36Kr Holdings (NASDAQ:KRKR) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

0:00 Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by for 36 Kr Holding Inc.'s second half and fiscal year 2025 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 call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to your host, Xin Wang, IR Manager of the company. Please go ahead, Xin.

0:31 Thank you very much. Hello, everyone, and welcome to 36KR Holdings' second half and fiscal year 2025 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 chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng, and our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Xiang Li. Mr. Feng will start the call by providing an overview of the company and the performance highlights of the second half and fiscal year 2025 in Chinese, followed by an English interpretation.

1:16 Mr. Li 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 Security and 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 perspectives and other public filings as filed with the USSEC. 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 gap financial measures as well as unaudited non-gap financial measures.

2:13 36KR's earnings press release contains a reconciliation of the unaudited non-gap measures to the unaudited gap measures. Please note that all amount numbers are in RMB. I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng. Paolo, please go ahead.

2:32 Thank you. Hello, everyone. I would like to welcome everyone to the 2020-21 financial year-end full-year performance conference.

2:38 Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our second half in the fiscal year 2025 for earnings conference call.

2:46 Over the past two years, 36K has always focused on efficiency improvement and financial structure optimization, continual adjustment of organizational structure, classic cost-benefit process, and fragmentation of core capabilities. In 2025, we achieved a key breakthrough on the business level on the basis of maintaining a stable income. I want to say that this is a result that our entire team and all our partners are looking forward to. This is an unprecedented result. This is a key turning point.

3:07 For the past two years, 36KR has consistently focused on improving operating efficiency and optimizing financial structure. We have continuously upgraded our organizational structure, optimized expenses, and strengthened our core capabilities. In 2025, while maintaining solid revenue performance, we achieved a major operational breakthrough by turning profitable. At the same time, our cash reserves remained stable, paving the way for the company's long-term financial health in the sustainable innovation-driven growth.

3:49 In 2005, the company's overall profit rate reached 57.7%, including an increase of 9%. The operating cost decreased by nearly 70 million yuan from the same period last year. The operating cost decreased by 53%. For the full year of 2025, our gross profit margin reached 57.7% and increased by 9 percentage points year-over-year. Operating expenses decreased by almost

4:25 Thank you. Thank you. which together optimised our organisational structure and improved workforce efficiency.

4:57 In 2025, we will continue to build up our industry with high-quality content creation capabilities to further enhance our impact. In terms of storage channels, we will continue to advance our online storage system by implementing new media storage channels such as Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, Weibo, We consistently fortified our content ecosystem in 2025, leveraging our PLS content creation prowess to steadily extend our influence. In terms of our content dissemination network, we expanded our footprints across our channels,

5:45 crafting a comprehensive circulation matrix encompassing major news medium platforms like Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Touqiao, Zhihu, BTV, Douyin, and Kuaishou, among others. Broad channel exposure has brought us wider overall dissemination and higher visibility for our premium content. Our consistent production of high-quality content also diversified our user demographics, elevating user engagement and stickiness. At the end of 2025, we had over 36.8 million followers marking 19 consecutive quarters of user thrills.

6:23 At the end of 2025, we had over 36.8 million followers marking 19 consecutive quarters of user thrills Wei Lai Jiao Fei, Xiangliu Kei You Xi, An Yong Waves, Xiangliu Kei Taixing, Huo Lan Research Institute, Chaosheng Tech, and other high-quality and top-notch content are constantly accumulating. The coverage of the content is wide, and the depth of accumulation in the segment area leads users to investigate industry trends and commercial hot spots. In the beginning of 2025, we launched Xiangliu Kei Future Industries as a new content channel that focuses on city innovation and cutting-edge technology and arranges the influence of future industries. This will add innovation to the industry, cultivate the industry, and get 70,000 public number reads per single report.

7:10 The whole platform will be over 100,000. We explored a growing area of content formats throughout 2025, including text, graphics, short and long-form videos,

7:41 Audio and live streaming, enriching our content offering with a greater diversity of styles. For text and graphics, we continue to create high-quality content on multiple fronts while maintaining our existing content metrics. Building our flagship channels, including 36kr and 36kr Pro, we continuously broaden our reach in sub-verticals, actively expanding high-quality content-specific accounts like the emergence of intelligence, 36KR Auto, Future Consumption, 36KR Games, Waves, 36KR Finance, O Youth, and Tide, among others. These accounts enriched our metrics with both broad content coverage and deep expertise in specialized domains, providing users with invaluable insights into industry trends and evolving business dynamics.

8:33 At the start of 2025, we rolled out 36 care industry features and all new content channels spotlighting urban innovation and state-of-the-art technologies, building our influence in emerging industries. A notable feature on the innovative pharmaceutical sector in Zhejiang Province garnered over 70,000 page views on our official featured accounts and more than 100,000 total exposures. To date, our accounts cover artificial intelligence, global expansion, and the ones that manufacturing, hardcore technology, consumer lifestyle, investment, and much more, comprising a thriving content ecosystem. For the full year of 2025, on the 36Kr official account alone, 698 of our articles achieved over 100,000 page views.

9:22 Meanwhile, waves of followers expanded by 54% year over year.

9:28 In terms of short videos, we have gained the wide attention and recognition of users through the excellent content source capability. The number of video fans on the whole platform exceeds 9.5 million, and 67% of the number of video fans on the video account has been achieved. In 2025, after the launch of the TikTok technology signal in the second half of the year, we have created a wide range of videos, including videos of A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I. A.I.

9:53 In terms of a short video, our exceptional content creation capabilities earned us widespread visibility and rave reviews from users. Our video followers expanded at 9.5 million as of the end of 2025. with WeChat channels' followers surging by 67% year-over-year. Following the debut of our brand new 36KR Tech account on Douyin in the second half of 2025, we released broadcaster videos such as AI Confidence and the AI Creator, attracting over 130,000 followers to date. In addition, our video undercover multi-hosted live garnered over 10 million views on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, WeChat channels, and Bilibili.

10:40 On the side of the live broadcast, in 2025, we will use the little manpower to actively integrate virtual resources, fully utilize WeChat video calls, and cultivate a series of mobile phone calls, including high-tech services, overseas gold production, and so on. At the same time, we first invented the AI-driven column of AI entrepreneurs and independent developers. In July 2025, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference was held, and Sinovac, as a special support media, achieved a full-scale report of the conference, a wonderful dialogue, and a full-scale technical discussion, and a super live broadcast of the future real-time prediction of technological new products and objects. Xiang Li, Dagang Feng, Yang Li, Cheng Li, Cheng Li

11:34 In live streaming this year, we optimized our resources with a streamlined team and fully leveraged the WeChat channels to cultivate an array of content-specific accounts, including the Big Deal, Global Expansion, Golden Shovel, and the 36KR CEO Tips. We also unveiled AI Insider, a program targeting AI entrepreneurs and independent developers. During this year's World Artificial Intelligence Conference in July, 36KR served as a special supporting media partner and offered a super live streaming channel that combined conference reporting, expert panels, cutting-edge technology insights, Future-trained forecast and tech product scoops, gathering 50.2 million total views and engaging 1.17 million viewers across the 36KR livestream metrics.

12:28 Moreover, at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo 2025, 36KR launched its first robot-themed exhibition, Future Plus, in partnership with five robotics companies. showcasing the immense potential upside of embodied artificial intelligence in home appliances in the home settings. With this exhibition, the 36K RVChat channel's live stream garnered over 1.04 million views in total, racking up over 80 million views across diverse platforms.

13:01 At the IPC summit, we held a VILS conference focusing on the investment industry in 2025. This conference focuses on technology, the founder, the founder of a new business, a young scientist, and a senior investor gathered to discuss AI technology innovation, the trend of globalization, and the success of value, etc. This year's conference has reached a total of more than 1.5 billion. In addition, the 2025 AI Patent Conference of QJAL AI Corridor is the main theme of the last AAP. QJAL AI Super App's explosive change of hundreds of millions of dollars, this year's conference has reached more than 1.3 billion, including. In the second half of the year, we held the WISE 2025 Business Development Conference.

13:44 In terms of events, we hosted our signature investment-focused conference WAVES in 2025, centered on the new era of venture capital. Founders of emerging companies and innovative young scientists gathered the top-tier investors to discuss leading-edge topics. including AI breakthrough stabilization and evaluation assessments. This year's Waves events amassed over 150 million views. In addition, our 2025 AI Partner Summit focused on the AI sector under the theme, Here Comes the Super App. highlighted the disruptive impact of AI super applications across diverse industries, garnering over 130 million views. In the second half of the year, we hosted the WISE 2025 Business King Conference at the company's largest and flagship conference.

14:40 WISE 2025 Business Kings garnered an impressive 500 million-plus views across diverse platforms, with its live stream raking up more than 800,000 views.

14:52 In 2025, we will continue to make breakthroughs in commercialization, including customer structure optimization, commercialization of young people's media, commercialization of live video business, and commercialization of industrial services.

15:04 In 2025, our deep expertise in innovation and content in the IPs sparked continuous commercialization breakthroughs, including client structure optimization, stronger commercialization of sub-vertical medium channels for younger audiences, new momentum in live streaming and video revenue, and meaningful progress in industrial services commercialization.

15:28 In terms of customer structure optimization, In terms of client structure optimization, our enriched content system and diverse content distribution channels empowered us to consistently expand our portfolio of services and products.

16:00 are constantly enhancing our commercialization capabilities. Within our Internet client portfolio, revenue from AI-related services continues to grow, with the number of clients across model, application, and hardware layers steadily expanding.

16:21 In the commercialization of young Thai media, the commercialization income of young Thai media, such as Hulang, Chaosheng, and other young Thai media, has increased by more than 15%. The core customer demand is not enough.

16:32 Regarding the commercialization of the sub-political media channels for younger audiences, revenue from channels like OU's and Tide's increased by over 50% year-over-year, with core clients continuously making repeats of purchases, reflecting sustained client recognition of our juicy content.

16:54 In terms of live streaming and video business, small videos and live streaming customers continue to increase, Thank you very much. We will continue to explore new live formats and scenarios in 2020

18:00 As for live streaming and video commercialization, the number of clients placing short videos in the live streaming orders continued to grow, with new clients exceeding 50% of the total. For the whole year of 2025, our live streaming revenue surged by nearly 40% year-over-year, leveraging major technology exhibitions in 2025, including AWE and WAICs, We stepped up our development of live streaming offerings, tailored for event coverage. To address diverse market needs, we launched a low ARPU product line effectively our existing commercialization content offerings.

18:45 This expanded the appeal of our video and the live streaming offerings to more clients, particularly stage startups, enabling them to reach more potential users. Furthermore, thanks to our sustained efforts in the global expansion segment in the live streaming content innovation, we achieved a breakthrough with content-fair clients, forging important commercial partnerships, and earning high recognition from the organizers with our live streaming content. At the fourth Global Digital Tweet Expo held in Hangzhou, we partnered with Hangzhou Culture Radio Television Group on a full-event, uninterrupted live streaming matrix, Across the five-day event, total online attendance exceeded 2.7 million, more than 10 times the number of on-site visitors.

19:34 Looking ahead, we will continue to explore new live-stream formats and scenarios, building richer content scenarios and more diverse service models for users and clients.

19:47 In terms of industrial service, we will continue to explore new live-stream formats and scenarios, The main purpose of the cooperation is to promote the professionalization and operation organization capability of 36K, and to help the front-end area to build a corporate service ecosystem and operation system with its own characteristics, and to enhance regional influence. On the other hand, the influence of the future industry, OpenTalk, and the industrial belt program of 36K is constantly expanding. We are focusing on the low-altitude economy, commercial aviation, Regarding industrial service commercialization in 2025, 36KR reached a three-year strategic partnership agreement with Hangzhou Jintang New Area Construction and Investment Group Company for the Chinese Enterprise International Services Center Operations Project.

20:52 and AI Panorama Community Operations Project. This collaboration will leverage our expertise in organizational operations in online content distribution, as well as our vast network of industry resources to support Qiantang New Era in building a unique service ecosystem and operational framework for corporate empowerment, amplifying its regional influence. Furthermore, building on the growing influence of the 36KR Industry Future Open Talk and the 36KR Industrial Belt Project, we focused on key sectors driving urban industrial transformation and future industry development, including low-LTG economy, commercial aerospace, advanced manufacturing, and new energy and materials. This initiative attracted more than 200 upstream and downstream industry projects and government entities, fostering deep collaborations and commercial partnerships.

22:07 Beyond this, the once-lens across content and commercialization, we continue to expand the boundaries of the meeting in 2025, consistently driving cutting-edge AGI applications to further optimize content production and commercialization efficiency.

22:23 In 2020, it is also a year of high-density information on the domestic AI field. In the beginning of 2025, in and outside of China, Cynic was the world's only technology media with two exclusive interviews and deep-seq founders. , , , , , ,

23:04 On the content side, we provided intensive coverage of China's AI ecosystem in 2025. At the beginning of 2025, 36KR made headlines at home and abroad as the only tech media outlet worldwide to have exclusively interviewed DeepSeek's founder twice. In addition to our deep vertical text and graphic accounts like the emergence of intelligence and Waze, we launched video channels such as AI Maps. and 36kr Tech in 2025. The Future Human Laboratory official accounts focused on AI interviews for consumers. The lightweight online tech products launch series Project X and the live streaming series AI Insider featuring in-depth conversations and real-world testing with leading voices at the forefront of AI.

23:56 We also released an area of research reports on advanced productivity in the AGI area. Additionally, we hosted multiple live training sessions around the major events such as WAIC, drawing strong engagement and recognition from within the industry and beyond.

24:15 除了内容端的敏锐触角, 现在会继续将AIGC技术与自身内容生态相融合。 我们在2024年下半年上线的AI研究报道, 产品底层充分结合利用大模型技术及AI算法, 包括AI机器人采访,报道内容生成等。 In addition to AI-focused content, we have actively integrated AIGC technology into our systems to enhance the

25:00 Thank you very much. Thank you. In 2025, AI meeting coverage covered 1,308 companies, highlighting their latest initiatives for fundraising ventures. AI meeting coverage has meaningfully improved our content team's efficiency, substantially easing previous manpower limitations and enhancing our coverage of startups.

25:48 专业和企业交情报于2024年10月上线 面前二级市场用户提供上市公司交易日的旅行分析事件 Translator's note.

26:21 We also launched the 36KR Corporate Omni Intelligence in October 2024, targeting investors in the secondary market by providing AI-powered daily sentiment analysis reports for public companies. The service currently covers over 7,800 public companies listed in mainland China and Hong Kong. Users can search, filter, and subscribe to reports on their preferred companies. receiving daily analysis in a personalized content format. The product's underlying sentiment data is a collaboration between 36kr and Soften, a fully owned subsidiary of BeyondSoft. Having nurtured a community of several hundred core users, currently we have a cumulative user base of 36,600, including 6,187 subscribers.

27:16 At the end of 2025, we launched our AI Review Hub.

27:44 36AIDianping.com, a community platform integrating AI tool discovery and authentic user reviews, primarily serving individual and enterprise users seeking guidance in selecting AI tools. Backed by professional content output and high-quality review services, the platform's new product AI review section gained traction in both reputation and performance. 516 AI review articles have been posted in total, with content appeal and user engagement statally rising.

28:19 With AI products and tools, we have proven the simplicity, sensitivity, and execution of 36K AI technology applications. In 2025, with AIGC technology and the compatibility of the content generation industry, we will fully utilize AIGC technology in information recognition, text processing, and image generation. In addition, we will continue to expand the application of AI technology in multi-layered scenarios. Our investment of AI products and tools further underscores 36KR's foresight, human and outstanding execution capabilities in AI.

29:01 Leveraging the inherent synergies between AIGC technology and the content production industry, we maximized AIGC technology utilization in our content production activities this year, including information identification, text processing, and image generation. Moreover, we continue to broaden our business scope by actively promoting AI applications across diverse business scenarios. The launch of these AI products has enhanced the coverage and precision of our customer outreach initiatives, connecting with a diverse spectrum of enterprises and organizations previously beyond reach due to bandwidth and manpower limitations, and turning them into clients.

29:46 从上,2025年公司实现女会为营是过去两年坚持经营优化,创新发展的阶段性成果, 更是我们长期坚守财务健康底线的重要开端。 will continue to improve the financial health as the core premise of the company's development, continue to optimize the cost structure, improve business efficiency, and maintain the stability of the cash flow and cash flow level. At the same time, we will continue to establish the core advantages of content, deepen the construction of content, and promote commercialization. There is a breakthrough, and the application of AI technology continues to be upgraded, and the application of AI technology continues to be upgraded, and the application of AI technology continues to be upgraded,

30:23 In summary, as we turned profitable in 2025, the company reached a milestone achievement after two years of sustained operational optimization and innovative development, marking the start of a long-term commitment to financial health. Looking ahead, we will consistently place financial health as a foundational core of our development, constantly optimizing cost structure and improving operating efficiency to maintain stable cash flow and profitability. Moreover, building on our core content strengths, we will continue to fortify our content ecosystem by thriving commercialization breakthroughs on diverse fronts and broaden our business growth by actively expanding AI applications across industries.

31:10 We will deeply integrate technological innovation with available content assets in the industrial services to empower high-quality growth for technology enterprises, ensuring that financial health and innovative development reinforce each other and drive growth over the long term. With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Mr. Xiang Li, who will discuss our key financial results. Please go ahead, Xiang.

31:41 Thank you. Thank you, everyone, and thank you for joining today's presentation. We will now review the second half of 2025 and the full-year financial performance. Please note, all the amounts are in RMB, unless otherwise stated. Our total revenue increased by 4.7% to $134.8 million in the second half of 2025 from $128.7 million in the same period of 2024. Total revenues for the full year of 2024 were $227.9 million compared to $231.1 million in the previous year. Online advertising services revenues increased by 5% to 105.2 million in the second half of 2025, from 100.2 million in the same period of 2024. The increase was primarily attributable to strong advertising demand from AI and high-tech companies, which 36kr captured through its focus on the tech vertical.

33:02 For the full year of 2025, our online advertising services revenue were $179.7 million compared to $180.6 million in the previous year, relatively slight year over year. Enterprise value added services revenue increased by 7.7% to $20.9 million in the second half of 2025. from 19.4 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year of 2025, our enterprise value added services revenue increased by 1.2% to 33.2 million from 32.8 million in the previous year.

33:52 The increase was primarily attributable to more innovative marketing solutions they provide to our customers, as well as proactive sales strategies they adopt to navigate the challenging environment. Subscription services revenue were $8.7 million in the second half of 2025. Compared to $9 million in the same period of 2024, for the full year of 2025, decreased by 14.2% to $50.1 million from $17.6 million in the previous year. The decrease was mainly attributable to a strategy shift in training services and a continued focus on refining this segment's customer base.

34:51 Cost of revenues decreased by 12.6% to $54 million in the second half of 2025 from $61.8 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year of 2025, our cost of revenue decreased by 18.8% to $96.4 million in fiscal year 2025. From $118.7 million in the previous year, the decrease was primarily attributable to companies' strict cost control measures. Gross profit increased by 20.8% to $80.8 million in the second half of 2025 from $66.9 million in the same period of 2024.

35:40 Gross profit margin increased by 8 percentage points to 60% from 52% over the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, our gross profit increased by 17.1% to $131.5 million in fiscal year 2025, from $112.3 million in the previous year. Gross profit margin increased by 9.1 percentage points 57.7% from 48.6% over fiscal year 2024.

36:38 The increase in gross margin were mainly attributable to higher gross margin from brand advertising services offered across 36kr digital platforms, as well as a strong rebound in revenue from these services this year. Operating expenses decreased by 10.3% to $65.6 million in the second half of 2025 from $73.1 million in the same period of 2024 for the full year of 2025. Or operating expenses decreased by 36.1% to $121.5 million from 190.1 million in the previous year.

37:33 The decrease was primarily due to displaying operating expenses management. Sales and marketing expenses were 37 million in the second half of 2025, a slight decrease of 0.5% from 37.2 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, our sales and marketing expenses decreased by 19.6% to 66.4 million from 82.6 million in the previous year. The decrease was primarily attributable to the decrease in payroll-related expenses, travel and entertainment expenses, and the marketing and promotional expenses.

38:29 General and admin expenses were 22.4 million in the second half of 2025. 26.1% decrease compared to 30.3 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, for general and admin expenses decreased by 54.5% to 42.4 million from 93.1 million in the previous year. The decrease was largely attributable to the decrease in personal related expenses and the provision of allowance for credit losses.

39:14 Research and development expenses were 6.3 million in the second half of 2025 A decrease of 12.5% from $5.6 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, our RMD expenses decreased by 11.8% to $12.7 million from $14.4 million in the previous year. The decrease was primarily due to the reduction in RMD high count folding, attaining restructuring, are partially offset by an increase in salaries and discretionary bonuses for the R&D team this year.

40:04 Shared data compensation gain recognizes the cost of revenues, sales and marketing expenses, and research and development expenses, as well as general and admin expenses. totaled 76.2 thousand in the second half of 2025. Compared to share-based compensation gain, 220 thousand in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, the total amount of share-based compensation gain were 13.4 thousand compared to 180 thousand of share-based compensation expenses in the previous year.

40:53 The change were mainly due to higher reversal of ICBC expenses caused by strategy workforce optimization in 2024 compared to 2025. Other income were 1.1 million in the second half of 2025. compared to other expenses of 38.6 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, our other income was 1.4 million compared to 63 million of other expenses in previous year. The change reflected large long-term investment impairment losses recognized in 2024.

41:44 Income tax expenses were 25,000 in the second half of 2025, compared to 1,000 of income tax credit in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, our income tax expenses decreased by 57.2% to 21,000 from 64,000 in the previous year. Net income was $16.2 million in the second half of 2025 compared to net loss of $44.9 million in the same period of 2024.

42:30 For the full year 2025, the net income were $11.4 million compared to net loss of $140.8 million in the previous year. The turnaround was primarily driven by the effectiveness of the company's strategic initiatives focused on cost control and high-margin business, along with the reduction in impairment loss on long-term investment and the lower provision of allowance for credit loss resulting from improved receivables collection. 19 count attributable to 36 Kr Holding Inc.'s ordinary shareholders was 16.1 million in the second half of 2025 compared to net loss attributable to 36 Kr Holding Inc.'s ordinary shares of 42.3 million in the same period of 2024. For the full year 2025, net income attributable to 36 Kr Holdings Inc.'s ordinary shareholders were 11.2 million in fiscal year 2025 compared to net loss attributable to 36 Kr Holdings Inc.'s ordinary shareholders of

44:03 136.6 million in the previous years. Basic and diluted net were both 7.616 in the second half of 2025 compared to basic and diluted net loss per ADS of 19.999 in the same period of 2024. For the full year of 2025, basic and diluted net income per ADS were 5.616. 274 and 5.266 respectively compared to basic and diluted net loss per ADS of 64.795 in the previous year. As of December 31st, 2025, the company has a cash, cash equivalent, restricted cash and short-term investment of 116.1 million, an increase of 25.5% from 92.5 million as of December 31st, 2024.

45:26 Well, this concludes all our prepared remarks today. We will now open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead. Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star 2. If you're 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. Your first question today comes from Lingyi Zhao with the SWS Research. Please go ahead.

46:30 Congratulations to the company for achieving a very good performance this time. We also saw that the income and profit ends have shown very good performance. My question is, first, how does the company view the trend of future advertising revenue? Second, can you please explain to us the reason why the company's labor rate has increased significantly? Thank you, Lingyi.

47:22 We are old friends. You have been with the company for many years. Finally, we can say that we are still very excited. Thank you for your support for many years. Our team, management team and shareholders are actually very happy. Then I will answer your question. For the overall advertising trend in 2026, we are still relatively cautious. Such an optimistic attitude Advertising income is mainly related to the red light environment. The red light environment is still relatively severe at the moment. Then advertising budget The overall growth of this industry has not been very good, but we ourselves have maintained a relatively steady relationship because we have seen a few key points. First, our old customers have maintained a very large stability. For example, our brand customers, our online customers, have maintained a relatively stable consumption, especially large customers.

48:09 Then our new customers are constantly increasing. In the past, in 2024 and 2025, our new customers increased, which should have played a big role in the company's sales improvement. At the same time, our new products are more popular. For example, including this kind of video, this kind of live broadcast, the growth in the past is still quite good. Last year, our live broadcast and video added customers, added customers have exceeded 50%. Then the income of AI continues to increase. This is a new industry. Including our live broadcast income, in fact, in such an environment, we have increased by 40%. The other point is our young people. We are more, our 2C content, young content, is more popular in the market, including our waves, superlatives, this kind of young purple media's human resources are constantly increasing. Lin Yi, thanks for your support for the past several years and we are very happy for the good results we have. Well, for your question,

49:11 We are cautiously optimistic about our advertising growth trajectory for 2026, and advertising revenue was largely influenced by macroeconomic hindrances in the client's advertising budgets. Despite the macro challenges, our overall advertising revenue remained stable as we maintained solid partnerships with our Internet sector key accounts in leading brand customers. Leveraging the audience reach and influence of our subvertible medium channels for younger audiences such as youth and tight as well as the new live streaming and video formats like AI Insider. We continue to develop the tailored promotion solutions and the products that gain the strong client approval. In 2025, we added over 50% new clients in our live streaming and video businesses.

50:07 AI-related demands steadily increased, live streaming revenue increased by 40%, outpacing market trends, and our sub-vertical media channels for younger audiences amplified by old youth grew by more than 50%.

50:23 In 2022, we will continue to upgrade our video and live streaming areas, and continue to invest in our original production, and plan to create a new program and format for live streaming. In 2026, we will continue to advance VCD and live streaming development.

50:55 Thank you very much. Thank you. We are competent in strengthening the resilience of our advertising business.

51:31 Well, for your second question,

51:51 Last year, our gross profit margin improved substantially, mainly because we focused on high-margin businesses, streamlined low-margin operations, and implemented an area of cost-control initiative for the past one year. Together, this endeavor significantly increased our gross profit margin. Yeah, thanks for your question. Thank you. Your next question comes from Rui Yin with Sealand Securities. Please go ahead.

52:25 Thank you.

52:50 Well, this is Yinrui from Sealand. And the question is, what are the drivers behind the growth in value-added services?

53:01 Okay, thank you, Yinrui. On the one hand, we have done a lot of key IT activities in 2020. For example, we have held a lot of events. For example, we have held a lot of events. For example, we have held a lot of events. and many other well-known branches, such as AWE and WIC, have all worked very well. We have also done a lot of in-depth cooperation with many government-led national organizations. Among them, in 2015, we also worked with some local governments, such as Hangzhou, to complete a three-year partnership with China's Central International Service Center project, as well as the A.I. Wanqing Wanxiang Community Service Project, and successfully signed the contract. The purpose of our cooperation is to help Hangzhou and the local government build their own corporate service ecosystem and operating system to improve their regional influence through the professionalization of the 36-core operation organization capability, high-quality content transmission capability, and extensive industrial resources.

54:04 Well, the growth was mainly driven by the first factor. The first one is many of our legacy IP events continued to perform well in 2025. Over the second half of the year, we successfully hosted multiple events, including YSWISE and the AI Partner Conference for All Industries, the Industrial Future Conference, and more. Beyond this IP submits, we had by ourselves, we also cooperated with AWE, WAIC, those national submits. Well, besides, I've already mentioned in 2025, we also restructured our content strategy, business roadmap, and organizational structure for the industry services businesses.

54:54 Well, in 2025, 36K are upgraded to A three-year strategic partnership with Hangzhou Qiantang New Area Construction and Investment Group Company for the Chinese Enterprise International Services Center operations project and the AI community operations projects. While this collaboration will leverage our expertise in organizational operations in the online content distribution, as well as our vast network of industry resources to support Tian Tang New Area in building a unique service ecosystem in the operational framework for corporate empowerment, amplifying its regional influence.

55:38 In addition, just like we talked about before, every time we make a new product, every time we make a new service, every time we enter a new market, we always follow the content and service products. Let me give you an example. For example, in the three-storey hotel industry, We will continue to explore the current products of industrial services based on customer information.

56:17 Well, the second reason, like, well, we've talked a lot. Each time we want to start a new market, we will deploy the new content accounts. For example, our content strategy for industry services began to yield a positive outcome, statistics of KR industry future. Our all-new content channel spotlighting urban innovation, state-of-the-art technologies in our reach across emerging industries. has published nearly 90 articles over the past year. Notably, a single feature on the innovative pharmaceutical sector in Zhejiang Province garnered over 70,000 page views on our official WeChat accounts. and more than 100,000 total exposures. Moreover, building on the growing influence of 36KR Industry Future Open Talk and 36KR Industry Build project, we have connected with over 200 upstream and downstream companies in the local governments and will continue to develop the industry service offerings to better meet client needs.

57:30 Thank you for your question. Thank you. As there are no further questions, I'd now like to turn the call back over to the company for closing remarks.

57:43 Well, thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact 36K ARG Investor Relations through the contact information provided on our website. This concludes this conference call. You may now disconnect your line. Thank you.