After a gap of 6 quarters, the core business BIGO of Huanju Group (NASDAQ: YY) achieved a year-on-year positive growth in revenue for the first time in Q3 2023. At today's Q3 performance conference call, Huanju executives stated that the Q3 revenue recovery was better than expected, which has driven profits to improve. Q4 entered the peak season of year-end activities, and the expected gross profit and operating profit margin of BIGO slightly decreased month on month.
Today, Huanju released its financial report for the third quarter of 2023, achieving a revenue of 567.1 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 3.3% and a month on month increase of 3.6%; Under non US GAAP accounting standards, net profit was achieved at $81.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.5% and a month on month decrease of 16.5%; The net profit margin reached 14.3%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points year-on-year.
The BIGO business, mainly focused on live streaming and short videos, had a Q3 revenue of 494.1 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 2.2% and a month on month increase of 4.9%; The operating profit margin reached 16.6%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, Bigo Live's business performance was impressive, with MAU increasing by 14% year-on-year to 40.3 million, achieving double-digit growth for six consecutive quarters.
"The month on month recovery rate of Bigo Live is even higher than the growth rate of the entire BIGO sector." Huanju executives said that developed country markets have maintained a trend of multiple quarter on quarter recovery, with some reaching high single digit month on month growth in Q3, and Southeast Asian markets also showing good month on month recovery in Q3.
Behind the recovery, it is mainly driven by the growth of MAU and the recovery of ARUP. In terms of gathering, it is related to the company's launch of more targeted operational strategies. "We are consciously tilting towards high-end users and developed countries in areas such as customer acquisition, product optimization, and operations."
It is understood that Q3 Company has collaborated with anchors and KOLs on Bigo Live to carry out a series of topical and promotional operational activities, such as launching a new program "Master Actor" in the Middle East, releasing the short film "Friends for Live" for the first time in Indonesia, and holding "Sharing Summer Scenes" activities in the Middle East and North Africa.
For Bigo Live's upcoming user growth strategy, Huanju executives mentioned that priority will be given to the quality of user growth, and customer acquisition methods will continue to rely on local operational capabilities, especially innovation in content and social aspects as the key to customer acquisition.
Entering the peak season of Q4, executives from Huanju stated that they will invest more resources in motivating anchors and operating activities, as reflected in an increase in content costs and market sales expenses on a month on month basis. BIGO's gross profit and operating profit margin are expected to slightly decline on a month on month basis.
When asked about the performance guidelines for 2024, Huanju executives said it's a bit early to discuss now. And it is stated that the amount of profit released also depends on the strength of revenue recovery. In the overall direction, we will continue to balance the relationship between scale and efficiency. Bigo Live's revenue should maintain a trend of gradually recovering year-on-year, and user growth remains an important driving point.
At the conference call, in response to analysts' concerns about regulatory risks related to live streaming, executives from Huanju responded that for social entertainment companies operating globally, there are significant differences in regulatory priorities across different markets and they are constantly changing. "Our company has always regarded business compliance and security as a prerequisite for global business development. We closely monitor regulatory regulations in various countries and regions, maintain effective communication with regulatory agencies, continuously optimize internal compliance system processes and execution efficiency, and proactively adjust our own business to ensure that our business and operations comply with regulatory and industry requirements."