China's Twitter, Weibo, sees ad revenues up 42%
Live streaming is taking the internet and social media by storm, and Chinese site Weibo has reported an increase of 42% growth in advertising and marketing revenues as a result. Video content, and live streaming, has boosted revenue from $402.5m in 2015 to $571m. The company has also seen a strong Q4 2016, with daily average video views reaching two million.
Chinese microblogging site Weibo has reported a 42% growth in advertising and marketing revenues driven by video and live streaming services.

The site, which is often referred to as China’s Twitter, reported advertising and marketing revenues of $571 million up from $402.4 million in 2015.

Weibo credited the video and live streaming deals it had signed with brands, such as its partnership with the National Football League (NFL) to live stream games and share video content, with helping boost video views across the site.

Weibo's daily average video views experienced explosive growth to surpass 2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Weibo reported an overall increase in net revenues, which grew 37% year-on-year to $655.8 million.

Revenues from value-added services were $84.8 million, up 12% from $75.5 million for 2015.

Weibo also reported a strong Q4 with net revenues exceeding the company’s guidance to reach $212.7 million – a 43% increase year-on-year.

Weibo reported monthly active users reached 313 million in December, a 33% increase year-on-year. Of those users, 90% accessed the site on mobile phones.

Gaofei Wang, CEO, Weibo, said, "Our growth in the fourth quarter was exceptional, with ad revenue from key accounts and SMEs doubling year over year.

"Weibo's user scale, breadth of ad offering and leadership as a social media platform in China put us in a unique position to take advantage of the marketing budget shift toward mobile, social and video.

"Our focus to grow scale in users, content creators, customers on our platform is translating into significant operating leverage," said Wang.