improvements in gross profit and net profit, reflecting its strategic focus on high-quality revenue streams and innovative technological advancements.

Strategic Initiatives and Business Review

Tencent’s latest quarterly results highlight the company’s dynamic approach to growth and innovation. The tech giant has focused on enhancing its core business segments while venturing into new revenue streams, leveraging its technological prowess and market leadership.

In the gaming sector, Tencent continues to solidify its dominance both domestically and internationally. Several flagship titles, including “Fight of the Golden Spatula” and “CrossFire Mobile,” achieved record-high gross receipts. Meanwhile, international hits like “PUBG Mobile” and Supercell’s “Brawl Stars” reported impressive gains in user engagement and revenue, underscoring Tencent’s global appeal in the gaming industry.

The company has also made significant strides in digital content. WeChat Video Accounts saw a dramatic increase in user engagement, with total user time spent rising by over 80% year-over-year.

Similarly, Mini Programs, a staple feature of WeChat, reported a 20% increase in user engagement, reflecting Tencent’s ability to continuously innovate and expand its ecosystem.

Tencent’s advertising sector has benefited greatly from its advancements in AI technology. The introduction of generative AI-powered tools has revolutionized its advertising platform, resulting in higher engagement and more effective ad campaigns. This innovation has been particularly impactful for Video Accounts and Mini Programs, driving substantial growth in advertising revenue.

In the FinTech arena, Tencent’s wealth management business has shown robust growth, marked by a surge in user numbers and average fund investments. Tencent Cloud Media Services, a leader in the media and entertainment sectors, has maintained its strong market position, further demonstrating the company’s diverse and resilient business model.

Operating Metrics

• Combined MAU of Weixin and WeChat: 1,359 million, a 3% YoY increase.
• Mobile Device MAU of QQ: 553 million, a 7% YoY decrease.
• Fee-based VAS Registered Subscriptions: 260 million, a 12% YoY increase.
• Video Accounts Total User Time Spent: Increased over 80% YoY.
• Mini Programs Total User Time Spent: Increased over 20% YoY.

Financial Highlights

Tencent’s financial performance in Q1 2024 reflects its strategic focus and operational efficiency:

• Total Revenues: RMB 159.5 billion ($22.5 billion), a 6% year-over-year (YoY) increase.
• Gross Profit: RMB 83.9 billion ($11.8 billion), up 23% YoY.
• Non-IFRS Operating Profit: RMB 58.6 billion ($8.3 billion), a 30% YoY increase.
• Net Profit Attributable to Equity Holders: RMB 50.3 billion ($7.1 billion), up 54% YoY.

Segment Performance

• Value-Added Services (VAS): Revenue slightly decreased by 0.9% YoY to RMB 78.6 billion, with social networks and domestic games experiencing minor declines, while international games revenue grew by 3%.
• Online Advertising: Revenue surged by 26% YoY to RMB 26.5 billion, driven by increased engagement and enhanced AI-powered ad targeting.
• FinTech and Business Services: Revenue increased by 7% YoY to RMB 52.3 billion, with solid growth in cloud services and wealth management.

Tencent’s first-quarter results highlight its resilient business model and strategic adaptability. The company’s revenue growth, though moderate, is accompanied by a substantial increase in gross profit and operating margin, indicating improved operational efficiency.

Comparing these results with previous quarters and industry peers, Tencent stands out for its balanced growth across diverse revenue streams. The company’s focus on high-margin businesses, such as cloud services and digital content, is a strategic move that is paying off well.

The company’s unaudited consolidated results reflect a significant surge in revenues, operating profit, and user engagement metrics, underscoring its dominant position in the digital economy.

A robust start to 2024

In Q1 2024, Kuaishou reported revenues of RMB 29.4 billion, marking a 16.6% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

This growth was accompanied by a notable rise in gross profit, which reached RMB 16.1 billion, up from RMB 11.7 billion in Q1 2023, reflecting a gross profit margin of 54.8%.

The company’s operating profit soared to RMB 3.99 billion, reversing the operating loss of RMB 698 million from the previous year.

Strategic initiatives driving growth

Kuaishou’s strategic initiatives have been pivotal in driving its growth. The company’s innovative traffic recommendation mechanism, enhanced monetization strategies, and robust e-commerce operations have all contributed to its strong financial performance.

In Q1 2024, Kuaishou rolled out a new traffic recommendation mechanism, aligning user experience improvements with increased monetization efficiency.

This strategy has attracted higher buyer budgets and boosted the company’s e-commerce business, which grew by 28.2% year-over-year to RMB 288.1 billion in GMV.

Financial highlights

Kuaishou’s financial metrics paint a picture of robust growth and strategic success. The company achieved an adjusted net profit of RMB 4.39 billion, a staggering increase from RMB 42 million in Q1 2023.

The adjusted EBITDA also saw a significant rise, reaching RMB 5.98 billion, up from RMB 1.99 billion in the same period last year. These metrics highlight Kuaishou’s effective cost management and revenue generation strategies.

User engagement and platform growth

Kuaishou’s user engagement metrics have shown impressive growth, with average DAUs reaching 393.8 million, up from 374.3 million in Q1 2023.

Average MAUs also increased to 697.4 million, reflecting the company’s successful user acquisition and retention strategies.

The average daily time spent per DAU on the Kuaishou app was 129.5 minutes, further emphasizing the platform’s ability to engage users effectively.

Kuaishou’s adjusted net profit of RMB 4.39 billion and adjusted EBITDA of RMB 5.98 billion are indicators of strong financial health. The substantial increase in these metrics from the previous year highlights the company’s effective cost management and revenue generation capabilities. Additionally, the significant reduction in administrative expenses by 49.7% year-over-year is a positive sign of operational discipline.

The growth in Kuaishou’s overseas business, with revenues reaching RMB 991 million, up 193.2% year-over-year, and the narrowing of operating losses in these markets, indicates successful international expansion. The company’s localized strategies and investments in content generation and platform optimization are paying off, contributing to overall revenue growth and improved operating efficiency.

Financial Highlights: A Glimpse into Growth

Tencent’s fiscal narrative for 2023 is one of notable achievements, underscored by a 10% year-over-year growth in total revenues, reaching an impressive RMB609.0 billion (USD86.0 billion).

This expansion is further emphasized by a 23% increase in gross profit, showcasing the company’s enhanced profitability in a fiercely competitive digital marketplace. Furthermore, the non-IFRS profit attributable to equity holders witnessed a substantial 36% increase from the previous year, indicating strong core earnings performance .

The final quarter of 2023 continued this trend, with revenues escalating by 7% year-over-year to RMB155.2 billion (USD21.9 billion), and gross profit and non-IFRS profit attributable to equity holders of the company experiencing significant increases of 25% and 44% respectively.

In 2023, Tencent’s revenue breakdown highlighted the diversity of its business portfolio, with significant contributions from various segments.

The FinTech and Business Services sector emerged as the largest revenue source, representing 31% of the total revenue and amounting to RMB189.0 billion. This segment’s leading position underscores Tencent’s stronghold in the FinTech industry and its successful foray into comprehensive business services.

Following the FinTech and Business Services sector, the Online Games segment was the second-largest contributor to Tencent’s revenue, accounting for 29% and totaling RMB177.0 billion. This demonstrates the continued vitality of online gaming within Tencent’s business model.

The fastest-growing segment in 2023 was Tencent’s Cloud Computing business, which experienced a remarkable 30% year-over-year revenue increase, reaching RMB109.0 billion. This growth outpaced the other segments, notably the Social Networks segment, and underscored Tencent’s effective strategy and execution in the competitive cloud services market.

Overall, Tencent’s 2023 financial performance showcased the strength of its FinTech and Business Services as the leading revenue generator, with the Cloud Computing segment leading in growth, reflecting the company’s adaptability and strategic positioning in China’s evolving digital landscape.

Strategic Endeavors and Innovation

2023 saw Tencent advance through strategic milestones:

Enhancing User Experience: Tencent’s WeChat Video Accounts doubled in user time spent, thanks to improved algorithms and creator support. Additionally, the Mini Games platform’s gross receipts soared by over 50%, reinforcing Tencent’s leadership in China’s casual gaming sphere .

Pioneering in AI: The launch of Tencent Hunyuan, an AI model of a trillion-parameter scale, marks a leap in Tencent’s technological prowess, solidifying its commitment to spearheading digital innovation .

Commitment to Society and Environment: Tencent’s digital philanthropy platform set a new record with RMB3.8 billion raised during the 99 Giving Day campaign, while its New Cornerstone Investigator Program supported 104 scientists, promoting scientific research .

As of the end of 2023, Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) reported a notable increase in its music subscribers. The total number of online music paying subscribers reached 90 million, marking an 18% year-over-year growth.

Market Engagement and User Dynamics

Tencent’s operational statistics reveal evolving trends in user engagement:

• The MAUs of Weixin and WeChat stood at 1,343 million by December 2023, a 2% increase year-over-year, highlighting the platforms’ expanding influence in social media .
• Despite a marginal decline in VAS revenues, Tencent’s strategic emphasis on content diversity and innovative services positions it for sustained growth amidst market challenges .

Tencent’s 2023 saga is one of strategic brilliance and financial vigor, positioning it at the forefront of China’s digital transformation. With its commitment to innovation, user-centricity, and societal impact, Tencent is poised to continue shaping the contours of China’s digital future.

Mobile reach in China: Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, ByteDance, vs. Kuaishou

Douyin live commerce platform is a service platform provided by Douyin for local lifestyle service businesses. It aims to help businesses market and sell their products and services on Douyin.

Short videos were the most popular type of content on the platform, accounting for 83% of total transaction volume. Short video uploads grew nearly 1.4 times, while text content uploads grew 2.68 times.

Douyin Live streaming was also a major growth driver, with transaction volume growing 5.7 times. The number of live streams that generated transactions increased fourfold, and the coverage rate of merchant self-broadcasting reached 59%, with self-broadcasting transaction volume growing 4.45 times.

Daily search volume grew 1.57 times, and transaction volume driven by search grew 2.6 times. The most popular live-streaming content categories were:

• Food: Hot/unique dishes, fast food, hot pot, regional dishes, and bakery and desserts
• Services: Massage and bathing, beauty and fitness, hairdressing, car services, and nail and eyelash art
• Travel: Travel agencies, hotels and guesthouses, theme parks, attractions, and zoos

TikTok also saw significant growth in the number of new service providers and group-buying influencers on its platform. The number of new service providers increased 1.79 times, the number of businesses working with service providers increased nearly two times, and service provider transaction volume grew nearly eight times.

The number of group-buying influencers increased 2.89 times, and over 580,000 influencers earned income from the platform. The total transaction volume of influencers grew more than 2 times, and influencer discovery shopping generated 946 billion yuan in revenue.

Chinese influencer platforms: Weibo, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu

The report revealed a staggering 500% year-over-year increase in the number of merchants, surpassing 100 million yuan in transaction volume, with those breaking the 10 million yuan threshold growing by 380%.

This surge underscores the platform’s rapid transformation into a bustling e-commerce hub.

In December 2023, Xiaohongshu’s COO, Conan, made a public statement that sharply contrasted his stance from five years ago when he firmly believed that Xiaohongshu should not venture into e-commerce.

“Back then, I viewed things from a community perspective. But now, I’m spearheading our e-commerce operations,” he said. This shift follows the platform’s strategic move to integrate its e-commerce and live-streaming businesses into a new transactional division, standing alongside the community and commercial departments.

Xiaohongshu has come a long way since its inception. Within six months of its launch, it introduced an overseas shopping-sharing community.

A year later, it launched an e-commerce platform called “Welfare Society.” By 2016, the platform expanded to include third-party platforms and brand merchants, experiencing rapid growth across various product categories.

However, the platform faced challenges in meeting its Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) targets in 2018 and 2019.

Interestingly, during this period, its content community business thrived, with user numbers increasing by 100 million from January to July 2019. Consequently, Xiaohongshu shifted its focus to strengthening its community aspect, becoming a favored content community among younger demographics.

For Xiaohongshu, with a daily active user count surpassing 100 million in 2022 and advertising revenues accounting for 80% of total income, diving into e-commerce became an inevitable choice.

The platform’s primary user base has always been female, with women accounting for over 80% of its users as of 2021, and a significant 60% hailing from first and second-tier cities.

This demographic, known for its strong purchasing power and high consumer intent, gave birth to Xiaohongshu’s unique “planting grass” culture.

“Planting grass” refers to the practice of posting various forms of notes on the platform, recommending, sharing, and showcasing personal or brand experiences to influence user purchases. From a marketing standpoint, these recommendations and shares are akin to brand advertising, creating brand impressions in the consumer’s mind.

However, creating a brand impression and driving product purchases are two different challenges.

This disparity led to the “brand up, conversion down” phenomenon, where building brand impressions often requires positive language around beauty, advantages, and greatness, while actual product purchases are driven by discounts, price reductions, and limited-time offers.

In this marketing process, brand building and sales conversion are distinct, typically handled by offline malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, and online platforms like Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Taobao.

Xiaohongshu seemed to have solved this challenge by combining search functionality with buyer-driven sales.

Unlike traditional passive content consumption, searching indicates interest in a product, restaurant, or location. As such, search engine marketing has always been highly effective.

With 70% of its active monthly users engaging in search activities, Xiaohongshu focused on closing the loop from search to e-commerce.

The platform’s shift towards e-commerce is also evident in its move towards buyer-driven live-stream commerce.

For instance, in January 2023, Dong Jie’s live-stream debut on Xiaohongshu generated an estimated GMV of over 50 million yuan. Following her, “Chu Dai Fu” achieved fame with her first live-stream lasting nearly six hours and generating sales over 50 million yuan.

These events marked the entry of celebrities and buyers like “Yi Ke KK” and “Dang Ran Shi Dang” into the live-stream sales arena.

Data from August to November 2023 illustrates the platform’s e-commerce momentum, with two billion-level buyers, 21 million-level buyers, and 20 hundred-million-level buyers emerging within just three months.

During the 2023 Singles’ Day shopping festival, Xiaohongshu saw its e-commerce user count triple and order numbers nearly quadruple compared to the previous year.

The number of merchants participating in the event and the GMV from live streaming increased by over four times, highlighting the enormous potential of buyer-driven e-commerce on the platform.

In conclusion, Xiaohongshu’s strategic pivot towards commercialization, as evidenced by organizational restructuring, live-streaming trials, data collaboration, and open search fields, marks a new era for the platform.

By focusing on search conversion and live-streaming sales, Xiaohongshu caters to its core demographic’s shopping needs and cultivates shopping habits among a broader user base. This evolution from a community-focused platform to a dynamic e-commerce powerhouse underscores Xiaohongshu’s adaptability and growth in the digital era.

Review: Xiaohongshu’s live streaming on Business Accounts

Taobao emerged as a defensive strategy against potential C2C competition from eBay’s Chinese platform, Eachnet​. Taobao’s innovative strategies, such as introducing Alipay to ensure secure transactions, helped it secure a substantial market share.

On the 20th anniversary of its founding, Taobao is set to host the most significant 618 Shopping Festival to date. The festival’s evolution mirrors the transformative growth of e-commerce, driven by platforms like Taobao, which have revolutionized how people shop and interact with retailers.

For 2023, Taobao’s strategy for the 618 Shopping Festival revolves around transforming consumers into creators.

In an era where user-generated content has become integral to online engagement, Taobao aims to elevate the shopping experience beyond a simple transaction. This shift aligns with the broader trend in e-commerce, which has been accelerated by the global pandemic, towards more interactive and personalized shopping experiences.

Regarding impact on China’s economy, the 618 Shopping Festival’s contribution to Alibaba’s total revenue is significant​.

The event has grown exponentially since its inception, reflecting the rapid growth of China’s e-commerce sector. The 2023 edition of the festival is expected to further boost this growth trajectory, given the increased scale and novel consumer engagement strategies planned for this year.

The allure of low prices has always been a critical characteristic of online shopping festivals. However, in recent years, the price war has extended from festival periods to daily transactions, with short-term subsidies transitioning into long-term ones.

This shift has led to debates around the necessity of these online shopping festivals, especially as low prices have become somewhat of a norm in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Yet, low prices often come with certain preconditions or basic requirements. For instance, JD.com’s low prices have traditionally been established on multi-item discounts.

However, this year’s 618 Shopping Festival may improve the quality of service (such as half-day delivery service by Cainiao) and lower the threshold for discounted prices based on purchase quantity.

This approach focuses on the keyword “low price,” enhances service quality, and broadens the customer base. Despite low prices becoming a norm, festival periods offer an upgraded shopping experience compared to ordinary days.

In the current environment, improving the return on investment (ROI) for marketing communications remains a significant challenge for the entire industry. This challenge is primarily due to the broader economic environment, which has led to a trend of consumption downgrade.

The biggest dilemma is identifying target customers and stimulating consumer enthusiasm in challenging circumstances. The difficulties in content creation for product promotion and fulfillment of product promises play a significant role.

While merchants have adopted live streaming and digital marketing, attracting traffic in a fiercely competitive market using forms the audience enjoys is a major challenge.

Another concern is maintaining operations after traffic conversion, such as improving the customer experience (product quality and fulfillment, after-sales service, etc.). The entire process involves a long chain of stages, each demanding high professionalism and the ability to respond flexibly to market changes.

As the 618 Shopping Festival approaches, how should merchants prepare in advance? It is crucial to ensure sufficient preparation for product stock and transport capacity. For product inventory, merchants should rely heavily on data-driven predictions to stock up sufficiently in advance.

This preparation should not only be adequate in terms of quantity but also detailed in terms of warehouse distribution and logistics delivery.

At the end of 2022, during the Double 12 shopping festival, some users received their goods only after a month, leaving a bitter taste about the “express” delivery.

Most major platforms have deployed highly automated and intelligent warehouse logistics systems in key consumer markets. Barring uncontrollable factors such as adverse weather, delivery delays should be less frequent.

The issue during the 2022 Double 12 festival was partly due to the widespread transmission of the pandemic. Given the current state of pandemic transmission, a similar situation is unlikely to occur.

Nevertheless, express delivery companies should prepare and plan equipment maintenance, debugging, and personnel deployment. Platforms and merchants should prepare and plan sufficiently for sales predictions and stock-up.

618 Sales

This year no specific GMV or sales data are released from any major e-commerce platforms in China.

Alibaba Group’s Taobao and Tmall Business Group recorded an unprecedented level of merchant participation in China’s mid-year shopping festival, the 6.18, held from May 26 to June 20, spotlighting positive signs of Chinese consumers’ post-pandemic spending prowess.

Data released by Taobao & Tmall on Monday exhibited a paradigm shift in consumer behavior, particularly a surge in livestreaming viewership and short video consumption.

During the 6.18 festival, the daily average of short video views on Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace, increased by 113% from the previous year. Daily short-form video releases from influencers and Taobao merchants have increased by 200% and 55%, respectively, year over year.

Moreover, the festival witnessed a 139% year-over-year increase in content creators initiating livestreaming on Taobao. Consumers’ viewing time on the app doubled, demonstrating the growing influence of digital content in the e-commerce landscape.

The Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of merchants reportedly swelled two to three-fold year-over-year. A total of 305 brands achieved sales above RMB 100 million ($13.99 million) just after the stroke of midnight on June 18.

Additionally, over 2.56 million small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) outperformed last year’s festival, with 1.18 million SMEs each surpassing a GMV of RMB 10,000.

The festival also shed light on new consumer trends, with items like watersports shoes, suitcases, and sunscreen masks being the hot favorites. Around 180,000 customers purchased watersports shoes, while suitcases and sunscreen masks were snapped up by 1.65 million and 930,000 people, respectively.

Apple, which held a rare livestream and offered discounts on its products, including the iPhone 14 Pro and Apple Watch Series 8, saw their broadcast attract 1.3 million viewers and collect 300,000 likes within the first hour.

In this year’s 6.18 shopping festival, video-sharing platform Bilibili saw a surge in its e-commerce advertising revenue, which jumped by more than 400% year-on-year.

Product promotion is becoming a new revenue growth engine for both Bilibili and its content creators, with the number of promoters more than tripling compared to last year’s 6.18.

As the consumption and transaction ecosystem thrives, the number of promotional videos on the site has increased nearly eightfold year-on-year, while the number of promotional livestreams has grown almost 7.5 times over the same period.

During the 6.18 period on Bilibili, the number of content creators who received orders from advertisers through Huahuo increased by over 40% year-on-year.

According to data from the “Spark Program,” which is linked to the Taobao Union (Taobao’s affiliate program), in industries such as home decor and cosmetics, Bilibili accounted for more than 70% of new customers for merchant shops.

Zhihu, a Chinese question-and-answer website, saw a 155.1% year-on-year increase in queries related to “how to choose products.” By the end of May, the volume of content related to “618” on Zhihu had increased by 272% month-on-month, while search volume had risen by 240% over the same period.

Alibaba Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival

Alibaba Group kicked off its Tmall Double 11 Shopping Festival 2021 on 20 October 2021. This is Alibaba’s 13th annual Double Eleven shopping festival in China with an emphasis on sustainability and inclusiveness.

This year marks the largest Double 11 Festival to date, with a record 290,000 brands participating. Alibaba Tmall is offering more than 14 million deals to over 900 million consumers in China. Double 11 2021 will once again have two sales windows – the first will be from November 1 to 3, and the second will be on November 11, on the day of the main event.

Livestreaming will be a key consumer engagement mechanism for brands and merchants to build awareness and drive sales. Starting on October 20 throughout the Festival, Taobao Live will feature 700 leading KOLs, celebrities and brand representatives in livestream sessions.

In addition, Taobao will roll out a new feature for users to share their “shopping cart” items with friends and family, creating a more social shopping experience.

Taobao app introduced an option for “senior mode“, a new feature designed to make the user interface more accessible for senior citizens.

It offers voice-assisted technology, simplified navigation, larger font size and icons. The app homepage also offers games for elderly users to unlock special discounts for groceries, making the experience more engaging for the silver generation.

Consumers are encouraged to share their “Goods for Good” purchases with their friends and family, and Alibaba will make a RMB1 donation for every successful social media share.

Launched in 2006, Alibaba’s “Goods for Good” program enables merchants to donate a portion of their sales to charitable organizations of their choice, while consumers can support their favorite charitable causes through their purchases.

The donations from this year’s Double 11 Festival will provide support to three major beneficiary groups: elderly citizens living in solitude, “left-behind children” in remote areas and low-income workers.

Tmall Double 11 Pre-sale

At 8 p.m. on October 20, Tmall Double 11 officially opened the pre-sale. This year, Tmall’s Double 11 will collectively discount 14 million products, of which all the popular products in 1000 brand flagship stores will be subsidized to 50%.

According to Taobao live streaming data, Li Jiaqi, one of the top anchors, listed 439 products on the evening of October 20. The cumulative transaction value of the live broadcast room is as high as 11.5 billion yuan, and the estimated sales volume is 37.71 million.

In addition, the maximum sales volume of a single product was 1.8777 million yuan, the maximum sales value of a single product was 389 million yuan, the average customer purchase was 306 yuan, and 2.83 million new followers.

Another top influencer Viya started live streaming at 12:55 on October 20, with a cumulative live streaming duration of 14 hours and 28 minutes. The total sales reached 8.533 billion yuan and the average customer purchase was 317 yuan.

There are 499 products listed and the estimated cumulative sales volume is 26.89 million. The maximum sales volume of a single product is 605,600, and the maximum sales value of a single product is 490 million yuan.

Alibaba Tmall Double 11 Sales/GMV

In 2021, Alibaba’s Tmall Double 11 shopping festival achieved a new record of US$84.54 billion in gross merchandise volume.

More than 2.5 million consumers purchased green products on Tmall. Tesla, for example, sold more charging stations for its electric cars within the first minute on November 11 than it had during the entire festival last year.

JD Double 11

Presales

On October 20, the 2021 JD”s Double 11, Singles Day Grand Promotion, began with the pre-sale rolling in at 8 pm. The number of customers who placed orders within the first four hours increased by nearly 40% compared with the first day of the pre-sale in 2020.

The first order delivered by JD’s on-demand “Shop Now” service was swiftly fulfilled within only 10 minutes.

According to JD, an increasing amount of young people joined the pre-sale as consumers aged 18-35 accounted for over 70% during the pre-sale period. Since many brands also opened pre-sales at 8 pm, they swiftly shattered the pre-sale record set on the first entire day of the pre-sale last year.

This shopping enthusiasm was fully ignited across China. Within the first four hours of the pre-sale, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Beijing took the top 3 in order amounts; and when it comes to the product category, large appliances took the lead, followed by phones, sports shoes and bags, and facial care products.

Haier ranked the most popular brand out of all the large appliances during the pre-sale period, and Siemens came after.

On computers and digital products, hardware devices for education purposes came out strong.

Xiaomi, Huawei, and OPPO were also among some of the highly popular tech products, as the pre-sale order volume for Xiaomi phones in the very first hour exceeded that of the first entire day last year.

Within the first four hours of the pre-sale, order amounts of OPPO phones this year increased by 227% YoY.

This Singles Day, JD provided e-CNY (CBDC) red envelopes for users in 11 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Dalian, Xi’an, Chengdu, and more, in collaboration with China Construction Bank (CCB).

Users located in these cities, who have never opened an e-CNY account, can search “e-CNY” on JD’s app to get access to the activity page. The red envelopes can be used on JD’s e-commerce app to purchase first-party products.

JD Double 11 Sales

JD.com reported a record-breaking Singles Day Grand Promotion on November 12, 2021, with transaction volume totaling RMB 349.1 billion yuan at midnight of November 11, ending the 11-day promotion that started from 8 pm on October 31.

The transaction volume of 31 brands surpassed RMB 1 billion yuan with Apple surpassing RMB 10 billion yuan.

Users from lower-tier markets account for 77% of all users for JD’s Singles Day Grand Promotion this year. JD has seen rapid growth of consumption from these markets in the categories of home appliances, medicine, and home decoration.

For example, the transaction volume of dishwashers and sweeping robots increased 2 to 3 times, with some smart home appliances even increasing 5 to 10 times.

Over 100,000 customers used e-CNY on JD’s app during the promotion period.

Xiaomi

During November’s Singles’ Day Shopping Festival, Xiaomi and Redmi brand smartphones together ranked No.1 in sales volume on Tmall.com, JD.com and Suning.com. The Group’s premium smartphones also ranked No.1 among Android smartphones priced above RMB4,000 on Tmall.com and JD.com.

In addition, during the shopping festival, the total sales volume of Xiaomi’s smartphones from its offline channels increased by more than 110% year-over-year.

Dossier: Double 11 (Singles Day)

Net income attributable to HUYA Inc. was RMB524.4 million (US$81.4 million) for the third quarter of 2021, compared with RMB253.0 million for the same period of 2020.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to HUYA Inc. was RMB180.0 million (US$27.9 million) for the third quarter of 2021, compared with RMB361.2 million for the same period of 2020.

The average mobile MAUs of Huya Live in Q3 2021 increased by 14.7% to 85.1 million, from 74.2 million in the same period of 2020. The total number of paying users of Huya Live in the third quarter of 2021 reached 6.0 million, compared with 6.0 million in the same period of 2020.

China eSports market overview and forecast

WeStore is fully open to enterprises, businesses, and individuals. The individual only needs the Chinese identity card information to be able to open the shop directly.

After binding the bank card, the withdrawal can be completed. It supports the sale of first-hand and second-hand goods. One WeChat account can launch one WeStore store for individuals only.

Businesses can only open stores by uploading business licenses, operator information, settlement bank account information, and filling in the nickname/category of the WeStore mini programs. One WeChat account can support the opening of three WeStore business stores.

Personal stores manage the backend through the mobile terminal – WeStore Assistants; enterprises and individual businesses will manage it through a desktop computer.

Value-added service providers can directly join the developers’ program, and more service types will be gradually open. At present, the WeStore service market has opened up commodity management services such as one-click moving, product bulk management, and cross-platform management, as well as order logistics management services such as batch order processing, batch printing, and logistics.

The ability of fast building a mini store mainly meets the needs of small businesses without development ability. Businesses with personalized development needs or existing e-commerce mini programs can directly access the open components of WeStores.

At the same time, WeChat’s official team will continue to iterate and open the interface and function of components to help businesses realize personalized development while reducing development costs.

Businesses can click the button below to apply for the internal test, access to the small store open components, and enjoy the relevant services and capabilities provided by the small store.

WeChat’s WeStore looks like a simple and quick way to set up a mobile store. The Enterprise version also supports up to 500 users to co-manage the store. Merchants can set different access levels for different employees.

WeChat expanding e-commerce reach with mini program integration on JD, Xiaohongshu

It also support WeStores to buy delivery insurance for users.

If the user needs to return and exchange the goods after purchasing in the WeChat shop, the deliver insurance will compensate for the logistics expenses caused by the return and exchange, and help the businesses improve the transaction conversion rate and the user’s shopping experience.

Transaction guarantee certification is another important feature on WeStore. It aims to help users find more stores with good service and bring more exposure opportunities for high-quality stores. If the service of the WeStore shop is up to standard, it can be certified automatically.

Burberry launched its first luxury social retail store, empowered by WeChat

WeStore started testing in 2020

Some WeChat Official Accounts received the invitation to try WeStore (Weixin Xiaodian) in June 2020. The invitation shows that this is a mini program for selling products that can be launched with one click and operated independently.

After opening, businesses can quickly start live streaming and sell products on WeStore. Speculations from China internet show this might be building a foundation for WeChat Channel Account (short videos).

WeChat hasn’t made Channels (Video Accounts) publicly available. This obviously carries Tencent’s hope for a share in China’s short video market as it restricts the videos to be within one minute. Check out this demo video if you are not familiar with WeChat Channels:

There’s no data yet about the user base or engagement on Channels; if taking off, it will be very powerful when combined with WeStore creating an additional e-commerce sales channel with short videos:

9 Brands’ great results from WeChat Mini Program live streaming campaigns

WeStore is a SaaS mobile store building tool created by the Mini Program team to help businesses quickly launch a mobile store. Currently, the online functions include:

• Basic store opening and operation capabilities, including product management, store operation, live broadcast management, fund management, etc.
• Good shopping experience capabilities on the user end, including product details page, shelf tools, live streaming plug-ins, etc

Currently, some third-party “shopping malls” are widely adopted and help the WeChat Official Account to build shops. They can also directly provide the supply chain, product details page, and so on, which greatly reduces the difficulties of running content e-commerce.

In comparison, this WeStore currently provides limited features. But, launching and managing a store with this mini-program is completely free and WeChat is constantly improving it.

WeChat Mini Programs overview

The average mobile MAUs of short video app Likee increased by 86.2% to 150.3 million from 80.7 million in the corresponding period of 2019.

The average mobile MAUs of global live streaming services increased by 20.4% to 102.3 million from 85.0 million in Q2 2019, among that:

• 41.2 million were from YY, which increased by 6.0% year over year;
• 61.1 million were from outside of China
  • 29.4 million from Bigo Live, which increased by 41.3% year over year
  • 31.7 million from HAGO, which increased by 25.3% year over year.

The average mobile MAUs of video communication service was 204.4 million. The total number of paying users of YY decreased by 2.2% to 4.1 million from 4.2 million in the corresponding period of 2019, primarily due to the impact of COVID-19.

During the quarter, Bigo Live’s mobile MAUs and paying users achieved very impressive growth, and live streaming revenues of Bigo segment contributed more than half of Joyy’s total live streaming revenues for the first time ever.

On the short-form video front, Joyy also focused on cultivating Likee’s global ecosystem by diversifying its content offerings, refining its product features, and tailoring its expansion initiatives to different regions.

Likee’s total MAUs increased by 86.2% year over year to 150.3 million in Q2 2020.

Financial Highlights

Net revenues increased by 36.3% to RMB5,840.1 million (US$826.6 million) from RMB4,284.8 million in the corresponding period of 2019.

Net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY Inc.2 was RMB619.4 million (US$87.7 million), compared to net loss RMB6.1 million in the corresponding period of 2019, primarily due to the impact of income from fair value change in investment.

Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY Inc increased by 38.3% to RMB493.6 million (US$69.9 million) from RMB357.0 million in the corresponding period of 2019, primarily due to the decrease in the operating loss of Bigo Inc (“Bigo”).

The net income attributable to HUYA Inc. was RMB171.2 million (US$24.2 million) for Q1 2020, representing an increase of 169.8% YoY from RMB63.5 million.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Huya was RMB263.4 million (US$37.2 million) for Q1 2020, representing an increase of 100.7% YoY from RMB131.3 million.

The average mobile MAUs of Huya Live in the first quarter of 2020 reached 74.7 million, an increase of 38.6% YoY from 53.9 million. The average MAUs of Huya Live reached 151.3 million, an increase of 22.2% YoY.

The total number of paying users of Huya Live in Q1 2020 reached 6.1 million, an increase of 13.0% YoY from 5.4 million.

Since Tencent became its largest shareholder in April 2020, they have been strengthening their collaboration, especially in live streaming content and capabilities.

Huya Financial Results in Q1 2020

Total net revenues for the first quarter of 2020 increased by 47.8% to RMB2,411.9 million (US$340.6 million), from RMB1,631.5 million for the same period of 2019.

Live streaming revenues increased by 46.5% to RMB2,274.5 million (US$321.2 million) for the first quarter of 2020, from RMB1,552.5 million for the same period of 2019, primarily due to the increase in average spending per paying user and the number of paying users on Huya Live.

The increase in average spending per paying user was primarily driven by the enhancement of content attractiveness and the improvement in user experience. The increase in the number of paying users was primarily driven by the Company’s user growth.

Advertising and other revenues increased by 74.0% to RMB137.5 million (US$19.4 million) for the first quarter of 2020, from RMB79.0 million for the same period of 2019, primarily driven by the rising demand from an increasing number of advertisers, the advertising distribution platform launched by the Company in the third quarter of 2019 and strengthened recognition of Huya’s brand name in China’s online advertising market.

Cost of revenues increased by 42.6% to RMB1,937.1 million (US$273.6 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB1,358.1 million for the same period of 2019, primarily attributable to the increase in revenue-sharing fees and content costs, bandwidth costs and personnel-related costs.

Revenue sharing fees and content costs increased by 37.7% to RMB1,532.6 million (US$216.4 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB1,113.1 million for the same period of 2019, primarily due to the increase in virtual item revenue sharing fees in relation to higher live streaming revenues, and continued spending in content creators and e-sports content in both domestic and overseas markets.

The year-over-year increase was partially offset by benefits from economies of scale.

Bandwidth costs increased by 42.1% to RMB240.1 million (US$33.9 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB169.0 million for the same period of 2019, primarily due to an increase in bandwidth usage as a result of the Company’s larger user base and enhanced live streaming video quality, partially offset by improved efficiency in bandwidth utilization through continued technology enhancement efforts.

Gross profit increased by 73.7% to RMB474.8 million (US$67.1 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB273.4 million for the same period of 2019. The gross margin increased to 19.7% for the first quarter of 2020 from 16.8% for the same period of 2019.

Research and development expenses increased by 73.3% to RMB156.1 million (US$22.0million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB90.0 million for the same period of 2019, mainly attributable to increased personnel-related expenses.

Sales and marketing expenses increased by 36.3% to RMB106.5 million (US$15.0 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB78.2 million for the same period of 2019. The increase was primarily attributable to the increased marketing expenses associated with the promotions for the Company’s products and brand name in both domestic and overseas markets, as well as increased personnel-related expenses.

General and administrative expenses increased by 5.1% to RMB90.2 million (US$12.7 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB85.8 million for the same period of 2019, mainly due to the increased personnel-related expenses.

Operating income increased by 372.5% to RMB133.3 million (US$18.8 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB28.2 million for the same period of 2019. The operating margin increased to 5.5% for the first quarter of 2020 from 1.7% for the same period of 2019.

Non-GAAP operating income, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, increased by 136.5% to RMB227.2 million (US$32.1 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB96.0 million for the same period of 2019. Non-GAAP operating margin increased to 9.4% for the first quarter of 2020 from 5.9% for the same period of 2019.

Income tax expenses increased by 98.0% to RMB37.6 million (US$5.3 million) for the first quarter of 2020 from RMB19.0 million for the same period of 2019.

Net income attributable to HUYA Inc. for the first quarter of 2020 increased by 169.8% to RMB171.2 million (US$24.2 million), from RMB63.5 million for the same period of 2019.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to HUYA Inc. for the first quarter of 2020, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, gain on fair value change of investments, and income tax effects on non-GAAP adjustments, increased by 100.7% to RMB263.4 million (US$37.2 million), from RMB131.3 million for the same period of 2019.

Diluted net income per American depositary share (“ADS”) was RMB0.73 (US$0.10) for the first quarter of 2020, compared with RMB0.29 for the same period of 2019. Each ADS represents one Class A ordinary share of the Company.

Non-GAAP diluted net income per ADS was RMB1.12 (US$0.16) for the first quarter of 2020, compared with RMB0.59 for the same period of 2019.

As of March 31, 2020, the Company had cash and cash equivalents, short-term deposits and short-term investments of RMB10,316.7 million (US$1,457.0 million), compared with RMB6,329.1 million as of March 31, 2019.

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased to RMB135.1 million (US$19.1 million) for the first quarter of 2020, from RMB501.7 million for the same period of 2019. The decrease was primarily attributable to the increase of annual cash bonuses paid to its employees, the increase of fees paid to broadcasters and the increase of licensing fees paid for broadcasting e-sports tournaments.

For the second quarter of 2020, Huya currently expects total net revenues to be in the range of RMB2,600 million to RMB2,630 million, representing a year-over-year growth of between 29.3% and 30.8%.

Douyu’s quarterly average paying user count in the fourth quarter of 2019 increased by 70.8% to 7.3 million from 4.2 million in the same period of 2018.

Fourth Quarter 2019 Highlights

• Total net revenues for Q4 2019 increased by 77.8% to RMB2,062.9 million (US$294.9 million) from RMB1,160.2 million in Q4 2018.
  • Live streaming revenues increased by 84.1% to RMB1,892.5 million (US$270.5 million) from RMB1,028.1 million in Q4 2018, primarily driven by the increase in both the number of paying users and ARPPU
• Gross profit increased by 934.6% to RMB375.2 million (US$53.6 million) from RMB36.3 million in the same period of 2018, implying a gross margin of 18.2% in Q4 2019, compared with 3.1% in Q4 2018.
• Net income was RMB157.4 million (US$22.5 million), compared with a loss of RMB271.4 million in Q4 2018, implying a net margin of 7.6% in Q4 2019.
• Adjusted net income was RMB186.4 million (US$26.6 million), implying an adjusted net margin of 9.0%, compared with an adjusted net loss of RMB232.5 million in the same period of 2018.

Full Year 2019 Highlights

• Total net revenues in the full year of 2019 increased by 99.3% to RMB7,283.2 million (US$1,041.1 million) from RMB3,654.4 million in the same period of 2018.
• Gross profit in the full year of 2019 increased by 692.0% to RMB1,196.2 million (US$171.0 million) from RMB151.0 million in the same period of 2018, implying a gross margin of 16.4% in the full year of 2019, compared with 4.1% in the same period of 2018.
• Net income in the full year of 2019 was RMB33.3 million (US$4.8 million), compared with a net loss of RMB876.3 million in the same period of 2018, implying a net margin of 0.5% in the full year of 2019.
• Adjusted net income in the full year of 2019 was RMB346.4 million (US$49.5 million), implying an adjusted net margin of 4.8%, as compared with an adjusted net loss of RMB818.5 million in the same period of 2018.

Huya expects its total net revenues to be in the range of RMB2,100 million to RMB2,160 million in the first quarter of 2020, representing year-over-year growth between 41.0% and 45.0%.

Check out its competitor Huya’s Q4 performance here.

The average mobile MAUs of Likee (formerly known as Like) increased by 208.3% to 115.3 million in Q4 2019 from 37.4 million in Q4 2018.

The average mobile MAUs of JOYY’s global live streaming services increased by 21.5% to 158.9 million from 130.8 million in Q4 2018, 102.8 million of which were from China, including 41.2 million from YY, which increased by 3.8% year over year, and 61.6 million from Huya, which increased by 21.5% year over year.

56.1 million live streaming MAUs were from outside of China, including 23.1 million from BIGO LIVE, which increased by 18.6% year over year, and 33.0 million from HAGO (casual-game-oriented social media platform), which increased by 57.9% year over year.

Average mobile MAUs of imo was 211.0 million.

The total number of paying users of YY increased by 9.8% to 4.5 million from 4.1 million in Q4 2018. Total number of paying users of Huya increased by 5.9% to 5.1 million from 4.8 million in Q4 2018. See Huya’s competitor Douyu here.

YY’s financial highlights in Q4 2019:

• YY’s net revenues increased by 64.2% to RMB7,618.2 million (US$1,094.3 million) from RMB4,640.9 million in Q4 2018.
• Net income attributable to controlling interest of JOYY Inc.1 was RMB172.8 million (US$24.8 million), compared to RMB694.7 million in Q4 2018.
• Non-GAAP net income attributable to controlling interest of JOYY was RMB600.8 million (US$86.3 million), compared to RMB846.9 million in Q4 2018, primarily due to the impact of the consolidation of Bigo Inc (“Bigo”)

YY’s net revenues increased by 62.2% to RMB25,576.2 million (US$3,673.8 million) from RMB15,763.6 million in 2018. Net income attributable to controlling interest of JOYY Inc. was RMB3,445.2 million (US$494.9 million), compared to RMB2,209.0 million in 2018.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to controlling interest of JOYY was RMB2,252.6 million (US$323.6 million), compared to RMB3,274.1 million in 2018.

9 Brands’ great results from WeChat Mini Program live streaming campaigns

Here are nine brands that took the lead in showing their achievements according to WeChat.

Alibaba’s DingTalk beat WeChat in total downloads amid coronavirus outbreak

Brands like Innisfree, a beauty make-up brand, Septwolves, UrbanRevivo, Lily, Jack&Jones, VeroModa, MISS SIXTY, Ochirly, retailer Watson, Rainbow, Jiangxiaobai, have all been connected to the Mini Program’s live streaming. Let’s see some quick case studies below.

An Jiao La, a beauty make-up blogger recently launched a live streaming session at the webcast room of the “Perfect Diary Member Store” Mini Program.

This is the first time that she made sales in the form of a live streaming. She demonstrated beauty make-up products in front of over a hundred thousand people.

In two and a half hours, the live broadcast received 1.709 million likes. Products like Queen’s Day Gift Box, Make-up Brush Set were sold out, the average sales volume of the Mini Program live broadcast sessions increased by 8 times.

How Taobao’s social affiliate platform Taoxiaopu works

In February 2020, WeChat Mini Program live broadcast of the fashion brand Perfect Diary saw the average number of people watching the show increased three to ten times from the previous month, while the purchase conversion rate was two to three times higher than other platforms, according to WeChat.

The retail brand Han Guang Bai Huo first tested live broadcast of its franchised stores, which witnessed over 10 thousand views per session and online sales increase of 300% for a single item within one day.

VGRASS, a women’s apparel brand, presented a brilliant result of its debut webcast on the 26th of February – over 120K views of a single session, 740 thousand interaction and likes.

The short two and half hours live streaming created sales value of over 1 million yuan, with the average order value of 2,500 yuan while the highest single item price was 8700 yuan.

Another women’s apparel brand Eifini debuted on the 6th of February, the number of the Mini Program visits increased by 566% compared with the previous month while the sales increased by 372% over the previous month.

On February 21, the debut of the women’s apparel brand Inman‘s live streaming attracted over 1 million views and gained 260 thousand likes; and, total comments during the live broadcast exceeded 110 thousand.

BBG, a retail brand, launched the live streaming function on its Mini Program on February 26, within the first 30 minutes, the sales exceeded 400 thousand yuan, the click to purchase conversion rate of the debut session was 15.3%.

The number of new users of the beauty make-up brand Misifu’s Mini Program – Misifu Smart Store, increased by 500% over the previous month since the brand launched Mini Program live broadcast on February 18.

The sales increased by 300% and the average transaction value increased by 70% respectively as compared to the previous month.

The leisure clothing brand Fast Fish gained 200 thousand views through its debut Mini Program live streaming on February 5, which ended with sales of 500 thousand yuan. The next day, the sales soared to 1.3 million yuan.

Out of the 1.135 million yuan sales of the fashion branch Aike, which was gained during its debut Mini Program live broadcast back in November of 2019, about 200 thousand yuan was contributed by new users.

All the above-mentioned brands have leveraged WeChat Mini Program live streaming function, which was officially developed by the WeChat team.

Check out our business guide to WeChat Mini Program live streaming 

In 2019, a total number of 250 million users published on Kwai’s platform with accumulated likes of over 350 billion. Its competitor Douyin or Tiktok DAU exceeded 400 million in early 2020.

Find out how Kuaishou grew its DAU by 40 million in 5 months here.

Kuaishou generated RMB 50 billion (around $7.1 billion) in revenue in 2019, with live-streaming revenue accounting for the largest share with RMB 30 billion revenue, according to Chinese media Jiemian.

Kuaishou’s advertising revenues in 2019 reached RMB 13 billion with 20% from SME advertisers according to Tencent News. And, its target for 2020 is RMB 40 billion.

The DAU for Chinese short video apps reached 574 million during this year’s extended Spring Festival (Jan 24 to Feb 2) according to research company QuestMobile.

As the exclusive interactive partner of the 2020 Spring Festival Gala aired on the Chinese New Year’s Eve, January 24, Kuaishou Technology announced that 63.9 billion user engagements have been made during the live broadcast, which is the highest amount in the history of the gala according to its official press release.

Kuaishou handed out five rounds of virtual “red envelopes,” totaling a record-breaking 1 billion yuan ($144 million). During the event, 2.21 million people snatched envelopes with extra amount ranging from 66.6 yuan to 2020 yuan.

Kuaishou platform also supports live streaming; its daily active live streaming users exceeded 100 million in December 2019.

There are now over 990,000 creators of educational videos on Kuaishou, more than doubled in 2019 compared to the previous year. The educational live streaming platform now has over 100 million daily audiences.

See a comparison of Tik Tok vs. Kwai

Tencent Live launched a new feature Product Window that merchants can use to display added products to the live broadcasting sessions. Merchants can also associate live broadcasting with products from Weidian or JD.

The Product Window also supports merchants with live broadcasting data including transaction and traffic data so that they can optimize their live broadcasting.

The Product Window can display products on the live broadcasting screen that are added from Weidian and JD so that viewers can click and complete the purchase in the corresponding platform. And, it doesn’t offer integration from other e-commerce platforms.

On May 10, 2019, JD renewed the strategic cooperation agreement with Tencent, for a period of three years starting from May 27, 2019. Tencent will continue to offer the company prominent level 1 and level 2 access points on its WeChat platform.

Weidian is a popular tool among individual sellers to sell on WeChat. It’s a product of Koudai Gouwu, which Tencent invested in.

Not all products can be added; only products meeting the following criteria can be added to Tencent Live Product Display:

• available in the affiliate program of the corresponding e-commerce platform
• the commission must be at least 20%
• a minimum number of one sale in the past month

Anchors can sell either its own products or others’.

Though still in testing phase, Tencent launched the live broadcasting tool for WeChat Official Account (OA) in March 2019. And, Tencent Live integrated live streaming with its mini program in September 2019.

Brands can embed HTML5 based product on its mini program as an entry to its live streaming. Followers and fans can click to open Tencent Live to watch live streaming. Live streaming audiences can click on a button in the live stream to open the product listing and visit the mini program to make a purchase.

Live broadcasting has become an important weapon for etailers in China to increase sales.

3 popular models of social e-commerce in China

The four main contents of Kuaishou fashion live broadcast are skincare, beauty makeup, hairdressing, and manicure. They have the largest number of anchors and total comments, and the largest amount of virtual gifts received.

Live broadcast has become a main growth driver for many e-commerce businesses in 2019. Anchor Han Chenghao sells high-end personal care in Kuaishou live broadcast. He only has 500 thousand fans but is able to sell up to 10 million yuan products overnight.

Live broadcasting has extended to unexpected products areas.

Major enterprises also use Kuaishou live broadcast to generate sales. Sany Heavy Industry sold 31 road rollers in one hour, each of which was sold for more than 350,000 yuan. Xiaopeng Automobile gained 4 billion exposures and more than 600 new test drive orders in five days of live broadcast. One live broadcast of Xinjiang Agriculture received more than 200 purchase intentions.

Kuaishou’s daily live broadcasting users under the gaming category has exceeded 51 million. The number of online viewers exceeded 25 million on the first day of this year’s live broadcast of the final of the League of Heroes (S9), and the total number of participants reached 74 million.

Kuaishou has been connected to e-commerce platforms including Taobao, Jingdong, Youzan. And, it has launched a shopping cart and Kwai Shop. The scale of e-commerce business is gradually expanding. Being a top competitor of short-video leader TikTok, Kuaishou expands from entertainment to education.

The number of Kuaishou e-commerce authors has exceeded 1 million, with a daily reach of 100 million consumers and 10% increase month-over-month according to its official data announced at a Youzan conference. The monthly income of e-commerce authors with 100,000 + fans can reach 50,000 yuan.

Tencent is in the final stages of negotiations with Kuaishou for a $2 billion investment in its $3 billion pre-IPO round, which would give Kuaishou a valuation of around $28.6 billion according to LatePost’s WeChat Official Account.

Check out How Kuaishou grew its DAU by 40M in 5 months or mobile shopping users and top e-commerce apps in China in Q3 2019

On October 17th, Kuaishou (Kwai) Big Data Research Institute released the “2019 Kuaishou Education Ecosystem Report”, which systematically reviewed Kuaishou’s education ecosystem for the first time.

The report shows that Kwai’s platform has generated as many as 200 million educational short videos so far. The average number of daily views has exceeded 2.2 billion, and the average number of daily “likes” has exceeded 60 million.

The revenues of China’s short video market grew by over 7 times to 46.7 billion yuan (US$6.6 bn) in 2018. It’s expected to continue the fast growth and exceed 100 billion yuan (US$14.16 bn) in 2019. TikTok (Douyin) and Kwai (Kuaishou) are the two leading short video platforms in China.

Short video has become a critical driver for e-commerce in China.

It is worth mentioning that there are now over 990,000 creators of educational videos on Kuaishou, more than doubled compared to last year. The educational live streaming platform now has over 100 million daily audiences. They contribute a daily average total viewing time equivalent to about 734 years and leave an average of over 20 million comments daily.

This is indeed a surprising result for many people. In the field of education, there are few products that can built such a solid product infrastructure step-by-step, while covering such a large and geographically diverse population.

Moving in stealth mode, Kwai’s education ecosystem has become a major player impossible to overlook. Now, the entire online education industry is facing huge pressure and begin to embrace short videos.

There exist huge market demands in the four vertical fields of EQO (Essential-qualities-oriented) education, agriculture education, vocational education, and subject-oriented education.

The average daily views of short videos on EQO education has exceeded 1 billion, with over 3.6 million “likes”. The contents range from calligraphy, hand-painting, Chinese folk art, to life hack, dancing, and photography.

The average daily views of videos on vocational education have exceeded 900 million. The contents range from repair & maintenance, driving, to cooking and fashion design.

Learning is a common need of Kwai’s users. Their enthusiasm for learning is high no matter their genders nor ages:

• Users under the age of 18 are not only interested in contents related to their school subjects, but also in computer science, anime hand-painting and gymnastics;
• users aged 18-30 prefer photography; users from 30 to 45 years old love agricultural machinery, calligraphy and saxophone;
• users from 45 to 60 years old focus more on investing and planting flowers; users over 60 years old like tea, chess and folk art.

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How to use live streaming for successful marketing in China

Live streaming audiences can click on a button in the live stream to open the product listing and visit the mini program to make a purchase. After the purchase, they can return to the live streaming to continue watching. Watch the quick demo below to get an idea:

Tencent launched the live broadcasting tool for WeChat Official Account (OA) in March 2019, currently supporting audio and video broadcast. Check out China’s top live streaming mobile apps here.

Enterprise live streaming services reached 760 million yuan (US$110.49 mn), experiencing fast growth in the past 4 years when it first exceeded 100 million yuan in 2015. It’s expected to reach 1.14 billion yuan (US$165.73 mn) in 2019 and grow further to 2.21 billion yuan (US$321.29 mn) in the year 2021.

By total revenues, the first tier enterprise live streaming service companies are Gensee, Vzan, and Vhall, followed by the second-tier players including POLYV, CC Video, Mudu.tv, and Baijiayun. Vzan and CC Video rank on top in China’s enterprise live streaming market by the total number of clients, followed by POLYV, Mudu.tv, Vhall, Baijiayun, and Gensee.

China’s top live streaming mobile apps

Taobao will leverage its live streaming technology to help incubate 1,000 key opinion leaders in China’s countryside in an effort to boost rural development according to Alibaba. By helping farmers go online, Taobao aims to enable farmers to find new markets and customers from their homegrown products.

Taobao’s target is to boost the livelihood of 1,000 farmer live broadcasters from 100 counties in China by helping them each generate over RMB10,000 in monthly income.

The idea is to drive online sales of local agricultural products via live broadcasting conducted by the newly minted rural KOLs – the farmers, themselves. To promote this new initiative, Taobao plans collaboration with county-level governments to highlight local points of interest and expand the popularity and recognition of various villages participating in the live streaming.

Our rural live streaming program aims to empower local live video broadcasters to boost business for poverty-stricken areas while enabling farmers to manage their own live streaming e-commerce channels.

It’s Taobao’s devotion to poverty relief by leveraging e-commerce and live streaming via creative digital technologies.

said Chen Lei, director of e-commerce content at Taobao.

Last year, Taobao hosted more than 150,000 agriculture-themed broadcasts, which drew over 400 million viewers.

Taobao innovated the “Live on the Farm” model, featured with agriculture livestreamers, KOLs, and even local government officials from counties to join live broadcasting sessions and promote their local goods.

In January 2019, Taobao’s “Live on the Farm” seven-day online sales campaign generated over RMB9.35 million in sales, right ahead of Chinese New Year, a prime gifting period in China.

Many agriculture live broadcasters tasted their first success on the platform last year, including Chen Jiubei, who has helped farmers in her hometown in Hunan province sell up to 2 million kilograms of previously unsaleable oranges in just 13 days last winter.

Taobao also coordinated with county-level governments to provide a suite of live streaming marketing services, including seeking out and training live broadcasters, as well as identifying local selling points. With more than 60,000 distinct live streams on agricultural products every month, Taobao is committed to driving RMB3 billion in sales for the sector in 2019.

This month, Taobao will roll out live streams that introduce the source of a range of agricultural products, helping viewers discover the local landscape and customs where their products come from.

In addition, Taobao also plans to partner with CCTV, Hunan Television and Zhejiang Television to develop live streaming shows that invite pop stars and celebrities to participate in poverty-relief activities, aiming to generate more public awareness for underprivileged areas.

About Taobao Live

Taobao live streaming is an emerging marketing channel that started in 2016 and has rapidly grown into a proven marketing strategy. Powered by advanced technologies from across the Alibaba Group, KOLs and live broadcasters provide both indoor and outdoor live streaming to customers.

During these live streams, they introduce and recommend different products across diverse areas ranging from clothing, cosmetics, and jewelry, to agriculture goods and plus-sized clothes.

In 2018, 81 live broadcasters notched over RMB 100 million in sales, respectively.

Across all industries and sectors in China, brands and sellers are already transforming their digital capabilities to stimulate business development through Taobao live streaming.

L’Oréal’s flagship store experienced a nearly 20% increase in purchases after Viya and Jiaqi Li, Taobao’s most recognized live broadcasters promoted the brand’s signature goods via live stream.

Among the top female clothing brands, more than 30% of sales are driven by live streaming. In certain industries such as jewelry and jade, flowers and plants, the penetration rate of brands using Taobao live streaming is close to 50%, bringing great changes to the previous online marketing mix that was adopted.

Live streaming serves as an efficient tool to empower traditional industries and drive sales.

During the “Double 12 Shopping Festival” in 2018, Taobao organized a 12-day live broadcasting event from once-booming industrial belts to rejuvenate traditional businesses with cutting-edge technologies and powerful new modes of retail operation.

Live broadcasters were everywhere from an agricultural products base in Sichuan and porcelain production firm in Jingdezhen to a home textiles mall in Nantong and leather factory in Haining, bringing a growing number of young customers to forgotten industrial towns.

In order to inject more renewed energy into traditional industries, Taobao also launched plans at the recent summit to incubate and develop 10 offline traditional retail markets. The aspiration is to help them reach annual revenues of over RMB 100 million.

Other initiatives that are being rolled out to maximize the influence of live streaming includes developing 10 professional PGC (Professional Generated Content) organizations with over RMB 100 million revenues, creating 10 super programs with more than 100 million views and promoting over 100 regional television stations to collaborate with Tao Live, an app focused on PGC area.

Have you utilized live video broadcasting for your China e-commerce sales?

Live video broadcasting has proven to be a fun, engaging way to connect with followers and grow the audience. 78% of online viewers are watching video on Facebook Live as of 2018. In China, live streaming has stepped up the game and become a useful tool to drive e-commerce traffic and sales.

Audiences are quite active in live streaming in China, which makes it a good channel for marketing. 50.5% of them would make comments, over 40% of them would like it, reward hosts (free-to-play), and share videos to others, according to a study by iResearch.

86% of users thought positively about live streaming marketing. Among them, those younger than 24 years are more likely to be attracted by new products release and buyer’s sharing.

In 2018, Taobao’s live broadcasting platform Taobao Live delivered more than 100 billion yuan sales of products, a year-on-year growth rate of nearly 400% according to Alibaba.

A total number of 81 live rooms on Taobao Live reached 100 million yuan sales; a total of 5 organizations broke 1 billion yuan sales. Taobao Live aims to deliver 500 billion yuan sales in the next three years.

80% of the broadcasters are female. The number of Taobao Live broadcasters with a monthly income of over one million yuan has exceeded 100 people.

Meet Viya, a top broadcaster on Taobao Live

Viya used to be a small star in the entertainment industry. She, born in the “fashion family”, circled back to the apparel industry while working as a model and operating offline apparel stores. In 2011, she saw the business opportunity and closed all offline stores and moved to the Taobao platform.

Her fifth year on Taobao, 2015, had a total sales of over 10 million yuan on Double 11 but suffered a net loss of three million yuan.

In May 2016, Viya started the first live broadcast on Taobao. She managed to close 20 thousand sales orders by one live broadcast in the second month.

And, her live broadcast on October 10, 2017, made her a top sales girl.

This very broadcast helped drive 70 million yuan (US$10.6 million) sales to a Taobao store who has zero followers. It started at 7 pm until 40 minutes past midnight and attracted over 1.53 million viewers with 12.3 million likes.

She broke her record in last year’s Tmall Double 11 with over 300 million yuan in sales.

Live video broadcasting is now a critical part of a successful e-commerce operation on Alibaba’s e-commerce ecosystem. Many stores have hired a team of broadcasters with many simultaneous broadcasts of different products.

There is now a group of online shoppers who don’t check out the product details pages. They just watch live video broadcast and place orders.

Said Mr. Zheng during my interview with him, an e-commerce business owner in south China.

Related: Top 20 Chinese video mobile apps in overseas market

E-Commerce Live Broadcasting in WeChat Ecosystem

Tencent launched a live broadcasting tool for WeChat Official Account (OA) in March 2019, currently supporting audio and video broadcast. Influencing WeChat OA can utilize their fanbase on WeChat, in combination with quality live broadcasts, to drive e-commerce sales.

A fashion digital media Ta Du (She Reads) did a live broadcast e-commerce show in April for two hours. It attracted 11,951 viewers and received 1,228 orders with a conversion rate of 18.32% according to 36Kr.

This broadcast utilized both a mobile app and a WeChat mini-program. It started from the mobile app to generate a mini-program card or embeddable code for an official account article. Users can click on that to book, watch, and interact.

Tencent Live serves WeChat’s Official Account. The mobile app can be used to create and operate live broadcasting while the mini-program client serves users for booking, watching, and interacting with the live video broadcasts.

It’s in testing and not available yet in the App Store. WeChat Official Account (OA) owners can get the app download link from Tencent Live Assistant WeChat OA and apply for an account before being able to test it. With about 1.1 billion monthly active users, WeChat could be potentially a massive platform for e-commerce sellers.

Related: How to use live streaming for successful marketing in China in 2018

Other e-commerce live video broadcasting platforms

Some other leading e-commerce platforms in China run their own live video broadcasting channels as well, including Jingdong, Vipshop, Mogujie, etc.

Seeing over 500 million live broadcasting users in China, businesses can also utilize independent popular live video broadcasting platforms and social media to drive brand awareness and product promotions.

Tik Tok has been testing e-commerce integration for over a year, starting from a Taobao e-commerce traffic driver to building its e-commerce ecosystem.

Kuaishou, another top short video platform in China, has integrated with multiple e-commerce platforms including Taobao, Tmall, Youzan, etc. Sellers can drive the traffic directly to the online store and complete the purchase.

Others you could consider include Weibo Live, Momo, Douyu, YY, etc.

If you haven’t started, you should focus on one platform, build your success, and expand from there. Different platforms could have very different demographic users; so, make sure you conduct your research and identify the channels with users meeting your audience profiles.

E-Commerce Live Broadcasting

Live video broadcasting for e-commerce is now a game for professional operations. Broadcasters are carefully tested, selected and trained with a mix of celebrities, Taobao owners, and the professionally trained.

Alibaba recently launched a tool to enable broadcasters to select products from 12 pools of 5 industry categories and about 130 thousand products. Broadcasters can either broadcast anywhere after receiving a product sample or visit the Taobao with additional services.

It appears easier than it actually is when it comes to driving e-commerce sales with live video broadcasting. Merchants must figure out the whole process including personas analysis, products selection, post-sales service, delivery, logistics, etc.

Delivering quality products with a relatively lower price is the key. You need to develop demographic and psychographic profiles of your fans to select the right product. Another critical factor for a successful live broadcast is the content.

Live video broadcasting is a valuable channel that consumer brands should tap on. Working with one of the influencer broadcasters whose fans match the same profile of your audience is a quick way to get started. Alternatively, you can outsource to companies who specialize in this area.

5 consumption trends of post-90s on Tmall Global

Huya, a leading game live streaming platform in China, delivered non-GAAP net income for five consecutive quarters, reaching a record high of US$67.0 million for the fiscal year of 2018. The average mobile MAUs and MAUs reached 50.7 million and 116.6 million, respectively. Total paying users increased by 73.1% year-on-year to 4.8 million.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the average mobile MAUs of Huya reached 50.7 million, an increase of 30.7% year-on-year. Average MAUs totaled 116.6 million, an increase of 34.5% year-on-year. The total number of paying users increased by 73.1% year-on-year to 4.8 million.

Related: China’s video cloud market to grow by 37.5% in 2019

Huya generated more than 1.6 billion viewership from over 400 e-sports events broadcasted in 2018. Furthermore, Huya has acquired more than 10 million active monthly overseas users in less than a year.

As the first domestic game live streaming platform being published, Huya’s total net revenues increased by 113.4% year-on-year to 4,663.4 million yuan (US$678.3 million) in 2018. Net revenues reached 1,504.9 million yuan (US$218.9 million) for the fourth quarter, a 103.1% increase compared with the prior year period.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, Non-GAAP net income attributable to Huya grew by 486.8% year-on-year to 166.9 million (US$24.3 million) yuan. The non-GAAP net margin went up by 160 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 11.1%.

The high rise of 34.5% in average MAUs was mainly driven by the improved desktop viewing experience, the launch of a series of eSports competitions in the fourth quarter, and its major competitor Douyu being removed from app stores.

On the other hand, the rising number of paying users also played a part in it. Noteworthy, mobile MAUs exceeded 50 million with a 30-day retention rate of over 70%. With a higher monetization capacity and conversion rate, this part contributed over 80% of live streaming revenues, which increased by 108.15 year-on-year to 1,441.8 million (US$209.7 million) in the fourth quarter.

The technology innovation on bandwidth utilization promoted the booming gross profit. In the fourth quarter of 2018, bandwidth costs increased by 42.1% year-on-year to 161.6 million yuan (US$23.5 million), whose presence in total cost of revenues has been declining, partially offset by improved efficiency in bandwidth utilization as a result of the deployment of new technologies in content distribution.

Apart from that, profited from a better user experience, the gross profit surged by 120.7% year-on-year to 238.6 million yuan (US$34.7 million).

Huya generated more than 1.6 billion viewership from over 400 e-sports events including LOL S8, and KPL Autumn broadcasted in 2018. Also, Huya had held nearly 20 competitions by itself, which attracted over 58 million viewership.

Holding competitions by themselves is a major part of their differentiation strategy, which not only brings traffic and users but also helps cultivate premium game hosts, according to Mr. Rongjie Dong, Chief Executive Officer of Huya. In 2019, Huya will put more to premium e-sports content.

Huya established a strategic partnership with Tencent in June 2018 to march into the South Asia market. It has acquired more than 10 million overseas active users as of December 2018. Check out top 20 Chinese video mobile apps in the overseas market.

How China’s short video app Kuaishou grew its DAU by 40M in 5 months