36Kr - Q2 2022

Transcript

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Thank you very much. Hello, everyone, and welcome to 36Kr Holdings Inc. Q2 2022 earnings conference call. The company's financial and operational results were released earlier today and have been made available online. You can also view the earnings press release by visiting the IR section of our website at ir.36kr.com. Participants on today's call will include our Co-chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng, and our Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Lin Wei. Mr. Feng will start the call by providing an overview of the company and performance highlights of the quarter in Chinese, followed by an English interpretation. Ms. Wei will then provide details on the company's financial results before opening the call for questions. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties.

As such, the company's results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in the company's prospectus and other public filings as filed with the U.S. SEC. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. Please note that 36Kr's earnings press release and this conference call include a discussion of our audited GAAP financial measures as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. 36Kr's earnings press release contains reconciliation of the unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited GAAP measures. Please note that all amounts discussed are in RMB. I will now turn the call over to our Co-chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng. Dagang, please go ahead. Thank you.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q2 2022 earnings conference call.

In the Q2 of 2022, against the backdrop of COVID-19 resurgence and continuing control measures as well as macroeconomic challenges, we delivered robust financial performance with double-digit growth in total revenue and continued increase in gross margin. We are also achieving profitability for the third consecutive quarter, a testament to our powerful brand influence and our business's strong resilience and vitality. High-quality content has always been our most prominent advantage and the bedrock of our business development. In the Q2, we continued to optimize our content ecosystem and innovate our content columns and formats. Bolstered by our content platform strategy, we still focus on PGC and UGC. We expanded our content to more industries with diverse perspectives, cultivating an even richer content ecosystem, helping us expand our reach to a wider high-quality user base.

Let's take a closer look at some of our accomplishments in content during the quarter. First, our constant content refinements have contributed to more than 150 articles with over 100,000 views, placing us at the forefront of the industry. In the Q2, our hit articles gathered readership over 100,000 views each due to their trendy content following the latest dynamics of popular industries. What's more, all user-generated topics on Weibo, which deeply resonate with users, attracting nearly 300 million views and sparking animated discussion across the internet. Second, we launched a series of innovative submedia in China, which significantly improved the reach of our content coverage while meeting the needs of a more diverse array of users and customers.

For example, we launched the Long China 50 series in May, where we selected and showcased 50 of the new economy's most representative companies. All of which are important players. Applauding their noteworthy accomplishments in our effort to empower them to become a force in propelling the economy's recovery. We also launched a host of programs as our sub-media targeting different workforce, including KR Carbon, WAVES, Digital KR, and Free Bonus to improve the breadth and depth of our content within mixed topic selections and perspectives, satisfying the content needs of more diversified user group. Finally, we recently launched a new channel targeting specialized differentiated and innovative companies, keeping them informed of the latest industry trends.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

[Foregin language]

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

On a related note, I'd like to highlight that by harnessing our premium content, we continue to enhance our secondary market product influence among the wider public. Through our various niche columns such as KR Gold and KR Intelligence, we explore and make topics from various perspectives, conduct in-depth professional analysis, and thought-provoking interpretation of listed company and capital markets, and providing insight into the company's performance and trading trends, attracting massive new followers through KR Finance. For example, our analyst reports on Lianhua Qingwen, Luckin Coffee, MissFresh, and tourism during the May Day holiday received recognition from many users and professionals, laying a solid foundation for our commercialization efforts.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Meanwhile, our rich media formats, including our short video and live streaming products, are growing more mature. In the Q2, our short video attracted over 7 million followers cumulatively, including multiple standout videos produced by 36Kr, which racked up over 1 million views each on Bilibili. For example, data posts of vocational schools in China attract a total of 150,000 likes across internet platforms. Thanks to our high quality content, we ranked number 5 on Bilibili's top video charts in June, while also becoming the only organization on the list that is not affiliated with the Chinese government authorities.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Regarding live streaming, we actively integrated our existing resources and leveraged the influence of our WeChat Video Account to create a new IP entitled KR Planet Live Streams Room, with Youth Watch and CEO Tips as its core programs. We held a total of 16 live streaming sessions in this quarter, covering hot topics including enterprises listing options and how companies can get through the winter in the capital markets. These events help build richer content scenarios and service models.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

As we unceasingly strive to build and refine our content ecosystem, we have achieved consistent growth in our page views, with the number of our total followers exceeding 25 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year, and a robust endorsement of our premium content and brand influence. Meanwhile, we have been exploring our community concept to better aggregate our users and improve our user engagement while optimizing our closed-loop ecosystem.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

In short, our relentless honing and refinement of content and our development of innovative new products and service led to another quarter of excellent performance. Not only did we post solid double-digit year-over-year growth in total revenues and ongoing improvements in gross margin, but we also achieved profitability for the third consecutive quarter. Next, I'd like to share the progress we've made in commercialization across our business segments.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Our advertising business continued to thrive, up 12% year-over-year in the Q2. despite COVID-19 resurgence and macroeconomic challenges, we achieved year-over-year growth above industry average, a clear indication that 36Kr remains an indispensable partner for advertisers brand marketing.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

During this quarter, we capitalized on 36Kr's omni-channel presence and multi-dimensional services to continue expanding our customer base, increasing our number of advertisers by 13% year-over-year. We are able to empower customers from both traditional industry and the new economy to creatively innovate and operate their brand marketing. Among traditional industry customers, many in the automobile and real estate industry continue to promote their brands and content in the 36Kr platform despite headwinds from the pandemic, including Beijing Hyundai, and Gemdale Group. Not only our marketing promotion of the renowned automotive manufacturer Beijing Hyundai marks a new high in contract size among our advertisers from the automotive industry since 2021.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

With respect to our collaborations with the new economy and frontier industries, we leveraged OU to provide brand philosophy promotions for more customers, especially those targeting C-end consumers. Following our kickoff of its domestic commercialization the beginning of this year, OU experienced explosive growth in the Q2, achieving 270% sequential growth in contract size. During the Q2, we cooperated with an array of well-known companies including Intel, Joyvio, Quwan Holding, iKang, and Kuaishou, covering a wide array of popular industries such as science and technology, healthcare, new consumption, and internet, among others, creating marketing solutions for more brands to promote customer acquisition.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

During the Q2, against the backdrop of COVID-19 and complicated macroeconomic happenings, large and small companies across all industries faced various challenges and changes. In May, we initiated the Seeking the Light program to fulfill our social responsibilities and help businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, to maintain their brand share of voice despite the market downturn. By optimizing our product portfolio and rate cards, we achieved a marked increase in the number of customers while maintaining our average revenue per user at a relatively stable level.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Deploying short video as our flagship product alongside our C-end content program matrix such as Super Review and Youth Watch has also significantly boosted our commercialization progress. In the Q2, Samsung placed an order to promote its product in the traditional commercial bank, Bank of China, promoting its app through 36Kr Super Review. Short video's growing popularity among customers has proved it is a useful format for us to effectively attract more advertisers and improve our monetization efficiency.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Turning to value added enterprise service. Despite the COVID-19 resurgence, we were able to maintain our enterprise value added service revenues at a stable level compared with the same period of last year. In terms of offline activities, we proactively transferred certain services to offline and online combined scenarios during the quarter, which partially mitigated the overall impact from the pandemic and related control measures. In addition, our consulting services and integrity marketing services performed remarkably well during the quarter.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

In June, we held an online grand event at 36Kr. As a companion observer of enterprises cross verticals, we invited numerous entrepreneurs and investor representatives from various industries to share their brilliant success stories and convey the most authentic voice of China's new generation of entrepreneurs. Given the current uncertainty environment, 36Kr organized grand online ceremony for entrepreneurs to boost the venture capital community's confidence and help forge connections among all parties. In addition, we also partner with Kuaishou and Douyin to promote the ceremony and gain great traction among users, achieving total user exposure of 350 million.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

In terms of regional business expansion, while first-tier cities including Beijing and Shanghai were under strict control due to the pandemic, our regional office in Sichuan and Chongqing and Guangdong were a great boon to our business. For instance, our regional offices in Sichuan and Chongqing jointly created a participatory IP event entitled The Marvelous Taste of Ba-Shu, a summit which brought together local governments and over 100 new consumption enterprises and investment institutions, building a bridge of communication between supply and demand to accelerate the development of the new consumption industry in the Ba-Shu area. The debut of 36Kr's marvelous IP series in Sichuan and Chongqing was a triumph, clearly demonstrating that 36Kr's brand influence and service system have taken root in these regions.

We have gained over 200 enterprise client leads from this event, creating projects in progress worth RMB tens of millions, as well as potential cooperative orders.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Furthermore, through an approach combining industry insights and data analysis, 36Kr Research Institute tracks the latest developments of popular industries and produces frequent high quality research reports, achieving content dominance and improving customer loyalty. At present, in addition to a large number of local government clients on the corporate side, 36Kr Research Institute is also providing consulting services to a wide range of renowned companies, including Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, ByteDance, Zhiyun Health, iKang,P&G, and SLAMTEC.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Moving on to our integrated marketing services. During the quarter, we continue to make positive progress in our content operation agency service. For instance, through our recent partnership with Huatai Securities, 36Kr will provide content support and agency operations for Huatai Securities' ZhangLe following our partnership with China Merchants Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, our cooperation with Huatai Securities represents another exploration of our financial agency operation capabilities, which will lay the groundwork for us to replicate the operation model with additional securities companies in the future.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

With respect to subscription services, we implemented innovative upgrades to our subscription service system in this quarter, which increased our revenue from subscription service by 58% year-over-year. Take our institutional subscription service as an example. 36Kr connected Poly Capital with the Wuxi Municipal Government for industry collaborations and integration, demonstrating the value of the customized membership service we provided for our institutional clients. Furthermore, despite the postponement of certain courses in our individual subscription due to the pandemic, we made breakthrough progress in multiple star subscription products such as the Business Plan Building Camp and the Founding Acceleration Camp since July.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Last but not least, I'd like to share the latest progress of our Enterprise Service Review Platform. During the quarter, we not only continue to rapidly improve our major operating metrics, but also achieve fruitful commercialization progress.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

In terms of operating data, our monthly active user rose more than 18 times year-over-year to nearly 900,000, and the number of authentic reviews climbed 17 times to over 32,000, up 56% sequentially. Meanwhile, we optimized the platform's business coordination, function layout, and user experience. As a result, the number of customers willing to leave their information on the platform more than double compared with the beginning of the Q2. We showcased over 6,600 pieces of mainstream software on the platform, up 84% year-over-year and nearly 20% quarter-over-quarter. These merchant-oriented features were launched in September 2021. A total of over 860 merchants have set up presence on our platform, rising almost 30% quarter-over-quarter.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Regarding commercialization, 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform reached a strategic collaboration with Volcano Engine this quarter, focusing on the functions and features of a diversified portfolio of Volcano Engine's products, including cloud computing, big data, and SaaS applications. Meanwhile, we built a product library on our Enterprise Service Review Platform for Volcano Engine, providing precise and targeted access to specific customer groups. Furthermore, 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform will collaborate with Volcano Engine to produce and disseminate various formats of content such as live broadcast and in-depth interviews. Taken together, these strategies will cultivate customer awareness as well as shape Volcano Engine's brand influence and unique positioning in the SaaS market.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Despite the challenging external environment, including pandemic resurgence and macroeconomic downturn, we achieved double-digit growth in total revenue and profitability for the third consecutive quarter. Our robust financial results again demonstrated our business model's resilience as well as massive development potential. These quarters are defining our business foundations while heralding the inflection point of our company value. Meanwhile, as our second growth engine, our Enterprise Service Review Platform has achieved strong growth in all major operating metrics together with the steady development of its commercialization, expanding our service boundaries and unlocking more business potentials. As a new economy service group, 36Kr remains committed to its original aspirations and will continue to empower its partners with high-quality content, relying on innovation-driven content ecosystem with dedicated and effective services while hoping to enhance further the business efficiency of Chinese enterprises.

Moving forward, as a companion and enabler of the new economy, 36Kr will continue to empower more industry participants to achieve high-speed development. Capitalizing on the wave of digital transformation, we are confident that we can create sustainable value for more users, customers, and investors.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language) Please go ahead, Lin.

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you, Dagang Feng. Hello everyone. Against the backdrop of the pandemic and macroeconomic uncertainties, we achieved solid top-line growth in the Q2 with a 13% year-over-year increase in total revenues and a third consecutive quarter of profitability, a strong testament to our business's resilience and vitality. Notably, our advertising revenues continued to grow up 12% year-over-year to RMB 57.8 million, outpacing the overall market. In addition, through our multiple efforts to navigate the impact of stringent COVID-19 prevention measures, we were able to maintain our enterprise value-added services revenues at stable level, while our subscription services revenue recorded remarkable growth of 58% year-over-year, as we proactively executed certain services through online and virtual scenarios.

In addition, as we continually optimized our cost structure and operating efficiency, we further improved our gross profit margin to 62% in the Q2, up 5 percentage points year-over-year. On the cash position front, we once again generated positive operating cash flow in the Q2. Our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments increased by over CNY 20 million quarter-over-quarter and over CNY 40 million year-over-year respectively. Looking ahead, we will continue to hone our core capabilities and explore diversified growth avenues to drive monetization, while also strengthening our long-standing commitment to cultivating a compelling value proposition for more customers, users, and investors. Now I'd like to walk you through more details of our Q2 2022 financial results.

Total revenues were RMB 81.7 million in the Q2 of 2022, an increase of 13% compared to RMB 72.1 million in the same period of last year. Online advertising services revenues increased by 12% year-over-year to RMB 57.8 million in the Q2 of 2022. The increase was primarily attributable to more innovative marketing solutions we provided to our customers as well as the proactive sales strategies we adopted to navigate the challenging environment during the quarter. The number of advertising customers increased by 13% year-over-year while the ARPU remained largely stable during the quarter. Enterprise value-added services revenue were RMB 14.3 million in the Q2 of 2022, largely flat compared with the same period of last year.

We were able to maintain our enterprise value-added services at a steady level despite the resurgence of pandemic during the quarter. This is mainly because we proactively executed certain services through online and virtual scenarios. Subscription services revenues were RMB 9.5 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to RMB 6 million in the same period of last year. The increase was primarily attributable to our continuous efforts to offer high-quality subscription products to our subscribers. Cost of revenues was RMB 30.8 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to RMB 30.7 million in the same period of last year. Gross profits increased by 23% year-over-year to RMB 50.9 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to RMB 41.4 million in the same period of last year.

Gross profit margin was 62% in the Q2 of 2022 compared to 57% in the same period of last year. The increase was mainly attributable to the economies of scale achieved by our revenue growth as well as the optimized cost structure driven by more services delivered online during the quarter. Operating expenses were CNY 64.6 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to CNY 75.3 million in the same period of last year. Sales and marketing expenses were CNY 27.4 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to CNY 33.4 million in the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in payroll-related expenses, share-based compensation expenses, marketing expenses, and business travel related expenses.

G&A expenses were RMB 23.8 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to RMB 29.9 million in the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in allowance for credit losses and professional fees, partially offset by the increase in payroll-related expenses. Research and development expenses were RMB 13.4 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to RMB 12 million in the same period of last year. The increase was primarily attributable to the increase in payroll-related expenses as we bolstered our research and development capabilities, especially for our 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform.

Share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenues, sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses as well as G&A expenses totaled RMB 2.6 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to RMB 3.3 million in the same period of last year. Other income was RMB 22.7 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to other expenses of RMB 0.4 million in the same period of last year. This fluctuation was primarily attributable to investment income arising from fair value changes of long-term investments and more government grants received in the Q2 of 2022. Net income was RMB 9 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to net loss of RMB 34.3 million in the same period of last year.

non-GAAP adjusted net income was RMB 11.6 million in the Q2 of 2022 compared to non-GAAP adjusted net loss of RMB 31 million in the same period of last year.

Net income attributable to 36Kr Holdings ordinary shareholders was RMB 8 million in the Q2 of 2022, compared to net loss of RMB 34.1 million in the same period of last year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS were both RMB 19.5 cents in the Q2 of 2022, compared to basic and diluted net loss per ADS of RMB 83.4 cents in the same period of last year. As of June 30th, 2022, the company had cash equivalents and short-term investments of RMB 194.3 million, increased by RMB 23.2 million compared to the previous quarter and by RMB 44.7 million compared to a year ago. The increase was primarily attributable to cash inflow from operating activities.

This concludes our prepared remarks today. We will now open the call for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Ling Yi (Equity research analyst)

(Foregin language) Let me translate my questions in English. The first one is since the Q3, the impact of COVID in first-tier cities has gradually eased.

How about the recovery of the company's various business? The second question is, recently, 36Kr has held several offline summits, and we have noticed that more summits have been scheduled. What are your expectation and arrangements for offline activities in the second half of the year? My third question is Enterprise Service Review Platform officially announced a one-stop marketing service cooperation with ByteDance. Could you give us more color on this cooperation progress? Thank you.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language) We are currently seeing some improvement in advertising business in the Q3 compared to the same period of last year.

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Compared with last year, we have been following several efforts to improve the vitality of advertising business this year. First, we have expanded the coverage industries of content this year, such as Dual Carbon, digital transformation, career, and so on. We will bring new business opportunities in the Q3 and the second half of the year. Second, after more than one year of free short video and new column have attracted more and more advertisers. At the same time, further expanding more brand targeting C-end users.

We will continue to optimize our product portfolio and price card so we can go through the hard times together with our advertising clients and grow our advertising revenues. Our advertising is more a combination of branding and effects. Therefore, even under macroeconomic pressures, advertisers' demand for brand advertising still exists. (Foregin language)

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

For offline business in the first half of this year, due to the impact of the pandemic, many of our offline events were delayed or transferred to online form, which did have some impact on revenue. However, we are confident in the pandemic control in the second half of the year. We have planned many themed conferences in our pipeline, for example, Going Global Forum, Super Automation Forum, Neo Business Forum, X Series, and the end-of-year event WISE Conference. Even if the resurgence of the pandemic has a certain impact on offline events, we still have the capability to prepare online forums. For example, the flagship IP 36 Under 36 series we held in June was a pure online event with great performance in terms of both influence and commercialization. Therefore, we remain cautiously optimistic on the revenue front.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

For subscription services, we have maintained a certain proportion of growth in the institutional subscriptions, mainly because we continue to innovate in the membership system and tap more potential cooperation connections between investment institutions and enterprise customers. In terms of individual subscriptions, many courses were postponed in the first half of the year due to the impact of epidemic. However, since July, 36Kr Business School has successfully delivered several online courses with relatively high average revenue per user. We expect a certain increase in the Q3 and the second half of the year. This is the end of the first question.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Now is the second question regarding the offline events. We believe that pandemic will be manageable in the second half of the year, and most offline summits will take place as planned. We will launch a series of events related to our key IPs, such as the Unexpected Series targeting the end users, the end of the year grand event WISE Conference, Going Global Forum, China Fund Partner Summit, Light of Enterprise Services, and many customized industry forums.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Even if the pandemic resurfaced in the second half of the year, leading to reinforced control measures, as we already have mature capabilities of operating online summits, we will organize some of them online side. On the other hand, our regional offices will expand business to propel growth. Our regional business expansion help us reshape many IPs, such as the recognition of the Marvelous series, expanding our IP activities with regional characteristics. This is the end of the second question.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Regarding collaboration with Volcano Engine, it will focus on the function and features of a diversified portfolio of Volcano Engine's products, including cloud computing, big data, and SaaS applications. Meanwhile, build a product library on our Enterprise Service Review Platform for Volcano Engine, providing providing precise and targeted access to specific customer groups. Furthermore, to enhance customer awareness and brand influence, we will collaborate with Volcano Engine to produce and disseminate various forms of content such as live streaming and in-depth interviews. Volcano Engine has set up its presence on the Enterprise Service Review Platform as a merchant, and we are helping them with overall operations on the platform and content production, as well as handling certain sales leads and customer information.

Dagang Feng (Co-chairman and CEO)

(Foregin language)

(Foregin language)

Yang Li (CCO and Director)

Recently we have a great cooperation with several well-known suppliers. We will provide service to them going forward, including offering sales leads. Regarding our plans to expand cooperation to more service providers, we will approach it from two perspectives. First, through industrial park and business in lower-tier markets. We will cover more such products and invite more providers to join our platform to make our platform more complicated, while accumulating more potential customers through the operation and maintenance of the merchant-oriented features. Second, by enhancing operational efficiency and optimizing the process for customers to leave their information for sales leads. We will improve the conversion rate and attract more providers to work with 36Kr Enterprise Service Review Platform, leveraging our customer base of enterprise service industries.

We will start with converting enterprise service providers to our customers through forum, live training and consulting, then moving on to in-depth services such as acquisition of more precious leads. This is end of the third question and thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question comes from Peipei Gu with Industrial Securities. Please go ahead.

Peipei Gu (Analyst)

(Foregin language)

(Foregin language) Uh, I'll translate my question.

The first question is about advertisement. We can expect the economy is going to be in low level for relatively longer time as expected. Could you give us more color of the growth of advertisement clients in that pool? And what we can expect for the coming two quarters? The second question is, could management explain more about your plan of growth and monetization in short video platforms? Thank you.

Lin Wei (CFO)

Hi, Peipei. Thank you for your question. Yes, you can see that in Q2, we delivered another very strong quarter of advertising revenue growth. Compared to others, I think this is a very remarkable success. The reason being actually, if you look at our pool and the number of advertisers disclosed in our ER, in our earnings release, actually, our number of advertisers grew by 13%. The pool actually for the first time in many quarters, I think, declined slightly 1%.

Yeah, that's because, as mentioned, the CEO mentioned in our prepared remarks that we launched Seeking the Light program, which means in Chinese, (Foregin language) That means, we actually adjusted our product portfolio and the rate card in the Q2, meaning that we actually provide some favorable pricing for customers, especially SME advertising customers. That's why you can see that by that program, we expanded effectively the number of advertisers. That number grew strongly. While, you know, we can see that our ARPU remained at a very stable level, it actually only slightly declined by 1%. If you look at our industry-wise, actually the top industries in our advertisers, namely number one, we call it hardcore technologies.

Number two is the internet services. Number three is enterprise services. There's intelligent manufacturing and new consumption, new consumer businesses. That's very diversified. Especially the hardcore technology sector emerged as a very top ranked, you know, advertising industry for us. I think that's partially, you know, driven by our proactive sales strategy that I just described for Q2. For your second question regarding short form video as well as our some new product columns, that's very successful. I think that's another very strong driver for the advertising revenue growth in Q2. We said, you know, the short form video is more and more welcomed by many advertisers.

They previously mainly, you know, advertise with us with some, you know, articles or WeChat account disclosure. Now they are more and more using short form video and our new columns. We created, for example, the OUs.

Super Review, and some other columns are very, very popular among, you know, audiences as well as customers. As we mentioned in the prepared remarks, this quarter, we entered into advertising cooperation with Intel and iKang and Kuaishou, and even iQIYI and Zhihu, a lot of internet brands advertised with us. That's another success. To give you some ballpark idea of the contribution from short-form video, actually, if you remember by the end of last year, I said the proportion of short-form video's revenue contribution for advertising dollars is less than 10%. By the end of the Q2, actually, the contribution from short-form video has already rose to around 15%.

You can gauge how quickly that short-form video has been developing for the company. Hope this answers the question, Peipei. Thank you.

Peipei Gu (Analyst)

Thank you, Lin Wei.

Jing Chen (Analyst)

I will translate myself. Congratulations on the strong financial performance under the challenging environment. The company has strong content capability. Is there any consideration for improving the monetization capability on the user side? Thank you.

Lin Wei (CFO)

At present, our content monetization is mainly reflecting in our individual subscription business, especially 36Kr Business School. The 36Kr Business School has set up a number of products, such as, recently we completed Business Plan Building Camp and Founding Acceleration Camp, which have been completed recently. Those courses are mainly high value offline courses, and the main target customers is the founders of the startups. On the other hand, we also have a low cost online training courses, like Kr School, which focus on course content such as skill improvement.

Moving forward, we will provide the course content in the form of open class and small class to build corresponding membership service system and provide courses on career improvement, business administration, investment and management courses to entry-level employees and professional elites and high net worth individuals. Thank you.

Thank you, analysts for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact 36Kr Investor Relations through the contact information provided on our website.