Phoenix New Media Q1 2026 Earnings Call - Paid Services Surge Narrows Losses Amid Content Push
Summary
Phoenix New Media delivered a mixed but improving first quarter, driven by a sharp rise in paid services revenue that offset softness in traditional advertising. Total revenue climbed 21.6% year-over-year to CNY 108.8 million, while net loss narrowed significantly as gross margins expanded to 53.5% from 40.4%. The company leaned heavily on event-driven content, covering geopolitical flashpoints and major sports tournaments to boost engagement and attract tech-sector advertisers. Management emphasized a strategic pivot toward international exhibitions and premium content as a sustainable monetization model.
Looking ahead, Phoenix New Media guided for Q2 revenue between CNY 195.7 million and CNY 210.7 million, signaling confidence in its content-commercialization loop. The firm acknowledged persistent macro headwinds and advertising budget constraints but pointed to resilience in categories like AI applications, automotive, and consumer electronics. With a robust cash position of CNY 955.8 million and a clear focus on operational efficiency, the company is positioning itself to weather near-term volatility while scaling higher-margin digital services.
Key Takeaways
- Total revenue grew 21.6% year-over-year to CNY 108.8 million, driven by a 83% surge in paid services revenue to CNY 63.5 million.
- Net loss attributable to shareholders narrowed to CNY 16.8 million from CNY 29.7 million in Q1 2025, reflecting improved cost discipline.
- Gross margin expanded significantly to 53.5% from 40.4% in the prior year period, fueled by lower cost of revenues and a favorable revenue mix.
- Paid services growth was primarily driven by digital reading services distributed via mini-programs on third-party platforms, signaling a successful pivot to scalable digital distribution.
- Net advertising revenue rose only 4% year-over-year to CNY 125.3 million, with management citing budget pressure in certain categories offset by growth in AI applications, automotive, and consumer sectors.
- Operating expenses increased 29.5% to CNY 130.9 million, largely due to higher sales and marketing spend tied to the digital reading services push.
- The company highlighted strong performance in event-driven content, including coverage of the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, the Two Sessions, the Milan Winter Olympics, and the Abu Dhabi Masters, which collectively generated hundreds of millions of views.
- International exhibitions like CES, MWC, and AWE served as key catalysts for tech-sector advertising growth, validating a business model that ties premium content to sector-specific monetization.
- Management guided for Q2 2026 total revenue between CNY 195.7 million and CNY 210.7 million, with advertising revenue projected at CNY 141.8 million to CNY 151.8 million and paid services at CNY 53.9 million to CNY 58.9 million.
- The balance sheet remains robust, with cash, term deposits, short-term investments, and restricted cash totaling CNY 955.8 million as of March 31, 2026, providing ample runway to fund content and technology initiatives.
Full Transcript
Operator: Day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to Phoenix New Media First Quarter 2026 earnings call. At this time, I’ll put the second on a listen-only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there’ll be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your first speaker today, Muzi Guo from Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Muzi Guo, Investor Relations, Phoenix New Media: Thank you, operator. Welcome to Phoenix New Media’s earnings conference call for the first quarter of 2026. Today’s call will start with an overview of our quarterly results, followed by a Q&A session. Our quarterly financial results and the webcast of this conference call are available on our website at ir.ifeng.com. Before we continue, please note the safe harbor statement in our earnings press release, which applies to any forward-looking statements made during this call. Unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned are in RMB. Joining me here today are our CEO, Mr. Yusheng Sun, and our CFO, Mr. Edward Lu. I will now pass the call to Mr. Sun for his opening remarks. I will provide translation as needed. I will provide translation. Thank you all for joining today’s call.
In the first quarter, we stayed focused on strengthening our core capabilities, leveraging major domestic and international events to improve both our brand influence and user engagement. Our ability to respond quickly to breaking news and deliver structured coverage of key events reflects solid execution and content competitiveness. We also continue to integrate technology into our content operations to improve efficiency. Finally, we achieved revenue growth and narrowed operating losses, with overall performance improving year-over-year. Next, I would like to invite Edward to pre-present specific highlights and achievements of Q1.
Yusheng Sun / Edward Lu, CEO / CFO, Phoenix New Media: In Q1, we continued to capitalize on major domestic and international events to reach more audiences, increase the impact of our content, and strengthen our brand and the long-term user engagement. In major event coverage, the biggest highlight this quarter was our strong execution. During the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, we responded quickly and coordinated well across teams and formats. We delivered real-time updates, live broadcasts, in-depth commentary and feature stories at key moments with both speed and accuracy. Our timeline products and multilingual reporting system played a key role, supported by fact-checking and on-the-ground reporting. Our diary reports from Tehran added a strong sense of immediacy. We were the first to conduct an in-depth exclusive interview with the Chinese seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz. This showed our ability to deliver international news directly from the field.
Overall, what mattered most was not any single viral piece, but the entire process. It proved that our international news reporting system is now at industry leading level of maturity and responsiveness. During the Two Sessions, we combined structured interviews with delegates with targeted issue-based content planning. This helped us reach a wider audience. Several short videos on public policy topics made it onto trending lists, showing we can balance authoritative mainstream reporting with content that appeals to the general audience. In vertical content, sports coverage performed very well during major events. Around the Milan Winter Olympics and other key tournaments, we used the full platform coordination to significantly increase exposure and engagement. Total Winter Olympics exposure exceeded 250 million. Our Abu Dhabi Masters coverage achieved full integration across Phoenix TV, PC, mobile app, and the third-party video platforms.
It attracted over 1.2 million live viewers with 3 topics entering 6 trending lists, generating more than 15 million total reads. We also saw once again that high quality human-centered content can still stand out in today’s crowded information environment. Our Journey Series is a good example. One recent episode alone reached over 80 million views and triggered follow-up reports from major national media outlets. This kind of impact is hard to replicate and remains one of our core strengths. On the commercialization front, we made solid progress through our in-depth participation and the coverage at major international exhibitions. In Q1, through our active media coverage of CES, MWC, and AWE, both our client numbers and the revenue in tech sector grew substantially.
This success validated our business model of international exhibitions plus premium content plus monetization in the tech sector, and give us valuable experience that can be applied to other vertical fields. On the product side, our mobile app saw a clear increase in user engagement driven by major news events. To meet users need for both speed and better understanding, we improved our content structure and distribution. We added new sections such as On the Scene and World Affairs, which made it easier for users to find content and helped improve retention. Overall, our direction remains unchanged. We are building a more stable and scalable content system, one that can deliver reliable output during major news cycles, create strong original content, and adapt to new technologies. At the same time, we are steadily accelerating commercialization.
Looking ahead, we will keep focusing on content quality, strengthening our IP portfolio, improve operational efficiency, and pursue steady and sustainable growth. This concludes our CEO, Mr. Sun’s prepared remarks. I will now walk you through our financial performance for the first quarter of 2026. All figures mentioned will be in RMB. Our total revenues were CNY 108.8 million, representing a 21.6% increase year-over-year from CNY 155.2 million. Specifically, net advertising revenues were CNY 125.3 million, representing a 4% increase year-over-year from CNY 120.5 million. Paid services revenues were CNY 63.5 million, representing an 83% increase year-over-year from CNY 34.7 million, primarily driven by revenue generated from our digital reading services offered through mini programs on third-party applications.
Cost of revenues decreased by 5.1% to CNY 87.8 million from CNY 92.5 million in the same period of last year. Gross margin for the first quarter improved to 53.5% from 40.4% in the same period of last year. Total operating expenses were CNY 130.9 million, reflecting a 29.5% increase year-on-year from CNY 101.1 million. This increase was primarily due to higher sales and the marketing expenses incurred for the digital reading services mentioned earlier. Loss from operations was CNY 29.9 million, compared to CNY 38.4 million in the same period of last year. Net loss attributable to ifeng was CNY 16.8 million, compared to CNY 29.7 million in the same period of last year. Moving on to our balance sheet.
As of March 31, 2026, the company’s cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, short-term investments, and restricted cash totally CNY 955.8 million, or approximately $138.6 million. Finally, I’d like to provide our business outlook for the second quarter of 2026. We forecast total revenues to be between CNY 195.7 million and CNY 210.7 million. For net advertising revenues, we project between CNY 141.8 million and CNY 151.8 million. While for paid service revenues, we project between CNY 53.9 million and CNY 58.9 million. This forecast reflect 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.
Operator: Thank you. First question comes from Alice Tang of First Shanghai. Please go ahead.
Alice Tang, Analyst, First Shanghai: Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. We saw that the company achieved year-on-year revenue growth in Q1. Could you please share the highlights and challenges in advertising revenue and your views on the near to medium-term outlook, please? Thank you.
Yusheng Sun / Edward Lu, CEO / CFO, Phoenix New Media: Hi. Morning, Alice. Actually in Q1, we did see some budget adjustment pressure in certain categories. We are happy to see that several high potential consumption and service sectors delivered solid growth, which helped offset the pressure. Areas like liquor, internet services, automotive, home appliances, finance, and retail all grew year-over-year. We are especially encouraged by the strong momentum in emerging AI application sectors. Our deeper involvement in international sports events and exhibitions also performed well and really showcases our progress in international marketing. We are seeing a clear shift in brand marketing. It’s moving away from just chasing traffic toward building deeper emotional connections with users and creating lasting brand value. This plays directly to our strengths in content marketing.
In the near to medium term, we think macro headwinds and budget pressure may continue for a while. We will keep optimizing our client mix and focus on areas with stronger resilience and better growth prospects. We will also push on internationalization to sharpen our competitive edge. Overall, I think we will make steady progress through 2026. Thank you, Alice.
Alice Tang, Analyst, First Shanghai: Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. I see no further questions at this time. I will now turn back to Muzie for closing remarks.
Muzi Guo, Investor Relations, Phoenix New Media: Thank you. This concludes our Q&A session and conference call. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us. Thank you for joining us today, and have a great day.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.