Gaming and entertainment continue to line Tencent’s pocket, with the internet giant posting third-quarter revenues of RMB65.2 billion (US$9.83 billion) a 61% increase year-on-year. Tencent, which is valued at $472 and is Asia’s most valuable company, has continued to focus on digital content to drive growth for the company as it moves beyond gaming to focus on monetising its content to grow advertising revenues. Tencent’s online gaming revenues grew 48% to RMB26.8bn largely driven by the continued success of Honour of Kings, as well as new titles such as a Chinese version of Contra Return. Smartphone games continued to dominate, increasing 84% to represent RMB18.2bn in revenue while PC games grew 27% to RMB14.6bn. Tencent Video's fee-based subscriptions passed 43 million, which Tencent claims is the largest video streaming services subscriber base in China. Meanwhile, live streaming broadcasts and subscription video on-demand helped boost revenue from social networks, including Weixin and WeChat, which increased 56% to RMB15.3bn. Monthly active users (MAU) for WeChat and Weixin reached 980 million, up 15.8% year-on-year, and higher advertising revenues from Weixin Moments and Weixin Official Accounts helped social and others advertising revenue surge 63% to RMB6.9bn. Tencent’s online advertising business grew 48% to RMB4.1bn driven by increased revenues from Tencent Video, however the year-on-year growth was offset by the high base from last year’s Olympic Games. Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said, “During the third quarter of 2017, we recorded strong business and revenue growth across multiple business lines including games, digital content, online advertising and payment related services. In particular, our video platform gained audience and revenue market share, we believe it has become China’s top online video platform in terms of mobile daily active users and subscriptions. “We believe this success reflects our increasing investment in self-commissioned video content, our improved selection of licensed video content, and our scheduling and audience management initiatives. We believe our multi-faceted digital content businesses are synergistic with each other, and allow us to deliver unique content to our users.”
Chinese internet giant Tencent has reported a 61% increase in Q3 revenues as it continues to focus on monetising content. The firm, Asia's most valuable, posted Q3 revenues of CNY65.2bn ($9.8bn) after moving beyond gaming in a bid to grow its advertising income. The company's online gaming revenues also rose 48% to CNY26.8bn, largely driven by its key title Honour of Kings. Meanwhile, fee-based subscribers to Tencent Video, the company's streaming service, passed 43 million, which it claims is the largest video subscriber base in China.