Monthly active users decreased, profits increased: Tencent Music finds gold in the "stock game"

Author | Huang Yu

Having bid farewell to the era of reckless expansion solely relying on scale, Tencent Music Entertainment Group (hereinafter referred to as "Tencent Music") is attempting to unearth a purer vein of gold based on its vast copyright accumulation.

On March 17, Tencent Music released its financial report for the fourth quarter and the entire year of last year. Against the backdrop of the peak of traffic dividends in the pan-entertainment industry, this financial report demonstrates significant resilience: in 2025, Tencent Music's total revenue reached 32.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%; adjusted net profit was 9.92 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22%. In the fourth quarter alone, total revenue was 8.64 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.9%.

The strong growth in total revenue and profit is mainly attributed to the continued high-quality growth of the online music service business, and its commercialization depth is undergoing a qualitative change.

The financial report shows that in 2025, the revenue from online music services increased by 22.9% year-on-year to 26.73 billion yuan, with particularly strong growth in non-subscription online music business, which grew by 39.2% year-on-year to 9.07 billion yuan.

Focusing on core data reveals a typical snapshot of the Chinese internet entering maturity: the absolute scale of the traffic pool is shrinking, but the value per user is soaring.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tencent Music's monthly active users (MAU) for online music services were 528 million, a decrease of 5% from 556 million in the same period of 2024.

The continuous erosion of user attention by short video platforms remains a long-term backdrop faced by online music platforms.

However, despite the decline in MAU, the number of paid users for online music has risen against the trend, reaching 127.4 million, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%.

The average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) increased from 11.1 yuan in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 11.9 yuan in the fourth quarter of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%.

Behind the simultaneous rise in volume and price is Tencent Music's "gold mining" secret found in the era of stock game: the super membership strategy.

The cultivation of the payment mindset for domestic streaming platforms has undergone a long and painful process.

In the early years, rampant piracy made it nearly impossible for digital music to generate direct economic benefits. Although QQ Music, a subsidiary of Tencent Music, ventured into paid services as early as 2007, for a long time, it was actually the social entertainment business (such as K Song for All, live streaming, etc.) that supported half of the company's revenue.

With the purification of the domestic copyright environment and the reshaping and breaking of exclusive copyright barriers by streaming platforms, the market has gradually returned to the essence of paying for good content.

Now, basic subscription memberships can no longer meet the segmented market demands. Tencent Music has successfully transformed a group of high-net-worth users into "super members" by introducing a multi-tiered membership system. The financial report indicates that thanks to deep cooperation with labels and artists and the introduction of high-value new rights, the number of super member users had exceeded 20 million by the end of 2025 This is not just a simple price increase, but a reconstruction of rights.

Tencent Music has invited popular artists such as Ding Yuxi, Ju Jingyi, and Wang Junkai to serve as ambassadors, and has provided super members with priority ticket packages for the QQ Music 2026 Super Peak Night, high-quality sound effects, and other differentiated services. When over 300 classic works by legendary artists like Eason Chan and Andy Lau are enhanced with Dolby Atmos sound effects, what users are purchasing is no longer just the "right to listen to music," but an immersive premium experience.

This strategy of aligning with a high-dimensional ecosystem should be a necessary path for a streaming platform's advancement.

While deeply mining the subscription gold mine, another growth curve has been explored—non-subscription business.

If music subscriptions are Tencent Music's moat against risks, then the non-subscription business, centered around live performances and peripheral products, is its new engine for profit growth.

In 2025, Tencent Music's online music non-subscription revenue grew by 39.2% year-on-year, reaching 9.07 billion yuan for the entire year. In the fourth quarter alone, this revenue increased by 40.8% year-on-year to 2.54 billion yuan.

Behind this growth rate is Tencent Music's rapid release of IP value.

Against the backdrop of steady performance growth and ample cash flow, dividends have become a natural result.

The company's board of directors approved the distribution of an annual cash dividend for the fiscal year 2025, with a payout of $0.12 per ordinary share, totaling approximately $368 million.

However, for Tencent Music, the road ahead is not without challenges.

The penetration rate of the online music market has approached its ceiling, and the decline in monthly active users is an undeniable fact. Short video platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou remain important battlegrounds for music promotion, continuously slicing up users' entertainment time.

Tencent Music cannot rest on its laurels. In the face of constantly changing user demands and the watchful eyes of cross-industry competitors, only by continuously deepening its differentiated content advantages and exploring multi-scenario business closed loops can it ensure that this gold mine continues to generate value