ByteDance-owned TikTok and UC Browser (Alibaba) top App Annie‘s most downloaded app list in 2010s, ranking the 7th and 8th respectively.

By all-time consumer spend between 2010 and 2019, three video apps from China top the list: Tencent Video, iQiyi, and short-video app Kwai (Kuaishou).

Tencent’s Honour of Kings and Netease’ Fantasy Westward Journey are among the top mobile game apps by total spend in the past decade.

Check out who dominates China mobile app stores in 2019, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, or ByteDance?

Online penetration in video entertainment grew by 4.2% to 71.3% in December. On average, 205.6 million users watched videos online daily. Tencent Video, iQiyi, and Youku were the top three players in this market.

Market penetration of online video was 71.3%, an increase of 4.2% year-on-year. Its average DAU declined to 205.6 million from 219.3 million a year ago.

Tencent Video topped the ranking with a penetration rate of 47.6%. iQyi took the next spot with a penetration of 43.6%. Youku (29.7%), Bilibili (8%), and MangoTV (7.7%) ranked in the third, fourth, and fifth position, respectively.

The average DAUs of Tencent Video increased to 120.7 million from 116 million three months ago. iQiyi’s average DAUs decreased to 82 million from 85.6 million three months ago.

Read more on top live streaming apps and short video apps.

Tencent’s total revenues in Q1 2019 were RMB85,465 million (USD12,693 million), an increase of 16% over the first quarter of 2018 according to Tencent’s announced financial results.

Its revenues from VAS increased by 4% to RMB48,974 million for the first quarter of 2019 on a year-on-year basis. Online games revenues were RMB28,513 million, broadly stable compared to the first quarter of 2018. Social networks revenues grew by 13% to RMB20,461 million.

Revenues from FinTech and Business Services increased by 44% to RMB21,789 million for Q1 2019 on a year-on-year basis. The increase was mainly driven by greater revenues from its commercial payment and cloud services.

Revenues from online advertising increased by 25% to RMB13,377 million for the first quarter of 2019 on a year-on-year basis. Social and other advertising revenues increased by 34% to RMB9,898 million, mainly due to the increase in advertising revenues derived from WeChat Moments, Mini-Programs and QQ KanDian.

Mr. Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, said,

In the first quarter of 2019, we sustained healthy user engagement across our key platforms, with notable growth in the number of short videos uploaded and shared by users on QQ and WeChat.

We are invigorating our game business with popular releases such as Perfect World Mobile in China, while PUBG MOBILE is growing internationally.

Our payment, other FinTech services and cloud business, while still at an early stage of expansion, are now generating substantial revenues, and we are consequently disclosing their results in our new FinTech and Business Services segment, demonstrating our success in organically incubating services with long-term growth potential.

Its operating profit was RMB36,742 million (USD5,457 million), an increase of 20% YoY. Operating margin increased to 43% from 42% last year. Profit for the period was RMB27,856 million (USD4,137 million), an increase of 16% YoY. Net margin was flat at 33%.

Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company for the quarter was RMB27,210 million (USD4,041 million), an increase of 17% YoY.

Basic earnings per share were RMB2.877. Diluted earnings per share were RMB2.844. On a non-GAAP2 basis, which excludes certain non-cash items and certain impact of M&A transactions:

• Operating profit was RMB28,470 million (USD4,228 million), an increase of 13% YoY. Operating margin decreased to 33% from 34% last year.
• Profit for the period was RMB21,673 million (USD3,219 million), an increase of 13% YoY. Net margin decreased to 25% from 26% last year.
• Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company for the period was RMB20,930 million (USD3,108 million), an increase of 14% YoY.
• Basic earnings per share were RMB2.213. Diluted earnings per share were RMB2.187.

Social Media

During the first quarter of 2019, combined MAU of Weixin and WeChat was 1,112 million, up 6.9% year-on-year.

Smart device MAU of QQ slightly increased year-on-year and exceeded 700 million in the first quarter. Young users became more engaged on the QQ platform and their MAU grew by a double-digit rate year-on-year.

China Internet users are increasingly utilizing WeChat and QQ’s in-app camera functions to record short videos, which they then share in one-to-one chats, group chats, and timeline formats. Users now upload hundreds of millions of videos each day to Tencent’s communications and social platforms, which Tencent believe are the leading venues in China for uploading and viewing such user-created videos.

Tencent launched Mobile QQ Version 8.0 with engaging features such as QQ Mini Programs and KuoLie, which recommends new friends to young QQ users based on similar interests.

In WeChat, Tencent enabled users to share information, products and services for different vertical categories of Mini Programs within their chat groups, facilitating activities such as group buying for local communities, and the active user base for non-game Mini-Programs continued to grow at a healthy rate.

Online Video

Tencent Video subscriptions increased 43% year-on-year to 89.0 million, driven by popular self-commissioned IP content, such as Candle in the Tomb Season 3; Heaven Sword, Dragon Sabre (based on the popular martial arts novel by Louis Cha); and The Land of Warriors Season 2.

Tencent Video subscription counts were broadly stable sequentially due to delays in airing certain drama series, which might otherwise have contributed more to subscriber growth.

To further engage with video viewers, WeiShi launched a new feature for Produce 101 Season 2, enabling users to vote for contestants and share related short videos with their WeChat and QQ friends.

Continue to read Q1 summary on JD and Alibaba.

Half the top ten apps that generated the most revenues from the Apple Store were from Chinese tech companies. Notably, all those apps turned out to provide some sorts of subscription services for video or music streaming and social interactions. 

Tencent-affiliated Tencent Video took the second position with a remarkable US$490.2 million in revenue. Baidu-backed iQiyi and Kwai (Kuaishou) ranked fourth and fifth with a revenue of US$420.5 million and US$264 million, respectively. Alibaba’s Youku and Tencent’s QQ made it up to the eighth and ninth places with a revenue of US$192.9 million and US$159.7 million, respectively.

Wondering the top mobile apps in China in Q3 2018?

The total number of monthly active users on WeChat reached 963 million, an increase of 19.5% YoY according to Tencent’s latest financial results. QQ MAUs dropped 3.9% to 662 million.

Tencent achieved 59% YoY revenue growth in Q2 2017 to RMB 56,606 million (USD8,356 million), driven primarily by smart phone games and PC games, payment related services, online advertising, and digital content subscriptions and sales.

• Value Added Services Revenues increased by 43% to RMB36,804 million for 2Q2017 on a YoY basis.
• Online games revenues increased by 39% to RMB23,861 million, primarily driven by revenue growth from Tencent’s smartphone games, including existing titles such as Honour of Kings, and new titles such as the China version of Contra Return, Dragon Nest Mobile and Legacy TLBB Mobile, and from our key PC titles such as LoL and DnF.
• Social networks revenues increased by 51% to RMB 12,943 million, mainly reflecting growth in revenues from digital content services such as live broadcast, video and music, as well as from item sales in smart phone games.
• Online advertising revenues increased by 55% to RMB10,148 million for 2Q2017 on a YoY basis.
• Media advertising revenues grew by 48% to RMB4,077 million. The increase mainly reflected higher traffic for Tencent Video services and news feed advertisements for our Tencent News products.
• Social and others advertising revenues grew by 61% to RMB6,071 million. The increase primarily reflected growth in advertising revenues derived from WeChat and other mobile apps.

Its operating profit grew by 57% YoY to RMB 22,560 million (USD3,330 million). Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company increased by 70% YoY to RMB 18,231 million (USD2,691 million). Non-GAAP profit attributable to equity holders of the Company increased by 45% YoY. Free cash flow grew by 80% YoY.

Tencent’s Digital Property Update for Q2 2017

Monthly active user accounts (“MAU”) of QQ was 850 million, a decrease of 5.4% YoY. Smart device MAU of QQ was 662 million, a decrease of 3.9% YoY. Peak concurrent user accounts (“PCU”) of QQ (for the quarter) was 268 million, an increase of 8.4% YoY.

Related: Weibo MAU up 28% to 361 million in June 2017

Smart device MAU for users aged 21 years or below was up YoY, demonstrating QQ’s increased popularity among younger users. Popular features within Mobile QQ, such as Kandian news feeds, increased average user time spent within Mobile QQ.

Combined MAU of Weixin and WeChat were 963 million, an increase of 19.5% YoY.

MAU of Qzone was 606 million, a decrease of 7.0% YoY. Smart device MAU of Qzone was 586 million, a decrease of 3.5% YoY. Tencent introduced campus page to increase engagement among users in high schools and colleges.

Fee-based VAS registered subscriptions were 118 million, an increase of 12.4% YoY.

China mobile social app users’ purchase behavior overview 2017

Tencent Video and Baidu’s iQiyi are the top two mobile video apps by the number of monthly active users in China in March 2017. Both have exceeded 400 million MAU.

The other mobile video apps in top 10 include Youku, Kuaishou, Letv Video, Xiaomi Video, MangoTV, Sohu Video, Baofeng, and Tudou.

Netflix recently agreed to provide television series to China-based iQiyi.com.

Find out top vertical video apps, short video apps, and video broadcasting apps in China in Q1 2017 here. Or, download our e-book Mobile Trend in China 2017.

iQiyi ranks on top in China’s mobile video category with 245.61 million active users in Feb 2017, followed by Tencent Video, Youku, Letv, and Mango TV.

Sohu TV, Baofeng, PPTV, Tudou, and Migu Video apps are also in the top 10 video apps by MAUs in Feb 2017. Bilibili Cartoon ranks first in the vertical digital video mobile apps category with 30.52 million active users, followed by Hanju TV (Korean drama), Migu Movie, AcFun, Renren Movie, 1905 Movie, etc.

CCTV mobile app is the top one in TV programs category, followed by Migu, Mobile TV, and Yuntu TV.

In the short videos category, Kuaishou mobile app ranks on top in China in Feb 2017 with over 86 million active users, followed by Meipai, Xiaokaxiu, Miaopai, and Doupai.

Douyu, Huya, Inke, YY Live, and Huajiao are the top 5 digital video broadcasting mobile apps by MAU in Feb 2017.

Case Studies: Native Video Ads on WeChat Moments