Phoenix New Media - Earnings Call - Q4 2024

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Mu Zhi Guo from Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Muzi Guo (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Operator. Welcome to Phoenix New Media's earnings conference call for the fourth quarter of 2024. On today's call, we will begin with an overview of our fourth quarter results, followed by a Q&A session. You can find our quarterly financial results and the webcast of this conference call on our website at ir.ifeng.com. Before we continue, please note our safe harbor statement included in the earnings press release, which also applies to any forward-looking statements made on this call. Additionally, unless otherwise specified, all figures mentioned are in RMB. Joining me here today are our CEO, Mr. Yusheng Sun, and our CFO, Mr. Edward Lu. Now, I will pass the call to Mr. Sun for his opening remarks. I will provide the translation. 孙总。

Yusheng Sun (CEO)

好的，各位投资人大家好。过去一年我们始终坚持内容的专业性和品质传播。在团队的努力、拼搏和高效协同下，我们取得了收入的同比增长。第四季度我们在新闻报道中展现了专业与速度，赢得了广泛认可。原创内容和IP持续创新。活动举办彰显社会责任，商业化探索也取得进展。这些成果提升了我们的影响力，为未来发展打下了坚实基础。下面请吕经理带我做更详细的第四季度经营总结。

好，谢谢孙总。

Hello everyone and welcome. Over the past year, we remained committed to the professionalism and quality of our content. Thanks to the hard work and close collaboration of our team, we achieved year-on-year revenue growth. In the fourth quarter, we demonstrated both professionalism and speed in our news coverage, earning widespread recognition. Our original content IP continued to innovate, our events showcased our social responsibility, and our efforts in commercialization also made progress. These achievements have strengthened our influence and laid a solid foundation for our future development. Now, I will invite Edward to provide a more detailed summary of our fourth quarter performance on my behalf.

Edward Lu (CFO)

Thank you, Mr. In the fourth quarter of 2024, we showcased our professional expertise and innovative spirit across multiple business areas, delivering high-quality content and services to users while staying competitive in the market. Our coverage of major news events showcased our rapid response and professional depth, particularly during the U.S. election and South Korea's martial law crisis. In November, we launched a real-time vote count product, becoming the first domestic outlet to announce the U.S. election results. Our swing states-only feature and on-the-ground video series taking you inside the U.S. election garnered millions of views and trended across the internet. In December, when South Korea declared martial law, we sprung into action immediately. We quickly supplemented event details and continuously compiled, edited, and interpreted content to provide a fuller picture while integrating live streaming, which attracted over 27 million views across platforms.

Our in-depth analysis about South Korea's First Lady, Kim Keon-hee, earned praise from peers and gained strong traction online. We also distributed our exclusive interviews with the woman who confronted the army across our channels, highlighting Phoenix's distinct edge in global news reporting. During the quarter, our original columns and IPs delivered both excellent data and widespread praise. Tang Bohu, our in-depth commentary series, broke down the Korean plane crash with technical precision, hitting 250 million views on Weibo topics, topping the trending list, a new high for the column. In finance, Cover Story landed on an exclusive chat with XPeng Motors' CEO at the Paris Motor Show, racking up 19 million views, trending on Douyin, Toutiao, and beyond. Our video IP Journey shared the inspiring story of a girl who lost her hearing in infancy and made a remarkable journey to become a postdoctoral fellow, totaling 67 million views.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Reading WeChat account explored Nobel laureate Han Kang's achievements in depth, with the article widely responded and praised by industry peers. This quarter, we also put off several impactful events that reflected our cultural values and commitment to social good. The 2024 China Power Person of the Year Gala themed "Technology for Good," honored those using tech to better society and boost human well-being. The Action League Charity Gala themed "Cross-Border Trust Sustainability," focused on the needs of underserved communities and social inclusion, with philanthropists from various platforms sharing ideas and solutions, amplifying our influence in public welfare. Our strengths in content distribution and brand value supported our advertising base, driving a revenue uptick for the year despite tough market conditions. We also pushed into paid services, launching a mini-program-driven novel business in Q4 that tapped into Douyin, Kuaishou, and WeChat traffic ecosystems, fueling rapid growth.

Overall, in Q4 2024, we earned recognition from users and the industry through the professionalism, speed, and depth of our content, while laying the groundwork for future operations through commercial exploration. We understand that a media outlier's value lies not only in sharing news but also in its commitment to social responsibility. We will continue striving to deliver higher quality content to users, creating sustainable social and commercial value. This concludes our CEO, Mr. Sun's prepared remarks. I will now walk you through our financial performance for the fourth quarter of 2024. All figures mentioned will be RMB. Our total revenues were RMB 218.1 million, representing a 3% increase year-on-year from RMB 211.8 million. Specifically, net advertising revenues were RMB 118.9 million compared to RMB 197 million in the same period of last year.

Paid services revenues were RMB 29.1 million, representing a 96.6% increase year-on-year from RMB 14.8 million, primarily driven by revenue generated from our new digital reading services offered through mini-programs on third-party applications. Cost of revenues was RMB 121.1 million, slightly up from RMB 120.5 million year-on-year. Gross margin for the fourth quarter improved to 44.5%, up from 43.1% in the same period of last year. Total operating expenses were RMB 90.3 million, reflecting a 32% increase year-on-year from RMB 68.4 million. This increase was primarily due to higher sales and marketing expenses incurred for the new digital reading services mentioned earlier.

Income from operations was RMB 6.7 million compared to RMB 22.9 million in the same period of last year. Net loss attributable to Phoenix New Media was RMB 3.6 million compared to net income attributable to Phoenix New Media of RMB 8.1 million in the same period of last year.

Moving on to our balance sheet, as of December 31, 2024, the company's cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, short-term investments, and restricted cash totaled RMB 1.05 billion, or approximately $143.3 million. Finally, I'd like to provide our business outlook for the fourth quarter of 2025. We forecast total revenues to be between RMB 147 million and RMB 162 million. For net advertising revenues, we project between RMB 112 million and RMB 122 million, while for paid service revenues, we project between RMB 35 million and RMB 40 million. This forecast reflects our current and preliminary view, which is subject to change and substantial uncertainties. This concludes the prepared portion of our call. We are now ready for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by as we compile the Q&A roster. First question comes from Xizhuo Zhang from 86 Research. Please go ahead.

Xuan Zhang (Analyst)

Thank you. Good morning, Management. Thank you for taking my question. I have one question regarding the paid service revenue. We have observed a substantial increase in this revenue stream during the fourth quarter. Could Management please elaborate on the underlying factors contributing to this growth trajectory? Thank you.

Edward Lu (CFO)

Okay. Actually, the growth in paid services revenue stems from our paid short story novel business launched on third-party platform mini-programs, Xiao Chengxu, tapping into traffic ecosystems like Douyin, Quaishou, and WeChat. This brought in notable revenue gains. Related promotion fees have been recorded under sales and marketing expenses, keeping the overall profit margin actually quite modest. As a newly launched venture, although we expect a strong year-over-year revenue growth in the near term, the business remains small in scale. We will focus on its profit contribution and keep evaluating its performance. Thank you.

Xuan Zhang (Analyst)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Just a moment for our next question, please. Next, we have Choi Siu from First Shanghai. Your line is now open.

Choi Siu (Analyst)

Good morning to the Management team. My name is Choi from First Shanghai, and I appreciate the opportunity to ask a question. Over the past year, the company saw an increasing advertising revenue despite a broader slowdown in the online advertising market. Could you please share the strategies used to attract advertisers? Thank you.

Edward Lu (CFO)

Actually, overall, it was done through two key approaches. First, our sales team has shifted to industry-specific divisions. This allowed us to focus on specific sectors, streamlined resource allocation, and sped up innovation. For example, we achieved growth in the public sector, securing promotional budgets from local tourism and cultural bureaus. In the FMCG sector, an experienced leader led a skilled team using useful trendy content to boost our revenue. Second, we have accelerated innovation in content resources and upgraded our marketing product to respond more quickly to market shifts. This includes tailoring international marketing strategies for companies expanding overseas and boosting content distribution on short video platforms. Yes, I hope I have answered your question. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. This concludes the Q&A session. I will now hand back to Mu Zhi Guo.

Muzi Guo (Head of Investor Relations)

Thank you. This concludes our Q&A session and conference call. If you have any additional questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Thank you for joining us and have a great day.

Operator (participant)

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.