Weibo powers up with strong revenue

Chinese microblogging portal Weibo Corporation reported strong revenue growth in 2016, due to increased demands from advertising and marketing revenues. [Photo/VCG]

Better than expected performance in fourth quarter boosts 2016 results

Chinese microblogging portal Weibo Corporation reported strong revenue growth in 2016, due to increased demands from advertising and marketing revenues.

Weibo reported its net revenues increased by 37 percent year-on-year to $655.8 million, according to the company's financial results

The revenue from advertising and marketing services, its main source of income, surged by 42 percent to $571.0 million compared to $402.4 million in 2015.

Furthermore, the revenue from value-added services increased by 12 percent year-on-year to $84.8 million, compared to $75.5 million for 2015.

Its monthly active users grew to 313 million by the end of December, up by 33 percent year-on-year, 90 percent of which were mobile users. Its average daily active users in December 2016 grew by 30 percent year-on-year to 139 million.

The company's fourth quarter growth was impressive, with its net revenues increasing by 43 percent year-on-year to $212.7 million.

Advertising and marketing revenue increased by 45 percent year-on-year to $187.9 million, while the revenue from value-added services increased by 28 percent year-on-year to $24.9 million.

Nasdaq-listed Weibo saw its share price close at $58.21 per share, up by 0.21 percent on Thursday.

Wang Gaofei, Weibo's chief executive, said: "Weibo's user scale, its breadth of ad offerings and leadership as a social media platform put us in a unique position to take advantage of mobile, social networking and video marketing tools."

He said: "Our focus continues to target growth scale in users, content creators and customers on our platform. This is translating into significant operating leverage."

Weibo is the leading social media site in China which allows users to create, share and discover Chinese-language content.

The video and live-streaming content has become a major driving force for Weibo's business growth. In December, the average daily number of videos played at Weibo increased by 713 percent compared to the same period last year.

The US National Football League, or NFL, joined forces with Sina Weibo in December to stream US football games live.

Richard Young, NFL China managing director, said Sina Weibo is an excellent partner for the NFL as the NFL can boast fans across the Chinese mainland.

Ma Shicong, an analyst at Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysis, said: "The advantage for Weibo lies in the data flow portal."