This announcement comes on the heels of Kuaishou Technology (HK Counter:01024/RMB Counter: 81024) (the "Company" or "Kuaishou"), a leading content community and social platform, announcing today its unaudited consolidated results for the three months ("Third Quarter") and nine months ended September 30, 2023.
Highlights of the Third Quarter of 2023
I am Mr.. "We continued to grow our company and increase our profits in the third quarter of 2023, led by strong revenue growth and improved ROI in our core businesses, and our strategic emphasis on operating efficiency, as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kuaishou stated," Chun Yixiao, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kuaishou said.. As a result, we are successfully attracting new users and retaining those we already have. There was yet another new high for our thriving community's average DAUs and MAUs in the third quarter, reaching a total of 386 in the third quarter..The number of six million and sixty-four is.This represents an increase of 6 million, respectively, over the same period last year.A percentage of 4% and a percentage of 99%.The percentages are respectively 4% and 5%. With the continued development of our robust content ecosystem, we will continue to cultivate high-quality growth, adding more monetization opportunities across various user scenarios, while enriching our ecosystem with more diverse content and leveraging the advanced capabilities of our technologies.. In the years to come, we will continue to support innovation and explore new growth opportunities that can shape the industry landscape, empowering content creators, marketing customers, and merchants alike.. By doing so, we strengthen our position as a leading content community and social platform in addition to fostering a brighter future for our shareholders and ecosystem participants as a result
By doing so, we strengthen our position as a leading content community and social platform in addition to fostering a brighter future for our shareholders and ecosystem participants as a result
Financial Review for the Third Quarter of 2023
As a result of our online marketing services, revenue for the third quarter of 2023 increased by 26.7% to RMB14.7 billion, up from RMB11.6 billion in the same period of 2022. During this period, we saw a significant increase in the number of marketing customers, primarily because of increased traffic on our platform, a diversified product portfolio, and refined operations tailored to meet industry demands.
As a result of our enriched content supply and continuous optimization of our live streaming ecosystem, the revenue from our live streaming business increased by 8.6% to RMB9.7 billion for the third quarter of 2023, from RMB8.9 billion for the same period in 2022.
As a result of the growth in our e-commerce business, as indicated by the growth in the number of active e-commerce paying users, revenue from our other services increased 36.6% to RMB3.5 billion for the third quarter of 2023, from RMB2.6 billion for the same period of 2022. In order to drive the growth in e-commerce GMV, an increase in the number of active merchants, a rise in the number of active paying users, and a refined business strategy were all factors influencing the growth in e-commerce GMV.
The following are other key financial information for the third quarter of 2023:
An operating profit of RMB2.2 billion was recorded in the first quarter of 2023, compared to a loss of RMB2.6 billion for the same period in 2022.
As of the end of the period, the adjusted EBITDA(4) was RMB5.0 billion, an increase of RMB1.0 billion over the same period in 2022.
As of September 30, 2023, the total amount of available funds(5) reached RMB55 billion.
A few notes:
Our platform allows us to place advertisements on or direct them to our partners.(2) We define "adjusted net profit/(loss)" as a profit/(loss) for the period adjusted for share-based compensation expenses and net fair value changes on investments made during the period.(3) The unallocated items, which consist of share-based compensation expenses, other income, and other gains/(losses), net, are excluded from this calculation.We define "adjusted EBITDA" as adjusted net profit/(loss) for the period, which has been adjusted for income tax expenses/(benefits), depreciation of property and equipment, depreciation of right-of-use assets, amortization of intangible assets, and finance income, net of interest expense..(5) The total amount of funds available to you, including but not limited to cash and cash equivalents, time deposits, financial assets, and restricted cash. Assets in the financial sector include primarily wealth management products as well as other financial products
Assets in the financial sector include primarily wealth management products as well as other financial products
Review of the business environment
The third quarter of 2023 saw us continue to foster the growth of our healthy, sustainable operations, expanding the number of users, content creators, marketing customers, and merchants that we are able to reach.. Each of our business lines was able to grow significantly and achieved impressive financial growth by integrating more commercial scenarios across our ecosystem and optimizing our operating efficiency. During the third quarter of 2023, we achieved a net profit of RMB2 billion on a group level.There was a net profit of RMB3 billion and an adjusted net profit of RMB2 billion.The number of billions is 2. As a result, we were able to achieve an adjusted net profit margin of 11.7%.Four percent
Four percent
Our profitability improvement was largely attributed to the robust revenue growth across each of our key business segments, including online marketing, e-commerce, live streaming, as well as our ongoing optimization efforts that improved the efficiency of our operations during the quarter.. In the last few quarters, for example, we have consistently increased the efficiency of our server and bandwidth utilization by leveraging advanced technologies, and our server and bandwidth costs as a percentage of revenue have consistently decreased over the last few quarters, as well. Additionally, in order to optimize our cost efficiency further, we have also completed the first phase of building our own in-house data center, Kuaishou Smart Cloud data center in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia in July 2023.. Known as one of the largest data centers in China for big data and artificial intelligence technology, our proprietary hyper-scale data center has been designed to house up to 300,000 servers so that we can support the rapid growth of our businesses while advancing our continued development.
Known as one of the largest data centers in China for big data and artificial intelligence technology, our proprietary hyper-scale data center has been designed to house up to 300,000 servers so that we can support the rapid growth of our businesses while advancing our continued development.
Ecosystem of users and content
Due to our efficient user growth strategy, extensive high-quality content offerings, and continuous algorithm optimization, we have been able to maintain high-quality growth across both our user base and traffic in the third quarter of 2023.. In the third quarter of 2023, Kuaishou App's average DAUs and MAUs continued their record-breaking growth momentum, reaching 386 million DAUs and MAUs in the third quarter of 2023.Six million and six hundred eighty-four.As a result, there were an increase of 6.7% over the same period last year..A percentage of 4% and a percentage of 90%.The respective percentages are 4% and 4%. The average daily time spent per DAU on the Kuaishou App was 129 minutes..It increased by 9 minutes by the third quarter of 2023, and the total time users spend on our website has grown by 6 minutes.An increase of 9% over the previous year
An increase of 9% over the previous year
It has become increasingly important for us to prioritize the efficiency and quality of our user growth, which resulted in a constant ROI improvement in the third quarter of 2023, which resulted in a further decrease in average user acquisition costs, both on a quarter-by-quarter and year-over-year basis.. Specifically, we were able to increase user retention through the promotion and distribution of high-quality original content, including short plays, as a result of our efforts.. Meanwhile, we managed to increase our engagement with our existing users by providing them with high-quality vertical content such as Summer Star Wish Party and by acquiring new users as a result.. In addition, we are actively exploring new ways to acquire users in order to grow our user base. By providing live-streaming courses at universities related to public welfare, we were able to extend our reach to young demographics of users
By providing live-streaming courses at universities related to public welfare, we were able to extend our reach to young demographics of users
A key part of our mission has been to develop a differentiated social media platform that inspires users to build social connections and relationships, and we have always been dedicated to doing so. A year-over-year increase of approximately 40% was observed in the number of pairs of mutual followers on the Kuaishou App at the end of the third quarter of 2023. Furthermore, Kuaishou App recorded an average of more than 9 billion daily interactions (including likes, comments, reposts, and private messages) in the third quarter of 2023.
As an organization, we are committed to encouraging the creation of high-quality original content, supporting the development of diverse genres of content, and promoting high-quality content that is distinctively Kuaishou in its nature. Kuaishou provided users with a wide variety of sports content as the rights-holding broadcaster and short video sharing platform for the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou (the "Asian Games") with rich content, innovative interactive experiences, and cutting-edge live streaming technology that provided users with a panoramic view of the Asian Games.. On an average, 230 million people watched Asian Games-related content on a daily basis during the Asian Games, with 53 million of them.The number of views on a video has reached 1 billion. It is important to note that a total of 85 short plays produced by Project Astral were launched during summer vacation period, of which 21 short plays surpassed 100 million views and covered a wide range of themes, such as costume drama, youth, urban, family, and etc.. As we have continued to strengthen our ability to produce blockbuster short plays, we have steadily upgraded our capabilities in terms of monetization as well. According to the project's third quarter report for 2023, revenue generated by marketing sponsorships of projected astral short plays grew more than 10 times than in the previous year's third quarter
According to the project's third quarter report for 2023, revenue generated by marketing sponsorships of projected astral short plays grew more than 10 times than in the previous year's third quarter
It is of particular note that with regard to our search business, we have introduced Kuaishou AI Dialogue (AI), which is the first intelligent question-and-answer product based on a large language model in the Chinese short video and live streaming industry.. As a result of this innovation, users are now able to create intelligent questions and answers and text within search scenarios, enhancing their experience with intelligent searches. The average monthly number of people searching on our platform on average exceeded 470 million in the third quarter of 2023, and the number of average daily searches on our platform peaked at over 600 million during the third quarter of 2023, and the number of daily search inquiries peaked at over 700 million during the third quarter of 2023.. In the third quarter of 2023, Search Marketing revenue grew by over 120% year-over-year, which is an indication that we are accelerating the commercialization of our search service
In the third quarter of 2023, Search Marketing revenue grew by over 120% year-over-year, which is an indication that we are accelerating the commercialization of our search service
Services related to online marketing
Despite the ongoing challenges associated with macroeconomic conditions and the slow recovery of marketing customers' confidence, we experienced robust growth in online marketing revenue in the third quarter of 2023.. Our growth was driven mainly by the enhancement of our commercial products, the development of new technologies and algorithms, as well as the deepening of our operations in various vertical industries.. During the third quarter of 2023, we experienced a 14 percent increase in revenue from our online marketing services.Over the last year, the number of people has grown by 26 billion.As a result, it grew by 7% year-over-year and accounted for 52..This represents 6% of the total revenue we generate. The number of active marketing customers in the third quarter of 2023 increased by more than 140% compared to the same period last year
The number of active marketing customers in the third quarter of 2023 increased by more than 140% compared to the same period last year
The external marketing services of our company continued to recover in the third quarter of 2023 as well, displaying an accelerated year-over-year growth rate over the same period last year.. There is no doubt that we made substantial progress in various industries, such as media information, education and training, and so on. The focus of our efforts has been on refining operations specific to the industry. As an example, in the education and training industry, we identified the needs of specific high-quality users on our platform which led to marketing customers placing budgets in accordance with those demands. With the expansion of native marketing materials, we are aiming to improve the content consumption experience for users, as well as increase conversion rates for marketing customers.. Comparing the third quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2023, the consumption of external native marketing materials increased by more than 30% when compared to the first quarter of 2023.. Moreover, we have introduced an AIGC tool to produce marketing materials, which has greatly improved the efficiency of our marketing customers' production, resulting in a substantial reduction in the production costs of the marketing customers.. Taking advantage of our sponsorship of the Asian Games, we explored customized brand marketing strategies that aligned with the marketing customer's individual needs in terms of brand marketing. Our IPs are tailored to meet the needs of a wide range of scenarios, and we utilize our advantages in traffic, content, and our KOL ecosystem to create additional marketing opportunities for customers in the brand marketing space.. In this project, we designed a marketing campaign for China Mobile using the theme National Champions' Dream, Asian Games' Mobile Journey, that was inspired by the concept of Asian Games + Technology, for the purpose of promoting the Chinese mobile network.. The campaign, which included offline as well as online activities, was showcased in six cities, resulting in more than 960 million exposures to the brand in total
The campaign, which included offline as well as online activities, was showcased in six cities, resulting in more than 960 million exposures to the brand in total
As a result of the increased scale of our e-commerce business, marketing services revenue derived from native e-commerce merchants continued to grow strongly in the third quarter of 2023. A specific focus of our efforts was on improving the composition of customers, traffic alignment, and efficiency. In terms of customer composition, we focused on the growth of small and medium-sized merchants within our ecosystem by incrementally improving how we cultivate these customers and build traction for their businesses, providing increased policy support for their traffic and operations as well.. We are confident that our omni-platform market solution has greatly enhanced the synergy between marketing and e-commerce traffic, thereby amplifying the long-term value of merchants' investments in omni-domain traffic.. As compared to the second quarter of 2023, marketing customers' spending from omni-platform marketing solutions has increased by nearly five-fold in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the second quarter of 2023.. By upgrading our smart hosting products for small and medium-sized merchants, we were able to increase the stability of advertisement placements for small and medium-sized merchants, contributing to the improvement of efficiency. It has been our experience that live streaming hosting as well as merchandise hosting have been particularly effective in increasing the revenue-leaping opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses on our platform by maximizing their ROI. In turn, this has led to a greater willingness on the part of these businesses to allocate funds to placement of advertisements on Kuaishou as a result. The expenditure by our marketing customers on live streaming hosting increased by over nine-fold in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022
The expenditure by our marketing customers on live streaming hosting increased by over nine-fold in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022
The e-commerce industry
As a result of our refined operations, in the third quarter of 2023, we have further enhanced the quality and variety of our merchandise, and have improved the conversion efficiency of our buyers. This has resulted in our GMV growth outpacing the industry by approximately 30% over the same period last year.
As far as supply is concerned, the number of newly onboarded merchants remained at a high level throughout the third quarter of 2023, which is encouraging. Our monthly active merchants on our platform increased by approximately 50% compared to last year as a result of more refined tiered operations for merchants and enhanced support for policies to improve the penetration rate of live streaming on our platform. Additionally, we introduced targeted high-potential merchants in a number of major industry zones in 14 cities, offering them practical courses to help them increase their scale at a rapid pace, thereby enabling them to achieve their business goals. In terms of brands, we have extended the richness of our brand offerings through channels such as outlet stores and exclusive shops, resulting in a continuous and rapid growth in the number of new brands we have on our platform as a result of this expansion.. We fully utilize the Stream Initiative (????) and the brand traffic project to enhance the brands' ability to acquire traffic and to increase revenue per visitor. At the same time, we are continuously improving the efficiency of our traffic-matching process. As a result of creating marketing IP, such as brand flash sales, we further fortified the user mindset, while improving conversion effectiveness at the same time. There was an increase in GMV from brands, including Kwai Brands, in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter.
There was an increase in GMV from brands, including Kwai Brands, in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter.
Our KOLs place greater emphasis on the overall health of the ecosystem than we have previously done in terms of KOLs. As a result, we expanded the realm of short video content and shelf-based e-commerce, lowering operational barriers for KOLs in the process. There has been a consistent improvement in our distribution channels, improving the efficiency of merchandise selection, and refining the operations of growth and development paths of mid-tier and long-tail key opinion leaders. From over 20% of the overall KOL-related GMV at the beginning of 2021 to nearly 50% by the third quarter of 2023, the percentage of mid-tier and long-tail KOLs has gradually increased from over 20% at the beginning of 2021 to nearly 50% in the third quarter of 2023.
From over 20% of the overall KOL-related GMV at the beginning of 2021 to nearly 50% by the third quarter of 2023, the percentage of mid-tier and long-tail KOLs has gradually increased from over 20% at the beginning of 2021 to nearly 50% in the third quarter of 2023.
The performance of scoring systems for merchandise, merchant experience, and KOL reputation in the third quarter of 2023 played a crucial role in differentiating quality merchants by helping them gain more traffic and reducing exposure for underperforming merchants during this time period.. In order to influence users' shopping decisions, reinforce user trust in the platform, enhance conversion efficiency, and promote repeat purchases, we continuously optimized the scoring system by introducing more positive aspects, with the aim of influencing their shopping decisions, reinforcing their trust in the platform, and increasing their conversion rates.. In the context of algorithm optimization, we have adopted a omni-domain modeling approach as a means of improving the scale and efficiency of e-commerce traffic across all domains.. In parallel, we are also going to continue to promote the content and services ranking mechanism by increasing the weighting of both the store score as well as the KOL score in the algorithm.
In parallel, we are also going to continue to promote the content and services ranking mechanism by increasing the weighting of both the store score as well as the KOL score in the algorithm.
As a part of our efforts to expand the e-commerce services scenario, we have further strengthened our short video and the shelf-based scenarios that were outlined. Our goal is to continuously improve the quality and efficiency of our e-commerce short video content as well as the conversion rate. Short video GMV grew by more than two-fold in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2018, marking the fifth consecutive quarter in which short video GMV grew by more than two-fold.. As part of the shelf-based e-commerce, we continue to optimize users' search experience and the peak number of average daily users who use Kuaishou's search function that comes from an e-commerce mindset increased by 25% quarter-over-quarter to more than 100 million users.. During the third quarter of 2023, search Google's gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew by nearly 70% year-over-year. Regarding the shopping mall, we increased traffic to the homepages of paying users as well as the shopping tab on the homepage for paying users. In addition, we improved the paying ratio by leveraging our differentiation strategy, including making merchandise information as vivid and detailed as possible. The deep integration between the shopping mall's content and its inventory operations enabled us to take a deeper dive into the exploration and aggregation of paying users' needs that enabled us to carry out more targeted measures to attract merchants as a result of this integration. Also, we are continuously exploring new marketing and operating scenarios in order to provide merchants with more predictable opportunities for their business. According to the third quarter of 2023, the mall's gross merchandise value (GMV) continued to grow quarter-over-quarter, with shelf-based e-commerce making up nearly 20% of the total GMV of the mall
According to the third quarter of 2023, the mall's gross merchandise value (GMV) continued to grow quarter-over-quarter, with shelf-based e-commerce making up nearly 20% of the total GMV of the mall
It is the continuous prosperity of the supply and ecosystem that further drives the demand of the users. The third quarter of 2023 marked the third quarter when our average monthly paying users reached nearly 120 million, with both the absolute number of users and the penetration rate increasing quarter-over-quarter on the basis of the second quarter's peak season.. Using the optimized efficiency of smart subsidy, channel governance, and user empowerment initiatives on our platform, we have been able to significantly increase the quality of users on our platform, in particular the quality of new users, as well as the frequency of monthly orders year-over-year.
Using the optimized efficiency of smart subsidy, channel governance, and user empowerment initiatives on our platform, we have been able to significantly increase the quality of users on our platform, in particular the quality of new users, as well as the frequency of monthly orders year-over-year.
Streaming live on the internet
It has been estimated that our live streaming revenue has grown by eight percent in the third quarter of 2023.There was a 6% year-over-year increase to RMB9 billion.The number of billions is 7. It can be attributed to our continuous efforts to improve the quality of live streaming offerings, better user consumption experiences, and continuous refining of the live streaming ecosystem that resulted in the increase in revenue. In terms of the supply side, we established a regional talent agency operating system in order to enhance the agency's ability to operate as well as drive new user acquisition for streamers and high-quality content supply for small and medium-sized streamers. Over the course of the third quarter of 2023, the number of streamers managed by talent agencies grew by over 40% year-over-year, and the average amount of daily live-streaming time spent by streamers increased by nearly 30% year-over-year.. At the same time, we have continuously expanded our diversified supply by developing innovative tools based on entertainment live-streaming scenarios and have attracted high-quality developers through our open platform for live-streaming while lowering the entry barriers for streamers through our live-streaming online services. Through the use of a variety of industry ecosystems, we have increased the supply of multi-host live-streaming, bringing users more high-quality content within both internal and external ecosystems
Through the use of a variety of industry ecosystems, we have increased the supply of multi-host live-streaming, bringing users more high-quality content within both internal and external ecosystems
There is no doubt that we are deeply committed to the development of a long-term healthy and sustainable live-streaming ecosystem while continuously advancing popular content verticals and nurturing the future generation of streamers. Our National Art Inheritance Program (NAIP) was established in September 2023 with the goal of creating IP for traditional Chinese culture by granting substantial traffic support and professional training to streamers on our platform who are covering traditional Chinese opera, folk music, and folk art.. Meanwhile, we were able to facilitate AIGC scenarios, including the live streaming of virtual people, as well as enhance the underlying technical capabilities such as real-time capturing, visual effects tools, virtual interaction, and so on.. We can take advantage of these capabilities to improve the efficiency of our business innovations by reducing labor and time costs. Furthermore, as a benchmark case of our "live streaming+" services empowering traditional industries, the average daily resume submissions on Kwai Hire (??) grew by over 200% year-over-year during the third quarter of 2023, driven by summer vacation and campus recruitment in autumn. By leveraging the AIGC and our smart customer service, we were also able to lower the entry barrier for merchants. As at the end of the third quarter of 2023, Ideal Housing (???) covered more than 120 cities nationwide, with cumulative gross transaction value surpassing RMB14 billion in the third quarter of 2023
As at the end of the third quarter of 2023, Ideal Housing (???) covered more than 120 cities nationwide, with cumulative gross transaction value surpassing RMB14 billion in the third quarter of 2023
Away from home
We continued to advance our overseas strategy in the third quarter of 2023 as we continued to focus on key markets overseas. As a result, the number of DAUs and the amount of time spent by users in key overseas markets has steadily increased year over year. As a result, we have further diversified our content vertical offerings in the entertainment and sports industries, providing traffic support to mid-tier creators. We have simultaneously intensified our local operations by catering to the specific consumption needs of local users, thus deepening our local operations. Using this foundation as a base, we intensified our monetization efforts and continued to improve operating efficiency, which resulted in a significant reduction in user growth costs year over year.. The total revenue of our overseas business reached RMB652 million in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of more than doubled from the third quarter of 2022. As a result of continuously optimizing operating efficiency, we have been able to achieve a 62% increase in.During the third quarter of 2023, there was a 4 percent year-over-year decline in overall operating losses overseas, which also narrowed quarter-over-quarter during the third quarter, according to the company
During the third quarter of 2023, there was a 4 percent year-over-year decline in overall operating losses overseas, which also narrowed quarter-over-quarter during the third quarter, according to the company

Source prnewswire