On the evening of March 19th, the game live streaming platform Huya Company released its financial reports for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. According to the financial report, the total revenue of Huya Company for the whole year of 2023 was 7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.08%; Under non US GAAP accounting standards, the net profit attributable to Huya Company for the whole year was 120 million yuan, while the adjusted net loss for the same period in 2022 was 281 million yuan, turning losses into profits; In terms of user data, the average monthly active users of Huya Live Mobile reached 84.1 million throughout the year, which is basically the same as 84.3 million in the same period of 2022.
Strategic adjustment and commercialization transformation, turning losses into profits in 2023
In 2023, Huya underwent a series of personnel changes in key positions. In May, Tencent Vice President Lin Songtao became the Chairman of Huya. Lin Songtao joined Tencent in 2003 as the first product manager since Tencent established the position of product manager. He has served as the core responsible person for businesses such as QQ, QQ Space, Open Platform, and Alipay. In August, Huang Junhong, Senior Vice President of Huya, and Wu Xin, Vice President of Finance, were jointly appointed as Acting Co CEOs of Huya.
Accompanied by personnel changes in key positions, it is Huya's strategic adjustment. In August 2023, Lin Songtao announced that Huya had formulated a "three-year plan" with the main goal of promoting its commercialization focus by providing more game related services, such as game distribution, game prop sales, and game advertising. In addition, Huya will optimize the income structure of content creators to increase their income levels and further link their content costs with income.
After the release of the 2023 financial report, Huang Junhong, Acting Co CEO and Senior Vice President of Huya Company, and Wu Xin, Acting Co CEO and Vice President of Finance of Huya Company, jointly participated in the financial report analyst conference call. Huang Junhong stated that 2023 is a year of Huya's transformation. Against the backdrop of severe macro and industry environments, as well as proactive business adjustments, the company achieved a turnaround from losses to profits by continuously optimizing costs and improving operational efficiency, achieving a net profit of RMB 120 million for non GAAP throughout the year.
At the same time, Huya Company continued to steadily execute its $100 million stock repurchase plan that began in mid August 2023, and announced in this financial report the distribution of a special cash dividend of approximately $150 million, with a dividend of $0.66 per ordinary share or ADS (American Depositary Shares) per share. Wu Xin said at the meeting, "As of the end of 2023, we have repurchased $28.8 million worth of Huya shares. At the same time, we are pleased to announce that we will distribute a special cash dividend of approximately $150 million to shareholders. We will continue to work to improve shareholder returns and create long-term shareholder value."
Promote the transformation of gaming related services, with advertising and other revenue increasing by nearly 30%
In terms of transformation actions, Huya has set the main goals of building the necessary infrastructure for new businesses and facilitating cooperation with relevant game studios in 2023. It is reported that Huya has basically completed this work, including upgrading the "Game Center" section, developing integrated prop mall functions, and optimizing account binding with related games. At the same time, Huya has also started collaborating with multiple major games, providing distribution and promotion services, as well as game prop sales services on the Huya platform.
These transformation measures are also reflected in the data for the fourth quarter of 2023. According to the financial report, in the fourth quarter of 2023, by deepening cooperation with game companies, the revenue from game advertising and distribution services was effectively promoted. The advertising and other business revenue of Huya Live increased by 40.5% month on month and 29.2% year-on-year.
In addition, Huya continues to provide users with rich gaming and esports content. Thanks to more users paying for the platform's newly launched game related services, the paid users of Huya Live slightly increased to 4.3 million in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter.
In terms of overseas business, Huya Company believes that the development of overseas business has important strategic significance, which can promote diversified income development, support overall growth, and also seize the opportunities brought by domestic game manufacturers going abroad.
AI Boosting, Refreshing Game Live Experience
Huang Junhong also mentioned in the analyst conference call that as a live streaming platform mainly focused on game related content, Huya provides a more professional and feature rich gaming live streaming experience compared to non specialized platforms. In terms of AI, through the integration of game depth data and the self-developed big language model based on 270 million bullet screen data, Huya has upgraded the traditional "watch broadcast" mode in the live broadcast room to a more immersive real-time commentary and interaction mode based on game content and events, making the game live broadcast content more professional and interesting.
In February of this year, the Huya Live Room launched a brand new V12.0 version, which added a lot of AI content. According to the person in charge of Huya, during the live broadcast, the information and equipment situation of the host during the battle will be recognized by AI and various styles of commentary broadcasts will be automatically generated. For example, if the anchor completes a counterattack against the wind, AI fun broadcasts will appear in the live broadcast room. At the same time, the highlights of the anchor will also be captured by AI and automatically edited, greatly enhancing interactivity and participation.
In terms of copyright content, Huya has been broadcasting S13, one of the most influential esports events in the world, for six consecutive years. Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the Huya platform broadcasted over 70 copyrighted esports events, with a total of over 360 million viewers.
It is reported that with the platform's stricter screening of copyright events, Huya will continue to improve the return on investment and content utilization efficiency of these events by enhancing the event experience and related operational activities. In terms of self-produced content, the financial report shows that Huya Company broadcasted about 30 self-produced esports events and entertainment programs in the fourth quarter, with a total viewership of about 120 million.
Based on the positive development of Huya Company in the past year, Huang Junhong, Acting Co CEO and Senior Vice President of Huya Company, stated that in 2024, the company will continue to consolidate its core live streaming business and promote the development of game related services to expand its business and revenue sources.