36Kr - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for 36Kr Holdings Inc.'s second quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After management's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Jianan Ding, IR Manager of the company. Please go ahead, Jianan.

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Thank you very much. Hello, everyone, and welcome to 36Kr Holdings second quarter 2023 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 your 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 this 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 under applicable law. Please note that 36Kr's earnings press release and this conference call include discussions of unaudited 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 amount numbers are in RMB. I will now turn the call over to our Co-chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng. Feng, please go ahead.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

谢谢，大家好！感谢大家参加我们2023年第二季度的业绩电话会议。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter 2023 earnings conference call.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

本季度我们很高兴看到公司主营业务持续稳健发展，总收入同比增长3%，其中企业增值服务收入同比增长17%，订阅服务收入同比增长11%，毛利率实现强劲反弹，上升至55%。公司B端和C端业务齐头并进，持续完善高质量多赛道的的内容体系，同时深入探索AI技术在各项业务场景中的赋能和应用，迈向多元发展新阶段。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

We are glad to know that our primary business segments continue to develop with steady growth in the second quarter of 2023. Our total revenue increased by 3% year-over-year, with revenue from our enterprise value-added services up 17% year-over-year, and revenue from our subscription services up 11% year-over-year. Notably, our gross margin rebounded strongly to 55%. We also made great strides in both B2B and B2C businesses. As we continue to enhance our high-quality, multidimensional content matrix and deeply explore AI empowerment and applications in diverse scenarios across our business segments, we embarked on a new development stage of diversified growth.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

首先在内容方面，三十六氪继续深挖内容生态，在更多赛道覆盖、优质内容沉淀、高质量用户触达、多渠道分发方面均取得了长足的进展。我们的爆款文章数量持续攀升，阅读量10万+的文章达160多篇，体现了三十六氪业绩领先的洞察力和影响力。优质内容的持续输出，也推动了用户体量和粘性的长期增长。截至本季度末，三十六氪全网粉丝数已突破3000万，同比增长21%，实现连续9个季度的增长。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

First off, content. We constantly explore new growth areas for our content ecosystem during the quarter, and made great advancements on multiple fronts, including greater industry coverage, content asset accumulation, high-quality customer engagement, and our broadening multi-channel distribution network. Furthermore, the number of our popular articles kept rising. In the second quarter, we had 160 articles, with page views exceeding 100,000, fully showcasing 36Kr's leading insights and industry influence. Our consistent creation of high-quality content enable us to meaningfully expand our user base and enhance long-term user loyalty. As of the end of the second quarter, we had more than 30 million followers, up 21% year-over-year, achieving nine consecutive quarters of growth.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

我们的专业垂直子媒体，艾涌 Whales 和 智能涌现 在推出后持续取得令人瞩目的成绩，不仅为用户提供了深入洞察新兴领域的窗口，也进一步巩固了我们在新经济领域的领先地位。同时，我们持续强化 C 端 内容壁垒，优化了产品测评栏目、讨论测评和数据报告栏目和白皮书的内容，利用更轻松化的内容打开大众消费群体的需求。...

此外，我们不断丰富媒体形式，推出了全新直播播客节目《收工大吉》，持续蓄力音频领域，为听众带来新鲜有料的商业资讯和轻松有趣的生活洞察。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

The vertical media we launched, including Waves and The Emergence of Intelligence, achieved continuous impressive outcomes, allowing users to gain deeper insights into booming sectors, and equally important, further cementing our leadership in the new e-commerce sector. We also further solidified our content advantage in our key business during the quarter by optimizing the content of Superview, a product type review program, and Use White Paper, a survey report column. We attracted a broader audience through more appealing content offerings on everyday life. We also enrich our media formats through the launch of a live podcast entitled Get Off Work, Have Fun. We've also been actively working on audio offerings to bring more listeners more up to the minute business intelligence, as well as fun ideas and topics to enjoy each day.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

值得一提的是，我们的短视频业务加速完善内容构建及品牌传播、新经济内容、效果变现的一体，成为广告营销的新增长点。我们围绕社会热点的商业话题，打造了多个百万播放的爆款视频，如终身租房和马斯克改造地球，为用户带来主题多样、角度新颖的原创视频内容。截至本季度末，36Kr短视频全网粉丝数量已经突破830万，同比增加42%，其中B站粉丝数已突破200万，成为平台企业号中的佼佼者，也为公司创造了更多商业化合作的新机会。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

I also want to highlight our short video business. Through an integrated approach to branding, new economic theme content, and content monetization, we have accelerated the optimization of our short video content matrix, transforming it into a new growth engine for advertising and marketing. Some of the short videos were created on trending topics were streamed over 1 million times, including Coffee Home, Why Buy When You Can Rent, and Elon Musk's Master Plan on Earth. Thanks to their diverse ideas and a fresh perspective that kept our users engaged. As of the end of the second quarter, we had over 8.3 million short video followers, up 42% year-over-year, among which more than 2 million were Bilibili users. We have indeed become a leader among all platform-based official accounts, and we stand ready to seize more opportunities for commercialization of cooperation.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

我们的首档长视频栏目《看见二零三三》第一季也圆满完播，而第二季已经开始录制。该节目不仅在观众中引发了广泛的反响，也收获了诸多知名企业的商业化合作机会。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

We also successfully wrapped up the first season of our first long video show, Foreseeing 2033, which will soon return for a second season. It attracted immense audience attention, bringing us additional commercialization opportunities with leading companies.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

在推动内容向多元化精品创新发展的同时，我们在B站、抖音、快手、小红书、西瓜视频号等社交媒体构建了短视频矩阵，将内容精准地传递给不同平台上的用户，从而实现内容与用户，用户之间更紧密的连接和价值传递。近期，我们与北京广播电视台达成战略合作，进一步推动长视频在立项策划、内容制作、宣发推广和IP商业化等方面的协同发展。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

As we diversify and strengthening our content landscape with innovative themes and formats, we also developed our short video lineup on a wide variety of platforms, including Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, Xigua, and WeChat video account, targeting diverse groups of users with precise marketing. This initiative made our content more engaging and empowered, more effective, more personal communication with users. Recently, we entered into a strategic cooperation with Beijing Radio and Television Station to promote the full life cycle synergetic development of long videos from project planning and content production, all the way to distribution, promotion, and IP communicate commercialization.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

随着我们对AIGC应用的持续探索和产品的不断创新，公司的各项业务正在积极推进AI技术的融合，包括文案生成、文本翻译、关键词抓取、图片生成、智能客服等领域。我们的AI电商店铺也举办了首场数字人带货直播，吸引了160,000人次的观看，单日交易额突破CNY 10,000，并入选淘宝新势力服饰商家Super 30榜单。在618期间，更受到CCTV的专题采访和报道，并登陆央视网、央视影音APP等多个渠道传播。优秀的AI营销案例，让我们再次获得金铜奖大奖，进一步印证了我们在AI创新和应用领域的领先地位。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

We also explore more AIGC use cases for our business during the quarter. Through content production product innovation, we have been actively integrating pioneering AI technology into our day-to-day operations, including copywriting, translation, keyword matching, image generation, and intelligent customer service, among other functions. In our AI e-commerce store, our first live streaming sales session hosted by digital humans was a big hit with 160,000 views and an impressive daily GMV exceeding CNY 10,000. It was included in Taobao's list of Super 30 emerging clothing stores. During the 618 E-commerce Shopping Festival, we were featured on China Central Television, and the program was broadcast on multiple channels, including cctv.com as well as the CCTV app. Our AI marketing success story was again highly recognized by the China Content Marketing Award, a testament to our leadership in AI innovation and applications.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

近期我们与百度达成战略合作，联合探索推进AI技术在媒体、技术和培训方面的创新和商业化进程，相互协作赋能，以实现在内容生产、大规模大模型应用市场、大模型解决方案、AI应用培训等场景的多元化拓展。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

On a related note, we recently entered into a strategic cooperation with Baidu, joining hands in broadening AI applications across our media platforms, enterprise services, and training, driving commercialization and innovation as we empower mutual growth. Our teams are working closely on a diversified AI-powered landscape, including content production and application marketplace, showcasing applications powered by large language model, LLM functions, LLM solutions, and training programs on AI applications.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

综上所述，我们不断深耕内容生态，并结合AI技术的强大赋能，这一系例举措不仅促进了公司业务的稳步发展，还为推动业绩的持续提升奠定了坚实基础。接下来，我将回顾一下我们在2023年第二季度在商业化方面取得的进展。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

In summary, as we persistently advance and empower our content ecosystem with AI technology, we profiled our business steady growth, laying a solid foundation for continuous performance improvement. Next, I'd like to review our commercialization progress during the second quarter.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

本季度，我们总收入同比增长3%，达到CNY 8,436万元，其中广告收入达CNY 5,700万元，与去年基本持平。广告客单价同比增长14%，至CNY 31万元。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

In the second quarter of 2023, our total revenue increased by 3% year-over-year to CNY 84.36 million. Notably, our advertising revenue reached CNY 57 million, basically on par with the same period last year. Our advertising output increased to CNY 310,000, up 14% year-over-year.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

三十六氪根据客户品牌调性，为客户提供差异化的内容和创意服务，有效帮助客户在不同人群触达上的赋能，为客户提供品效合一的营销解决方案。本季度，我们积极满足客户需求，与阿里、京东、字节跳动、华为等国际知名企业展开更加深入的合作，同时持续开拓新的客户领域，实现了业务领域的拓展。例如，我们首次拓展奢侈品领域，为奢侈品品牌Givenchy打造新颖的开屏广告，还为九阳的三款核心家电产品打造了多元化的宣传内容，包括图文、视频、测评，并通过新媒体矩阵进行全网传播，高效触达目标客户，获得了客户的广泛好评。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

36Kr provides customers with differentiated content offerings and creative services tailored to the features of each and every brand. Our one-stop marketing solutions, centered on branding and efficacy, provide customers with precise, effective marketing promotions targeting diverse customer groups. In the second quarter, to actively address the needs of our customers, we deepened cooperation with global giants such as Alibaba, JD.com, and Huawei, and added new accounts to broaden our industry reach. We also signed the Givenchy, our first luxury brand, and designed an innovative, engaging splash and campaign for them. Furthermore, we created diverse promotional content for Joyoung's three flagship household appliances in the form of graphics, texts, videos, as well as test reviews, and promoted them across numerous online channels through our new media matrix. Our multidimensional targeted approach helped Joyoung effectively reach their target users, winning us raves from the client.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

我们的短视频业务依然表现十分突出。本季度，三十六氪作为腾讯广告的商务合作伙伴，受邀亲临戛纳国际创意节现场带来全面报道。同时，我们联合波士登发布TVC商业短片，讲述波士登如何开启羽绒低碳时代。另外，值得一提的是，继上一季度发布汽车矩阵之后，三十六氪汽车在第二季度完成了宝马汽车的商业化首单，携手宝马汽车阐述循环经济产业发展。我们以优质的内容吸引大量用户留存，随后借助这一庞大流量，吸引众多品牌商的持续关注和投入，从而形成了良性的循环模式。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Next, our short video business, which delivered another quarter of stellar results. In the second quarter of 2023, as Tencent's advertising business partner, we were invited to Cannes and offered extensive on-site coverage at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Meanwhile, we released a short form TV commercial with Bosideng to tell its low-carbon story, showcasing strong ESG commitment. Regarding the auto content matrix we launched earlier this year, our WeChat video account, 36Kr Auto, delivered a short video promotion for BMW during the second quarter, featuring the evolution of the auto industry in the circular economy. With our short video business, we have established a virtuous cycle where our primary content attracts users and increases their stickiness, driving an overall increase in traffic. We then leverage our massive traffic to attract greater advertising interest from even more branding partners.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

企业增值服务方面，本季度总收入达到 CNY 16.75 million，同比增长 17%。随着线下活动逐渐正常化开展，本季度交付场次和规模均实现显著提升。...

我们集创投、科技、人文、音乐多元场景于一体，推出了全新峰会IP WISE新浪潮大会，为年轻人打造开放轻松的社交场景，进一步增强了三十六氪的品牌认知度和影响力。同时，我们密切关注全球化与可持续发展领域，举办了时机生机全球化价值大会。在持续服务B端用户的基础上，我们不断触达优质C端用户，成功举办了CityLab生活节，吸引广泛的年轻人群参与。此外，我们的区域业务的布局和拓展成果显著，在北京、成都和西安的SKP商场举办了一系列潮流分享会，进一步验证了三十六氪对于大企业创新的服务能力。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

With respect to enterprise value added services, our revenue were up 17% year-over-year to RMB 16.8 million. We greatly increase the number and scale of our events during the second quarter as consumption and offline activities regained steam. We hosted the WISE Summit with, integrating venture capital, technology, culture, and music scenes to create open and relaxed social networking scenarios for the younger generation, further enhancing 36Kr's brand awareness and influence. In the meantime, as part of our continued effort in global expansion and sustainable development, we hosted the WISE 2023 Globalization Value Conference Opportunity for Vibrance. In addition to our To B business, we continue to effectively reach more high quality users in our To C business, successfully attracting a wide range of young customers with our lifestyle festival CityLab. We have also made meaningful progress in developing and expanding our regional business.

We successfully staged various sharing sessions featuring stylish items in SKP's shopping malls across Beijing, Chengdu, and Xi'an during the quarter, fully reflecting our ability to support innovation among our large enterprise customers.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

在咨询服务领域，三十六氪研究院作为行业观察者和趋势解读者，始终专注于前沿科技、创新趋势和商业发展的深入研究，通过丰富的数据分析和洞察力，为产业变革和创新提供有价值的见解和指导。本季度，我们携手网易云音乐发布零零后长音频消费趋势报告，为音频相关从业者提供有价值的参考，同时也为公司在长音频领域的商业化发展提供有力支持。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Next, our consulting services. As a shrewd observer providing insights into industry trends, 36Kr Research Institute has always been dedicated to in-depth research on cutting-edge technologies, innovation trends, and business tech development. Leveraging massive data analysis and business insights, we provide informed opinions and guidance on industrial transformation and innovation. In the second quarter, we joined hands with NetEase Cloud Music in releasing the Post-2000 Generation Long-Form Audio Consumption Trend Report, providing a valuable reference for the audio content industry as well as strong support for our commercialization in long-form audio.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

订阅服务方面，我们的培训业务蓬勃发展，收入规模大幅增长11%至CNY 1,060万元。本季度，36氪商学院与英国牛津大学携手合作，重磅推出学位型项目，赛德商学院博士后研究，研究班。通过线上线下相结合的研学模式，为学员带来优质的课程体验，使得单价大幅增长，突破CNY 4.22万元。同时，我们持续打磨创投课堂、融资加速营等精品培训课程，不断聚焦高质量用户增长，完善课程设计，受到学员的广泛认可。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

As for subscription services, we made great strides in training programs, substantially increasing our revenue by 11% to RMB 10.6 million in the second quarter. 36Kr Business School cooperated with the University of Oxford to launch the J-Base, Keble College Postdoctoral Research Program. This program brought top-tier learning experiences to our users through a combination of online and offline initiatives, driving a vast increase in our pool to over RMB 2,000. Meanwhile, we continue to enrich the high-quality training courses offered through our venture capital class and founding acceleration, further propelling high-quality user growth and drawing praise from a wide array of users.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

在平台产品方面，三十六氪企服点评平台不断完善产品核心信息，并综合站内数据，推出了多维度的评选榜单。同时通过AI技术应用和赋能，为用户提供更加精准高效的产品选型信息和决策支持，提升智能客服交互友好性。截至2023年第二季度，平台累计点评数同比增长99%，累计在线产品数同比增长40%，入驻商家同比增长43%。在商业层面，企服点评平台一直以优质产品和服务赢得客户信任，在多个领域与厂商建立长期合作，如万兴科技、听听云、爱人仕、致远互联等。未来，企服点评将继续服务数字化转型需求，解决厂商营销获客难题，并积极开展AI技术的融合应用，进一步提升智能化运营水平。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Last but not least, I'd like to share an update on the 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform. While continuously refining core product information, we rolled out multidimensional rankings based on our analysis of data across the platform. Through AI applications and empowerment, we provided users with more precise and efficient overall product information and decision-making support, and enabled more interactive, user-friendly, intelligent customer service. As of the end of the second quarter, the cumulative number of reviews increased by 99% year-over-year. The cumulative number of products on the platform was up 40% year-over-year, and the number of merchants on the platform increased by 43% year-over-year. Commercially, the 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform has won lasting customer trust with its high-quality products and services, securing long-term cooperation with SaaS manufacturers in various fields, including Wondershare, Pingping, IHR, and Seeyon.

Looking ahead, the 36Kr Enterprise Service Review platform will continue to address our customers' needs to better support their digital transformation, making both marketing and customer acquisition easier for enterprise customers. We will play an even more active role in AI integration and application to attain more sophisticated intelligence operations. To sum up, for the second quarter, we delivered solid financial results once again, with total revenue of CNY 84.4 million, maintaining growth momentum both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. Our growth margin also rebounded to the above 55% level. Moreover, we continue to enhance our content influence and build our competitive advantages in the new content sector. The number of our followers exceeded 30 million, countrywide for 9 quarters straight. We believe the boom of generative AI and LLM has lavished tremendous opportunities on the content industry.

Our consistent commitment to innovation, unrivaled technology foresight, and the thorough cooperation with global giants will further empower us as we progressively integrate AI into our business scenarios, propelling long-term, high-quality growth across all our business segments. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Ms. Lin Wei, who will discuss our key financial results. The floor is yours.

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you, Jianan. Now, I'd like to walk you through more details of our second quarter 2023 financial results. Please note all amount numbers are in RMB, unless otherwise stated. Total revenues increased by 3% to CNY 84.4 million in the second quarter of 2023, up from CNY 81.7 million in the same period of last year. Online advertising services revenues were CNY 57 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to CNY 57.8 million in the same period of last year. The slight year-over-year decrease was primarily attributable to the lagging effect of the macro economy, which is still in the early stage of recovery. Enterprise value-added services revenues increased by 17% to CNY 16.8 million in the second quarter of 2023, as we continuously developed various proactive enterprise-level services for our customers.

Our offline event business achieved notable growth during the quarter as the reopening continues, and we hosted several successful conferences and summits. Subscription services revenue increased by 11% to CNY 10.6 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to CNY 9.5 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 CNY 37.6 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to CNY 30.8 million in the same period of last year. The increase was primarily attributable to higher fulfillment costs and content costs. Gross profit was CNY 46.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to CNY 50.9 million in the same period of last year.

Gross profit margin was 55% in the second quarter of 2023, compared to 42% in the previous quarter, and 62% in the same period of last year. As we forecasted on our Q1 earnings call, our GP margin rebounded strongly as expected and was back to the above 55% level. On year-over-year basis, the slight decrease was primarily attributable to the resumption of offline events and offline training courses, which usually occur at higher costs. Operating expenses were CNY 65.1 million in the second quarter of 2023, slightly increasing by 1% compared to CNY 64.6 million in the same period of last year. Sales and marketing expenses were CNY 33.9 million in the second quarter of 2023, an increase of 24% from CNY 27.4 million in the same period of last year.

This was primarily attributable to the increase in payroll-related expenses and business travel-related expenses. G&A expenses were CNY 17.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, a 26% decrease compared to CNY 23.8 million in the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in payroll-related expenses, share-based compensation expenses, professional fees, and allowance for credit losses. Research and development expenses was CNY 13.6 million in the second quarter of 2023, slightly increasing from CNY 13.4 million in the same period of last year. This was primarily attributable to the increase in payroll-related expenses as well as bandwidth and server expenses, partially offset by the decrease in share-based compensation expenses.

Share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenues, sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, as well as G&A expenses, totaled CNY 1.8 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to CNY 2.6 million in the same period of last year. Other income was CNY 4.8 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to CNY 22.7 million in the same period of last year. The decrease was primarily because the company recognized approximately CNY 18.5 million of investment income arising from fair value change of long-term investments in the second quarter of last year. Net loss was CNY 13.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to net income of CNY 9 million in the same period of last year.

Non-GAAP adjusted net loss was CNY 11.9 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to non-GAAP adjusted net income of CNY 11.6 million in the same period of last year. Net loss attributable to 36Kr's ultimate shareholders was CNY 13.9 million in the second quarter of 2023, compared to net income attributable to 36Kr's owner shareholders of CNY 8 million in the same period of last year. Basic and diluted net loss for ADS were both $0.335 in the second quarter of 2023, compared to basic and diluted net income per ADS of $0.195 in the same period of last year.

As of June 30, 2023, the company had cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments of CNY 136.5 million, compared to CNY 169.8 million as of March 31, 2023. The decrease was mainly attributable to net cash outflow from operating activities, which include approximately CNY 10 million cash payments related to the company's move of its headquarters to a lower rental office building in Beijing. This concludes all of our prepared remarks today. We will now open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star, then one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star, then two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. For the benefit of all participants on today's call, if you wish to ask your question to management in Chinese, please immediately repeat your question in English. Our first question today will come from Jing Tang of CICC. Please go ahead.

Jing Tang (Managing Director)

Hello, Tang.

I have two questions. The first is: How is the advertising market and the company's business recover in the third quarter, and what is the outlook for the recovery trend afterwards? And the second question is: As offline activities return to normal, what are the company's plans of upgrades to offline activities? Thank you. Thank you, Jing. This is Lin. I will answer your first questions on advertising. We think as the market recovers, the demand for advertising, as expected, is gradually increase. And, you know, the growth of advertisements usually has a lagging effect as the microeconomy is still in the early stage of recovery.

Lin Wei (CFO)

If you look at some 36Kr, our client pool of advertising, we have both big names, big companies, including the Fortune 500, as well as the giant of the internet names and the big brands. But also, on the other hand, we have mostly a lot of new economy clients, and usually they are the mid to, you know, small to medium-sized companies, which they usually have a more cautious advertising spending compared to those big names. If you look at our Q2 results, actually, our number of advertising customers decreased compared to a year ago, but our advertising pool grew strongly compared to a year ago. So net, the advertising ad revenue is basically on par from a year ago.

So that's the Q2 results. And if you are asking our Q3 outlook or the guidance for the rest of the year, we think because we already observed the recovery of the microeconomy, and we think we have a optimistic view, although we might have a cautiously optimistic view, but still optimistic for the rest of the year.

And we think our advertising will go back to the upward trend, meaning we will still achieve year-over-year growth for the next two quarters for 2023. And hopefully that answers your question. Thank you.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

像样的线下活动，是这样的，就是其实我们今年策划出了很多丰富的线下活动，然后随着这个，疫情的恢复，或者说我们可以正常举办活动以后，我们的，无论是我们活动的举办的场次，还有我们的商业化情况，应该说都实现了，不错的一个增长态势。那么我们其实深刻地认识到，说，即使是一个过去成功的一个，IP，我们也得要去做大量的升级。所以今天比如说我们在To B类的活动上面，大量地展示了更多的这个创意在里面，所以这样的效果是为了让参会的人能够体验到更好的社交，社交的效果。那对，C端用户，C端的这样的这个活动，我们在不断的加强，比如说我们的这个，CityLab生活节，其实在C端领域的拓展，一直以来，这个最近一段时间以来，一两年以来一直是我们的一重点。那么在这个季度我们也取得了不错的成绩。第三点，就是我们的线上商学院正在如火如荼地开展，在持续打磨过去这个创投课堂、融资加速营等精英级课程的基础上，我们还与知名大学推出了全新的学位型的课程，使得我们的课单价大幅增长，突破了420万元。我们也会在接下来的，这个周期里面，不断地去跟类似于名校大学这样的优质的好合作伙伴去拓展我们的业务，然后以及让这个业务获得更大的发展。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Jing. Let me answer your second question. This year, we designed and launched a variety of offline events. We were pleased with the number of events we hosted, as well as the commercialization achievements, gaining momentum on both fronts. In the meantime, with creative initiatives through events like our all-new WISE Summit, Waves, and our WISE Lifestyle Festival, CityLab, we greatly enhanced the scale and influence of our offline events. Meanwhile, 36Kr Business School programs were also in full swing, as we continue to enrich the content and the format of the company courses offered through our Venture Capital Class and the Founding Acceleration Camp. We launched an all-new degree-based program in partnership with the University of Oxford, driving a vast increase in our approval to over RMB 42,000. Thank you. Next question, please.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. Our next question today will come from Jiajun Hong of Industrial Securities. Please go ahead.

Jiajun Hong (Analyst)

感谢管理层接受我的提问。我的问题是，刚刚，管理层有提到一些AI带来的业务机会，所以，我想请教，更多具体的一些业务计划，包括我们这个内部的使用，比如说这个AIGC的创作，以及一些相关的产品服务，然后还有，跟外部的这些AI企业的合作。我再翻译一下，The management just mentioned about the business opportunity brought by AI.

Could you give us more color about more relevant plan about your AI internal use, product offering and cooperation with the AI enterprise? Thank you.

Dagang Feng (CEO)

谢谢洪老师，我想从三个角度来回答您的问题，就是在AI方面，首先是我们作为一个媒体的一个角色，那我们一如既往地体现出了我们对新技术这种敏感性。所以我们作为这样一个以科技为核心的媒体，我们一方面推出了我们自己的垂直的媒体，这个叫智能涌现，然后我们在上个季度我们举办了AIGC产业峰会，然后以及我们会源源不断地提供AI领域的最新资讯、报道和深度解读，为社会各界带来源源不断的洞察和启发。那么第二个角度是说，我们自己作为一家公司，如何来利用AI，我们一直积极推进生成式AI和各项业务的深度融合，包括了文案、文案的生成、文本的翻译、关键词抓取、图片生成、智能客服等。这些AI领域可以减少人工的投入，节约时间和资源，从而有助于降低成本并提高效率。此外，我们率先用AIGC去开设电商店铺，并举办了首场数字人的带货直播，受到CCTV的持续关注和报道。最后是我们如何来跟别人合作，比如说我们跟百度达成了战略合作，联合探索AI技术，在媒体、企服和培训等领域的创新和商业化进展，以实现在中国生产、大模型应用市场、大模型解决方案、AI培训等多元化扩展。那接下来我们还会跟更多的类似百度这样的这个产业的巨头去探索AI方面的合作。谢谢洪老师。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Jiajun. Let me answer your question from three perspectives. First of all, we're proud of our consistent nuance, understanding, and foresight in terms of generative AI technology. Besides launching our vertical submedia, the Emergence of Intelligence, we also hosted our WISE 2023 AIGC Summit in the second quarter. By continuously offering the latest developments, special reports, and in-depth interpretations of AI, we have inspired the public with a steady stream of insights and stimulating ideas. Second, we have been actively integrating pioneering generative AI into our day-to-day operations, including copywriting, translation, keyword matching, image generation, and intelligent customer service, among our other functions. By reducing manual efforts and saving time and resources, AI effectively facilitates our cost reduction and efficiency enhancement.

I'd like to point out that 36Kr was the first ever industry pioneer in using AI technologies to create an e-commerce store on Taobao, launching live stream sales sessions hosted by digital humans, and we were exclusively featured on CCTV with multiple follow-up initiatives. In addition, we recently entered into a strategic cooperation with Baidu, joining hands in broadening AI applications across our media platforms, enterprise services and training offerings, driving commercialization and innovation as we empower the manual growth. Our teams are working closely on a diversified AI-powered landscape, including content production, application marketplace, showcasing applications powered by large language model, LLM functions, LLM solutions, and training programs on AI applications. Thank you, Jiajun. Next question, please.

Operator (participant)

Our next question today will come from Lingyi Zhao of SWS Research. Please go ahead.

Lingyi Zhao (Analyst)

Hey, 36Kr的管理层，大家晚上好！我是SWS Research的Lingyi Zhao，特别感谢给我这次提问机会。那么我想提一个关于短视频的问题，我们其实短视频业务增长一直都非常的好，那么对于这块业务，我们后续进一步的开拓增长潜力有哪些规划？我翻译成英文。The short video business has been doing really well, and what's our plan to further tap into this growth potential? 谢谢。

Dagang Feng (CEO)

好的，谢谢灵依。首先我们将继续提供多样化的内容，同时不断拓展更多的C端的产品。目前我们的短视频内容已经覆盖了科技创新、商业洞察、生活方式等多个领域，为用户提供了很多丰富的选择。其次，我们非常注重渠道的分发，除了在B站、抖音、快手、西瓜、视频号等短视频平台传播以外，还在积极拓展社交媒体平台的布局，包括这个小红书的布局。我们很高兴看到，本季的短视频的粉丝数量已经突破了830万，同比增加了42%，其中B站粉丝数已经突破了200万。正如我们以前说过的，这个对机构媒体来说，这样的一个数量其实是一个很难能可贵的数量。在商业化合作方面，我们的品牌提供创意营销的机会，所以我们是把短视频跟创意营销去深度地结合，这样吸引来自于各行各业的客户，导致短视频的营收总和同比有了翻倍的增长。目前它在我们广告收入的总比例已经超过20%。

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

Thank you, Lingyi. First of all, we will continue to launch diversified content offerings and further expand our to-C products. At present, our short video lineup covers diverse topics, including technological innovation, business insights, and lifestyle, delighting users with a variety of content options. In addition, multi-channel content distribution remains a key focus for us. In addition to posting on short video media platforms, including Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, Xigua, and WeChat video account, we also actively expanded our reach across social media platforms. We are pleased to see the number of our short video followers surpass 8.3 million, up 42% year-over-year, among which more than 2 million were Bilibili users. Regarding our commercial cooperation for creative brand marketing, we signed additional customers from a wide array of industries.

Revenue from this segment doubled year-over-year, accounting for more than 20% of our total advertising revenue. Thanks again. Next question, please.

Operator (participant)

Our next question today will come from Ruqi Lu of Sealand Securities. Please go ahead. Ruqi, your line is open.

Ruqi Lu (Analyst)

各位领导，各位领导晚上好！然后我这边有一个问题，就是想问一下，关于咱们这个本季度毛利率有所回升，这个是，咱们是如何做到的？然后我给翻一下英文，How did the company achieve a rebound in gross profit margin this quarter?

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you, Ruqi. This is Lin. I will take your question regarding gross profit margin. I think the rebound is mainly attributable to our seasonality of our business nature, as well as the, you know, economy of scale. We have mentioned several times on our previous calls that, you know, our cost structure is largely fixed. That means when our revenues grow, there is not such a linear, you know, relationship between our revenue growth and cost growth. So if you look at our Q2 revenues, our sequential revenue growth was almost 52%. That's a very big jump. But if you look at our costs, actually, our costs only grew by 5%. That's a very obvious economy of scale.

So that's basically the, you know, seasonality and the economy of scale contributed to the sequential strong rebound of our GP margin. And also, we in Q1 started off several new content initiatives. For example, we launched our first long-form video program called Foreseeing 2033. That's a long-form video you know started to produce in the beginning of the year. So in Q1, we basically haven't started off the commercialization. But in Q2, this program have been very well received by both the audiences and also the you know our advertising customer. So in Q2, we have achieved revenue to cover the cost, production cost of this program, and actually more than covered the cost of this program.

So that's why, that's another reason contributing to our GP margin growth. And looking ahead, we think our GP margin will be able to maintain at a, you know, high level of 55% or even between 55%-60%. Because, you know, as we said, we believe our advertising revenue will continue to grow, and advertising revenue is a relatively high-margin business. And our, you know, enterprise value-add services, as well as our training business, will also grow. That will, you know, contribute to a higher revenue and, hence, contribute to higher gross profit and GP margin. Hope this answers your question, Ruqi. Thank you.

Ruqi Lu (Analyst)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

As there are no further questions, I'd like to now turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.

Jianan Ding (Manager of Investor Relations)

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

Lin Wei (CFO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

This concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.