Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), one of China’s biggest online music entertainment platforms, saw better than expected revenue growth in its third quarter thanks to a rise in paywalls and paying users.Announced on Monday, revenue beat analyst estimates by growing 31% to $910 million (RMB6.51 billion) for the quarter ending Sept. 30, up from RMB4.97 billion in the same period last year. The rise was driven by better revenues from music subscriptions, up 48% year-on-year to $132 million (RMB942 million), thanks...
Tencent Music Entertainment
Cussion
Pang
CEO
Tencent Music Entertainment’s 10% stake in Universal Music Group, finalized in 2020, has not only elevated UMG’s valuation, it motivated Warner Music Group’s IPO as well, and the Chinese giant is already exercising an option to double its UMG stake. TME’s emergence as an industry player also signaled the long-hoped prospect of legitimate music commerce in China’s massive market, where copyrights have historically held little value. TME’s record climb illustrates China’s promising potential, reporting 47.1 million paid subscribers in the second quarter, up 51.9% over the prior year. On the charity side, TME partnered with Global Citizen for two benefit concerts in 2020, and indie-music program Tencent Musician organized 50 livestreamed shows for an audience of some 8 million.