Douyu Releases Its 2026 Q2 Financial Report: Total Revenue Hits 981 Million Yuan, Gross Profit Increases by 12% Year-on-Year
On August 20, Douyu released its unaudited financial results for the second quarter of 2026.
In this quarter, Douyu recorded total revenue of RMB 981 million, representing a 19.4% quarter-on-quarter increase. Affected by the phased increase in content investment in this quarter, the GAAP net loss for the second quarter was RMB 72.35 million, and the adjusted net loss was RMB 13.45 million. Supported by the optimized revenue structure and improved operational cost efficiency, gross profit reached RMB 159 million, up 12% year-on-year, with a gross margin of 16.2%, which improved both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter. Revenue from innovative business, advertising and others reached RMB 478 million, accounting for 48.7% of total revenue, up 0.4% year-on-year and 32.2% quarter-on-quarter, remaining above 40% of total revenue for six consecutive quarters.
Douyu CEO Ren Simin stated: "In the second quarter, despite the remaining challenges in the external environment, we have made steady progress in multiple aspects. Live streaming revenue achieved quarter-on-quarter growth, and user engagement improved, further demonstrating the resilience of our core live streaming ecosystem. The revenue from innovative business, advertising and other businesses continued to grow, reflecting that we have maintained a good momentum in revenue diversification. During the quarter, we successfully held the Douyu Carnival, which initially verified the long-term value of our self-owned IP in activating the streamer ecosystem, enhancing brand awareness and deepening cooperation with manufacturers. Going forward, we will continue to adopt a focused and prudent investment strategy, while continuously improving the quality, cost efficiency and monetization capability of activities and content supply. Through these initiatives, we will further consolidate our live streaming business and promote the healthy and sustainable growth of the platform."
Dual-track advancement of copyright and self-produced content, continuously deepening the esports content matrix
In the second quarter of 2026, Douyu completed the broadcast of 63 copyrighted esports events in total, and simultaneously launched 37 self-produced events and featured live streaming activities. Through a diversified esports content matrix covering top-tier copyrights and original self-produced content, the platform fully meets the viewing demands of core users, and steadily improves the operation efficiency of events and the attractiveness of content supply on the basis of continuously optimizing the user viewing experience.
In terms of copyrighted events, the platform continues to introduce high-attention esports content, including top-tier esports series events such as KPL Spring Tournament, Honor of Kings Challenger Cup, and CS2 Cologne Major. While activating the popularity of vertical categories, it promotes the growth of user traffic and platform operational performance during the event period. Meanwhile, leveraging top streamer resources, the platform launches supporting secondary commentary and lightweight interactive viewing activities, providing users with more diversified viewing options and further enriching the esports content supply of the platform.
Douyu's online and offline ecosystems are advancing side by side
In terms of self-produced events, Douyu continues to deepen its content IP operation capability, and builds diversified esports live streaming content around top game categories and core user communities. In the second quarter, the platform launched self-produced events such as the Delta Action Fish Leap Cup Valkyrie Challenge, CS2 Women's Power Showdown, Douyu DOTA2 Pokémon, League of Legends Donkey Sauce Cup, and StarCraft 2 Douyu Carnival Legend Invitational Tournament. Through streamers' joint participation, offline final events and full-cycle serialized operation, it forms an effective content supplement outside copyrighted events, and steadily improves the overall activity of the platform community.
Quarter-on-quarter growth in live streaming revenue, synergistic empowerment of revenue diversification
In this quarter, relying on platform operation resources, Douyu launched a series of PGC live streaming content featuring cross-category streamer collaboration, including Lumberjack Training Camp S2, Red vs Blue Competition and others. Through the complementary advantages of streamers from different categories, the live streaming effect and user experience are improved. Among them, Lumberjack Training Camp S2 attracted tens of millions of users to watch, driving relevant activities to achieve good commercial results. Douyu's live streaming revenue in this quarter reached RMB 503 million, up 9.3% quarter-on-quarter, which further verified the synergistic effect of "content operation + commercial conversion", demonstrating the long-term operational resilience of Douyu's core live streaming business.
Esports content continuously brings fresh popularity to the platform
At the same time, revenue from innovation, advertising and others reached RMB 478 million, accounting for 48.7% of total revenue, up 0.4% year-on-year and 32.2% quarter-on-quarter, remaining above 40% of total revenue for six consecutive quarters. Among them, the voice social business continues to optimize the efficiency of traffic distribution and resource allocation, maintaining a balance between commercialization efficiency and community ecosystem health. It recorded revenue of RMB 272 million in the second quarter, with an average MAU of 314,300 and an average monthly paying user count of 66,200, showing a sustainable development trend that synergistically promotes the optimization and upgrading of the platform's revenue structure.
Strategic investment in key self-owned IP, Douyu Carnival deepens offline influence through implementation
In this quarter, Douyu increased investment in key self-owned IP projects. The Douyu Carnival, restarted after 7 years, gave full play to the platform's game-centered community advantages, streamer ecosystem and content operation capabilities, bringing together many top game manufacturers and industry ecological partners, such as *Peacekeeper Elite*, *Delta Action*, *Flourishing World*, *Party Animals* and others. It set up multiple activity sections including game booths, esports events, streamer interactions and star stages, creating a comprehensive offline experience space of over 100,000 square meters integrating game esports interaction and music performances for on-site users.
Douyu Carnival
The event was held in Wuhan for 4 days, attracting more than 220,000 visitors in total, with non-local visitors accounting for 75%. It further strengthened the collaborative connection between the platform and game manufacturers, streamers, industry partners and core users, becoming a high-quality scenario for major brands to reach young groups and enhance brand influence, and also creating a benchmark case for the in-depth integration of game culture and local cultural tourism. Benefiting from the continuous improvement of online and offline content and activity supply in Q2, the platform's user experience has been steadily optimized, with an average MAU of over 45 million in this quarter, up 2.6% quarter-on-quarter.
Douyu Carnival
Cao Hao, Vice President of Douyu, stated: "In the second quarter, Douyu's total revenue increased by 19.4% quarter-on-quarter, and the year-on-year decline continued to narrow. Driven by the optimized revenue structure and improved cost efficiency, gross profit increased by 12% year-on-year, and gross margin rose to 16.2%. In this quarter, we made relatively concentrated investments in major brand and content activities, driving the increase in operating expenses during the period. Looking ahead, we will continue to adhere to prudent investment, continuously improve operational quality and financial resilience while supporting the development of the content ecosystem and innovative businesses, and drive the gradual improvement of profitability."
In the second quarter, Douyu continued to optimize its online content ecosystem, promoted the offline implementation of benchmark self-owned IP such as Douyu Carnival, further optimized the community ecosystem for users and streamers, strengthened the collaborative linkage with game manufacturers and industry partners, and actively expanded the value space for the long-term operation of the platform. In the future, Douyu will continue to follow a steady operational rhythm, gradually consolidate its core advantages in the live streaming track, and drive the healthy and sustainable development of the overall business.