iQiyi, the Chinese video streamer that began a turnaround last year, reported further growth in profits in the first quarter of 2023. It said that daily subscription numbers had grown by 17 million in the past three months.
Total revenues were RMB8.3 billion ($1.2 billion), increasing 15% year over year, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that covered the January to March period.
Net income attributable to iQIYI was RMB618 million ($90.0 million), compared to net income attributable to iQIYI of RMB169 million in the same period in 2022.
The average daily number of subscribing members, excluding trial memberships,for the quarter was 128.1 million, compared to 100.8 million for the same period in 2022 and 110.9 million for the fourth quarter in 2022. Subscription revenue per user was little changed at RMB14.35 ($2.07).
“The increase was primarily attributable to the strong growth in the number of total subscribing members as we launched a series of premium content during the quarter,” the company said. It also increased marketing spend by 48%.
Its online advertising revenue grew by 5% year on year to RMB1.4 billion ($204 million). Content distribution revenue was RMB727 million ($106 million), increasing 16% year over year. Other revenues, notably online gaming fell by 20% to RMB671 million ($97.6 million).
The company was able to reduce content costs as a proportion of revenues by 5% year on year, to RMB4.2 billion ($611 million). Research and development expenses decreased by 10% to RMB428 million ($62.4 million), reflecting lower personnel costs.
The NASDAQ-listed shares were floated in 2018 in ADR form at $18 apiece. Before the Tuesday results announcement they traded at $5.97, giving a market capitalization of $5.71 billion.
“We kicked off the year with an exceptional first quarter. iQIYI originals once again demonstrated its power, driving our financial performance and market share to new highs, and expanding our subscriber base by over 17 million net additions,” said Gong Yu, iQiyi’s founder, director and CEO. “This demonstrated the success of our high-quality growth strategy.”
