Zhihu, "Abandoned" by the Times

If a decade ago, Zhihu was answering the question of "where to find good answers", then in the AI era a decade later, Zhihu needs to answer "why users still come here to find answers".

"When I was in college in 2015, from small things like 'how to get along with roommates' to big things like 'whether to pursue postgraduate studies or find a job after graduation', the answers on Zhihu were full of valuable information and always provided practical references. But now when I open Zhihu, there are either marketing accounts promoting side jobs that can earn thousands of yuan a day, or answers full of an 'AI flavor'. With less and less valuable content on Zhihu, I cancelled my Zhihu membership and uninstalled the app." said Lin Yang (a pseudonym), a long - time Zhihu user.

Lin Yang's choice to "escape" due to a poor experience is a microcosm of the current "outflow tide" of Zhihu users. After the average monthly active users reached a peak of 105.3 million in 2023, Zhihu's traffic base has been on a downward trend. In the 2025 financial report, the average monthly active user data was even "hidden".

Source: Zhihu's financial report

The drying up of the traffic pool has a negative impact on Zhihu's commercialization. In 2025, the revenue from paid memberships, the mainstay of Zhihu's revenue, decreased by 12.7% year - on - year, and the marketing services and other businesses plummeted by 32.3% and 37.9% respectively year - on - year. That is to say, all three core businesses of Zhihu had negative growth, and the commercial operation came to a complete standstill.

Source: Zhihu's financial report

More importantly, in 2025, the adjusted net profit for the whole year reached 37.9 million yuan, achieving full - year non - GAAP profitability for the first time. However, the total revenue in the same period decreased by 23.6% year - on - year. This profit mainly came from cost reduction and efficiency improvement and one - time non - recurring gains, rather than the growth of the main business.

Source: Zhihu's financial report

In 2025, Zhihu's investment income increased by 254% year - on - year compared with 65.4 million yuan in 2024, reaching 231.9 million yuan. This income mainly came from the unrealized gains generated by the revaluation of the fair value of the equity of non - listed companies held, rather than the operating cash inflow generated by the main business.

Why has Zhihu been trapped in the quagmire of repeated commercialization trials and errors for many years? When global Q&A platforms reach the watershed of the AI era, how can Zhihu, which is gradually being forgotten by users, find its next anchor point for survival?

01. Zhihu's Commercialization Trapped in "Genetic Mismatch"

It has always accurately caught up with the trends of the times, but has never been able to take off. It can only look for the next direction through repeated trials and errors and corrections. This is the helpless background of Zhihu's commercialization through the eras of advertising, content payment, vocational education, and now the AI era.

Source: DoNews

Around 2020, advertising was the focus of Zhihu's commercialization. However, its advertising revenue decreased from 2.135 billion yuan in 2021 to 844 million yuan in 2025, shrinking by 60% in four years. In the same period, ByteDance's Giant Engine became the top - ranked advertising platform in China, relying on the continuous expansion of Douyin's user traffic pool.

Source: Zhihu's financial report

"The contradiction between Zhihu's 'rational gene' and the 'emotional conversion' of advertising is the reason for the continuous shrinkage of Zhihu's advertising revenue." said Zhang Ming (a pseudonym), a sales manager of an advertising agency in Hangzhou.

He explained that Zhihu's content requires explanation, argumentation, and doubt, and it "sells" rationality; while advertising requires creating desire, eliminating thinking, and promoting conversion, and it "sells" emotions. Take beauty industry investment promotion advertisements as an example: The formula for regular in - feed advertisements is "brand strength + headquarters support + low investment + quick return on investment", aiming to complete the lead cost assessment for customers at a low cost.

Zhihu users are used to rational thinking and can easily see through the commercial bubble behind "low investment and quick return on investment". The more sober the audience, the more difficult it is for some advertisements to achieve conversion. High - quality users do not necessarily mean high - conversion - efficiency users. This makes the ROI of some customers' advertising on Zhihu significantly lower than that on platforms like Giant Engine and Tencent Advertising, resulting in a weak advertising business.

As Zhang Ming said, from 2024 to 2025, AI large - model manufacturers acquired users through crazy advertising. Even Kimi, which spent over 100 million yuan on monthly advertising, mainly chose Tencent Advertising and Giant Engine as its advertising platforms.

Source: App Growing official website

In the face of the decrease in advertising revenue, Zhihu proposed a solution of "relaxing content thresholds + expanding the advertising coverage". However, the cost was sacrificing user experience. "Zhihu has changed its 'taste'. In recent years, Zhihu's algorithm recommends whatever content has traffic. And there are simply too many hidden advertisements. You may be sincerely answering questions, and then suddenly there is a product promotion. After seeing too many, you can easily recognize the tricks."

More importantly, Zhihu has insufficient review of advertisements. Beauty products are white - label products with opaque prices, and side jobs are often advertised as being able to earn thousands of yuan a day. The familiar Zhihu is gradually becoming a memory." Lin Yang said.

When the "traffic + advertising" monetization model reached its bottleneck, from 2023 to 2024, Zhihu chose to return to the field of knowledge payment, which it is good at. From "ZhiHu" to "YanXuan Membership", from "YanYan Stories" to IP monetization, Zhihu has never stopped exploring content payment over the years. The popularity of short dramas such as "Yao Zhuo Xue Hen", "Lian Hua Luo", "Rou Fei", and "Dian Qi" shows that Zhihu has achieved a partial commercialization path of "high - quality content precipitation → IP asset structuring → multi - scenario commercial reuse" in short - drama IPs.

On the other hand, the contradiction between users' in - depth pursuit of knowledge and Zhihu's excessive downward expansion has led to the shrinkage of the traffic pool. Lin Yang said, "Personally, I feel that Zhihu is a bit of a 'jack of all trades and master of none' now. I originally wanted to find some high - quality Q&A on Zhihu, but many answers have become story novels. If I really want to read novels, I might as well go to apps like Migu, Shuqi, or Qidian. If I really want to watch entertainment content, it's enough to scroll through Douyin or Kuaishou. If I really want a professional and reliable answer, I can just ask AI directly without having to pay for a membership. How much valuable content is left on Zhihu now?"

This contradiction not only makes Zhihu's positioning more and more blurred but also causes the average monthly revenue from subscribed members to decline continuously after reaching a peak in 2023. In 2025, it entered an era of negative growth.

Source: Zhihu's financial report

In the face of the weak paid - membership business, Zhihu mobilized all its resources to bet on the vocational education track. Zhou Yuan, the founder of Zhihu, even said in an open letter in November 2022, "What Zhihu wants to do is not just a platform, but to promote the digital transformation of education with technology." However, its vocational education revenue continued to decline after reaching a peak in 2024 and was also "hidden" in the 2025 financial report.

"The contradiction between the 'light' nature of the Internet and the 'heavy' nature of vocational education is the reason why Zhihu's vocational education fails to meet expectations." said Li Wei (a pseudonym), a salesperson from a vocational school in Fuyang. He took middle - aged and elderly vocational training as an example and explained that although low - cost/free trial classes and live - streaming are common front - end methods for attracting customers, the back - end involves complex interest chains such as public - to - private domain conversion, customer relationship tracking and maintenance, sales promotion and commissions, and after - sales refunds.

Source: Zhihu's financial report

If these chains are not handled well at a certain link, it is easy to lead to a failure to increase sales and even have a negative impact on the brand. The diversity of human nature and the complexity of interest games are not what Internet platforms like Zhihu are good at.

Due to the bottleneck of knowledge payment and the increasing penetration rate of AI, Zhihu has turned its commercialization focus to AI, successively launching Zhihu Direct Answer, AI Search, and Traceable Content. The 2025 financial report mentioned that AI is reshaping the production, distribution, and consumption of professional knowledge and insights, and it regards high - quality content, expert networks, and AI capabilities as the core pillars of the community.

However, in the wave of AI, Internet platforms generally face the contradiction between technological investment and commercialization: on the one hand, the rapid iteration of AI technology requires platforms to invest to maintain their core competitiveness; on the other hand, the commercialization of global AI products is still in the exploration stage, and platforms need to maintain cash flow and net profit.

Source: DoNews

Wang Han, CFO of Zhihu, clearly stated that in 2026, Zhihu will not simply pursue profit growth. It will only invest in AI directions with a clear ROI and suitable for Zhihu's ecosystem, aiming to ensure that the net profit remains in a healthy range while the AI revenue grows.

Over the years, behind the blocked commercialization, there has been a misalignment to varying degrees between Zhihu's community genes of "depth, trust, and professionalism" and the business logic of various trends. This misalignment has turned each attempt at the trend into a consumption of its core assets.

02. The "Impossible Quadrilateral" of Content Monetization: The Collective Dilemma of Q&A Communities

"No matter how the industrial environment changes and how the development of technology platforms changes, Bilibili's community and its PUGV (Professionally - User - Generated Video) content ecosystem have always been the internal driving force for Bilibili's content growth." Chen Rui, the chairman and CEO of Bilibili, once mentioned.

That is to say, high - quality content is the cornerstone for content platforms to attract and retain users. The continuous expansion of the traffic pool gives platforms the confidence to explore commercialization, which in turn can use real money to support content creators. Only when the two nourish and drive each other can the business flywheel of content platforms keep spinning.

"Compared with other platforms, creating high - quality content on Zhihu requires more time and effort from creators. But if creators' income is not guaranteed, who would be willing to spend seven or eight hours a day polishing content? With that time, it's better to create on short - video platforms. After all, there are more ways for creators to monetize on short - video platforms. More importantly, after the departure of big V users and the algorithm adjustment on Zhihu, marketing accounts and meme - based content can easily get tens of thousands of likes, while seriously created content is often ignored. Without any income or spiritual recognition, naturally few users are willing to output valuable content." Lin Yang said.

Lin Yang's creative mindset is not an isolated case. The number of content creators on Zhihu increased from 71.3 million in 2023 to 80.3 million in 2025, but the continuous slowdown in the growth rate in the past two years shows that the platform's attractiveness to creators is declining. If the motivation for producing high - quality content continues to be insufficient, the Q&A platform may gradually change from a pure knowledge - exchange platform to a Q&A place chasing traffic.