Why does Xiaohongshu need men?

The "feminine characteristics" that once contributed to its success are now constraining it.

On May 27th, Xiaohongshu signed a contract with CCTV and obtained the rights to broadcast the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It has become the only platform on the public Internet, apart from CCTV's own platforms and Migu, with the rights to live broadcast, re - broadcast, and use short - video content related to the event.

During the previous World Cup, Douyin occupied this position. The change of copyright reflects the different judgments of the two companies at different growth stages.

For Douyin, the World Cup has become a tool for user retention, and the periodic advertising and reward revenues are the main goals. For Xiaohongshu, this opportunity could be a chance to rewrite its own DNA.

According to a report by LatePost, Xiaohongshu has set two goals for the World Cup internally: one is to reach 200 million daily active users (DAU), and the other is to drive the growth of male users. Essentially, these two goals are intertwined.

01. User Structure Determines the Commercial Ceiling

During the previous World Cup, Xiaohongshu was not as large as it is today, but it had already shown an eagerness to expand its male user base. At that time, Xiaohongshu did not have an official World Cup identity, but it still signed contracts with football stars such as Diego Simeone, José Mourinho, and Zinedine Zidane to participate in the World Cup hot - topic operations from the periphery.

Even earlier, in 2018, Xiaohongshu collaborated with Baidu to launch a mini - program. At that time, Ding Ling, the general manager of Xiaohongshu's community, said in a media interview that one of the greatest achievements was attracting many male users from Baidu. At that time, male users accounted for about 20% of Xiaohongshu's app users.

This indicates that Xiaohongshu's efforts to improve its user structure started nearly a decade ago. The motivation and pressure behind this come from the business ecosystem.

According to third - party data, Xiaohongshu's advertising revenue is highly concentrated in female - oriented consumer categories, such as beauty, fashion, skincare, and mother - and - baby products.

As the female market approaches saturation, expanding the male user base can open up a new advertising system. Categories such as automobiles, consumer electronics, sports equipment, alcoholic beverages, financial management, and AI applications usually have a higher advertising value per user, but most advertisers have not yet focused their investments on Xiaohongshu.

The user structure determines the content ecosystem, the content ecosystem determines the advertising categories, and the advertising categories determine the commercial ceiling. Xiaohongshu must break this cycle starting from the DAU.

Public data shows that Xiaohongshu's DAU exceeded 100 million for the first time in 2023, and since then, Xiaohongshu has been less proactive in disclosing this data. According to media reports citing QM data, the average DAU of Xiaohongshu from January to October 2025 was about 118 million. This means that during those two to three years, Xiaohongshu's DAU only increased by about 20 million.

Recently, a report from "LatePost" mentioned that Xiaohongshu's DAU has exceeded 170 million, and its monthly active users (MAU) have exceeded 400 million. Generally, it is common practice for companies to report higher data than third - party statistics. However, whether it is 118 million or 170 million, Xiaohongshu is not yet in the league of top - tier platforms.

QM's MAU data can better illustrate this issue. According to the QM report, from April 2024 to March 2026, Xiaohongshu's MAU only increased from 208 million to 245 million, an increase of less than 40 million users in two years.

This growth rate is at the average level in the industry. During the same period, Kuaishou's MAU increased by about 74 million, and Bilibili's increased by about 34 million.

So, the real problem is not that Xiaohongshu is not working hard enough. Instead, the overall number of mobile Internet users has basically stopped growing in the past two years, especially as the traditional Internet app market has entered a stage of full - scale competition for existing users.

At the beginning of 2023, there was a saying within Xiaohongshu: "Stabilize at 100 million DAU and aim for 300 million." Now, the goal has been changed to 200 million, which in itself indicates a certain problem.

02. Competition in the Existing Market and Multi - front Attacks

Competition in the existing market means that most of Xiaohongshu's growth needs to come from poaching users from other platforms. The question is, where can it poach users from?

A large number of male users on content platforms are concentrated on WeChat, Douyin (with a DAU of about 587 million), Kuaishou (about 200 million), and Bilibili. The short - video recommendation algorithms of these platforms have been operating deeply for many years, and users' habits are highly ingrained. WeChat Video Account has a user base of 1.2 billion WeChat users and a strong social relationship chain as a moat. Bilibili has an almost irreplaceable community in the game and anime verticals.

The World Cup can bring a traffic surge, but whether a single event can truly change the user habits that have been formed on these platforms over the years is a big question mark.

What's more complicated is that Xiaohongshu is also facing competition from a different dimension. AI assistants represented by Doubao are actively encroaching on Xiaohongshu's core usage scenarios.

Xiaohongshu's commercial value is mainly built on the "search + recommendation" chain. Data disclosed by Xiaohongshu shows that more than 70% of its MAU use the in - app search function, and the daily average search volume reached 600 million times in the fourth quarter of 2024. It was once regarded as one of the strongest challengers to Baidu. Users' habit of "turning to Xiaohongshu when in doubt" is the foundation of the platform's advertising premium.

However, AI is rewriting this entry point. Questmobile believes that large - scale models are changing the habit of "searching when in doubt" to "asking AI when in doubt", and AI is becoming the next - generation "default entry point".

According to the latest market data from Questmobile, the user scale, per - capita usage times, and market of AI - native apps are all increasing rapidly. The post - 90s and post - 00s generations have become the main user base, accounting for 42.3%. The user growth of Doubao and Qianwen in the first quarter was 101 million and 126 million respectively.

Xiaohongshu's AI product, "Diandian", has performed mediocrely and did not make it onto Questmobile's ranking list. According to media reports, as of April 2026, the Diandian app ranked only 186th on the App Store download list, with only 45 user reviews, while Doubao had as many as 1.92 million reviews during the same period.

This means that Xiaohongshu's battlefield for poaching users is not only other content platforms but also AI tools that are replacing its core functions. The pressure of fighting on two fronts makes the strategic significance of the World Cup even more important and complex.

03. Constantly Trying to Break the Mold

Xiaohongshu's efforts to break into new markets are carried out in multiple ways. Firstly, it is reflected in the gradual expansion of its self - positioning.

Xiaohongshu's early slogan targeted young women with overseas shopping needs. In 2018, it changed to "Mark My Life", and the latest version is "Your Lifestyle and Interest Community". The key "interest" content for male users has been the focus of Xiaohongshu in the past year. According to official Xiaohongshu data, the number of game - related content posts increased by 168% year - on - year in the past year, and the number of anime - related content posts increased by 175%.

Secondly, in terms of operations, in the second half of 2024, Xiaohongshu carried out large - scale user acquisition campaigns in Beijing, extending from commercial areas to subway stations and vegetable markets. The third - party ground - promotion company it cooperated with said that this rhythm is expected to continue for two to four years.

During the TikTok ban storm in early 2025, the influx of American users made Xiaohongshu briefly reach the top of the US App Store. However, the language and content ecosystem gap made it difficult for most "TikTok refugees" to stay. Nevertheless, this incident made Xiaohongshu discover an opportunity to expand overseas, and it has now established a special department to promote the overseas market. Of course, this is another topic and will not be elaborated here.

In addition, collaborating with the Spring Festival Gala for two consecutive years was also a key battle for Xiaohongshu to break into the mass market. The effect of user retention is unknown, but it laid a certain foundation for this cooperation with CCTV for the World Cup.

After these operations, Xiaohongshu's user structure has improved. According to continuous tracking by Qianguadata, the proportion of male users among Xiaohongshu's active users was about 20% in 2024, and it approached 30% in 2025. The statistics from QuestMobile are similar, but the gender imbalance is still obvious.

The ultimate focus is still on the male user market. Xiaohongshu's copyright layout for male users started before the World Cup. It has obtained the rights to the Bundesliga, the German Table Tennis Super League, the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, and has been continuously introducing e - sports content this year. The strategy is clear: find the content areas with the most concentrated male users, attract them with event copyrights, and retain them with the community.

According to media reports, during the internal decision - making process for the World Cup project, some executives at Xiaohongshu questioned the uncertain return on investment (ROI), but they ultimately decided to participate.

The World Cup is indeed a necessary choice for Xiaohongshu at present. At this time, it is difficult to evaluate the value of a project like the World Cup based solely on short - term ROI. Xiaohongshu must invest more strategic resources in changing its user structure.

04. A Good Hand with the World Cup

Xiaohongshu's acquisition of the rights to this World Cup is well - timed and well - placed.

The 2026 World Cup will expand to 48 teams for the first time, with 104 matches over 39 days. Regarding the copyright price, it is reported that the negotiation this time was not higher than in previous editions. Referring to the market reference of Migu and Douyin obtaining the rights from CCTV for over 1 billion yuan in 2022, Xiaohongshu's investment will not exceed 1 billion yuan.

There are multiple factors behind this. For example, there were some setbacks in the negotiation with CCTV, which compressed the time for attracting sponsors. Also, Douyin's withdrawal led to fewer competitors in the bidding. In fact, there are almost no other Internet platforms in the market that need this event as much as Xiaohongshu and can afford this level of budget.

Another advantage comes from the time difference. Most of the matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico will be held in the early morning Beijing time, which naturally results in a lower real - time live - viewing rate compared to the Qatar World Cup. For Xiaohongshu, which emphasizes the "companion - watching atmosphere", this may actually be an advantage. Since the early - morning live broadcasts are less popular, post - match short - video highlights, fans' vlogs, and event discussions become more important, which are exactly the strengths of Xiaohongshu's content ecosystem.

Xiaohongshu has also made specific preparations at the product level. It has a dedicated channel, event predictions, fan cards, fan circles, and a daily column called "Chat about the World Cup". Fan Zhiyi and Xie Hui will participate throughout, taking a community - based "