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.
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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.
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