Phoenix New Media Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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March 11, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • In Q4 2024, Phoenix New Media reported RMB218.1 million in total revenues, up 3% year-on-year, with net advertising revenues of RMB189.0 million (down from RMB197.0 million) and a net loss of RMB3.6 million versus net income of RMB8.1 million a year earlier.
  • Paid services revenues nearly doubled (+96.6%) to RMB29.1 million, driven by a new digital reading mini-program launched on Douyin, Kuaishou and WeChat.
  • Gross margin improved to 44.5% (from 43.1%) despite a 32% rise in operating expenses, primarily due to increased marketing spend supporting the paid-services rollout.
  • Professional content initiatives—including first domestic real-time U.S. election results, rapid coverage of South Korea’s martial law declaration and high-view original IPs—drove tens of millions of views and strengthened the company’s influence.
  • For Q1 2025, management forecasts total revenues of RMB147–162 million, with advertising revenues of RMB100–122 million and paid services revenues of RMB35–40 million, subject to market uncertainties.
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Earnings Conference Call
Phoenix New Media Q4 2024
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Operator

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

Operator

I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Muzhi Guo from Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Muzi Guo
Muzi Guo
IR Manager at Phoenix New Media

Thank you, operator. Welcome to Phoenix New Media's earnings conference call for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four. On today's call, we will begin with an overview of our fourth quarter results followed by a Q and 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.

Muzi Guo
Muzi Guo
IR Manager at Phoenix New Media

Additionally, unless otherwise specified, all figures mentioned are in RMB. Joining me here today are our CEO, Mr. Yushong Sun and our CFO, Mr. Edward Du. Now I will pass the call to Mr. Sun for his opening remarks. I will provide the translation. Hello, everyone, and welcome. Over the past year, we remain committed to the professionalism and quality of our content. Thanks to the hard work and close collaboration of our teams, we achieved year on year revenue growth.

Muzi Guo
Muzi Guo
IR Manager at Phoenix New Media

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
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

In the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four, 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 world count product, becoming the first domestic online to announce the U.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

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.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

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 27,000,000 views across platforms. Our in-depth analysis about South Korea's First Lady, Kim Kong Hee, earned praise from peers and gained strong traction online. We also distributed our exclusive interviews with the women who confronted the army across our channels, highlighting Fing's distinct edge in global news reporting. During the quarter, our original columns and IPs delivered both excellent data and widespread press.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

Tangbohu, our in-depth commentary series, broke down the Korean plane crash with technical precession, hitting two fifty million Rips on Weibo topics, topping the trending list a new high for the column. In finance, Cover Story landed an exclusive chat with Xpeng Motors' CEO at the Paris Motor Show, racking up 19,000,000 views trending on Douyin, Total 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 67,000,000 views. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Reading WeChat accounts 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 the commitment to social good.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

The twenty twenty four China Power Person of the Year gala seemed the Technology for Good honored those using tech to better society and boost human well-being. The Action Alien Charity Gala seemed a 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 strength in content distribution and brand value supported our advertising base, driving our 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 twenty twenty four, we earned recognition from users and the industry through the professionalism, speed and the depth of our content, while laying the groundwork for future operations through commercial exploration.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

We understand that Amedeo's online 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. Xun's prepared remarks. I will now walk you through our financial performance for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

All figures mentioned will be RMB. Our total revenues were RMB218.1 million, representing a 3% increase year on year from RMB211.8 million. Dollars Specifically, net advertising revenues were $189,000,000 compared to $197,000,000 in the same period of last year. Paid services revenues were $29,100,000 representing a 96.6% increase year on year from $14,800,000 primarily driven by revenue generated from our new digital reading services offered through mini programs on third party applications. Cost of revenues was $121,100,000 slightly up from $120,500,000 year on year.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

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 RMB90.3 million, reflecting a 32% increase year on year from RMB68.4 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 $6,700,000 compared to $22,900,000 in the same period of last year. Net loss attributable to iPhone was $3,600,000 compared to net income attributable to iPhone of $8,100,000 in the same period of last year.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

Moving on to our balance sheet. As of 12/31/2024, the company's cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, short term investments and the restricted cash totaled $1,050,000,000 or approximately $143,300,000 Finally, I'd like to provide our business outlook for the first quarter of twenty twenty five. We forecast total revenues to be between $147,000,000 and $162,000,000 For net advertising revenues, we project between 100 and and $12,000,000 and $122,000,000 while for paid service revenues, we project between $35,000,000 and $40,000,000 This focus 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.

Muzi Guo
Muzi Guo
IR Manager at Phoenix New Media

Thank you.

Operator

First question comes from Sijuan Zhang from 86Research. Please go ahead.

Xueru Zhang
Senior Analyst at 86Research

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.

Xueru Zhang
Senior Analyst at 86Research

Could management please elaborate on the underlying factors contributing to this growth trajectory? Thank you.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

Okay. Actually, the growth in paid services revenue stems from our paid short story novel business launched on third party platform mini programs, Xiaochongxu, tapping into traffic ecosystems like Douyin, Kuaishou 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 very quite modest. As a newly launched venture, although we expect a strong year over year revenue growth in the near term, but the business remains small in scale.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

We will focus on its profit contribution and keep evaluating its performance. Thank you.

Xueru Zhang
Senior Analyst at 86Research

Thank you.

Operator

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

Analyst

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

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

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.

Edward Lu
Edward Lu
CFO at Phoenix New Media

Second, we have accelerated innovation in content resources and upgraded our marketing products 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

Thank you. This concludes the Q and A session. I will now hand back to Mo Zhi.

Muzi Guo
Muzi Guo
IR Manager at Phoenix New Media

Thank you. This concludes our Q and 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

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

Executives
    • Muzi Guo
      Muzi Guo
      IR Manager
    • Edward Lu
      Edward Lu
      CFO
Analysts
    • Xueru Zhang
      Senior Analyst at 86Research
    • Analyst
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