Tencent’s total revenues in 2016 were 151,938 million yuan (US$21,903 million), an increase of 48% YoY. Operating profit was 56,117 million yuan (US$8,090 million), an increase of 38% YoY. Profit for the year was 41,447 million yuan (US$5,975 million), an increase of 42% YoY.
Total revenues of Tencent in Q4 2016 were 43,864 million yuan (US$6,323 million), an increase of 44% YoY. Its operating profit was 13,930 million yuan (US$2,008 million), an increase of 28% YoY. Profit for the period was 10,523 million yuan (US$1,517 million), an increase of 46% YoY.
Tencent’s Advertising Business in 2016
For key accounts, Tencent increased the penetration by offering integrated solutions across brand and performance advertising products. For long-tail accounts, Tencent grew the number of small and regional marketers by sharpening their targeting algorithms and upgrading self-service tools “Guangdiantong” for campaign management and results measuring.
Related: Case Studies: Native Video Ads on WeChat Moments
Social and performance advertising. Tencent’s social advertising inventory remained as a key attraction to advertisers, leveraging the platform’s superior targeting capability, unparalleled consumer reach, and premium brand image.
Tencent enabled advertisers and WeChat Official Accounts to select each other, better matching relevant advertisements with appropriate content.
Brand advertising. For video, Tencent prioritized sponsorship advertising to better capitalize on their premium inventory. For Tencent’s news applications (Tencent News, Kuaibao), it further upgraded the targeting capabilities.
Tencent’s Payment Business in 2016
Tencent surpassed 600 million mobile payment monthly active user accounts and average daily payment transactions in December 2016. Its payment related services provide fast and seamless experience for a widening range of offline consumption scenarios such as taxi booking, convenience stores, restaurants, and supermarkets.
Performance of Tencent Platforms
Social Platforms
- MAU of QQ was 868 million, an increase of 2% YoY.
- Smart device MAU of QQ was 652 million, an increase of 2% YoY.
- Peak concurrent user accounts of QQ (for Q4 2016) was 244 million, an increase of 1%
YoY.
- Combined MAU of Weixin and WeChat was 889 million, an increase of 28% YoY
- MAU of Qzone was 638 million, a decrease of 0.3% YoY.
- Smart device MAU of Qzone was 595 million, an increase of 4% YoY.
- Fee-based VAS registered subscriptions were 110 million, an increase of 16% YoY
Media Platforms
- Tencent Video: the number of paying users exceeded 20 million, , more than tripled YoY
- DAU of Tencent’s online karaoke application WeSing reached 35 million in 2016, more than doubled YoY, establishing itself as the largest online karaoke community in China
- The number of daily paying readers reached approximately 2.5 million, more than doubled YoY
Utility Platforms
- Security. Tencent’s mobile security application expanded its industry leadership, ranking first in China in terms of MAU according to QuestMobile
- Tencent’s App Store Yingyongbao was ranked first among all Android app stores in China by QuestMobile in terms of MAU
- QQ Browser (mobile app) ranks first in China in terms of MAU which also made significant contributions to the user growth of Tencent’s digital literature services
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