(Yicai) March 28 -- Douyu International Holdings, a video game-centric livestreaming platform backed by Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings, reported its first-ever annual net profit last year.

Net profit totaled CNY35.5 million (USD5 million) in the year ended Dec. 31, versus a net loss of CNY90.4 million a year before, mainly thanks to cost structure optimizations and improvements in non-livestreaming revenue, the Wuhan-based company said in its latest annual report on March 26. Revenue fell 22 percent to CNY5.5 billion (USD778.9 million).

“Throughout 2023, we refined our revenue-generating strategy and enhanced our commercialization capabilities,” Douyu’s Vice President Cao Hao said. “These adjustments improved our revenue structure, with the proportion of full-year revenue from advertising and others climbing to 13.2 percent in 2023 from 4.4 percent in 2022.”

For the fourth quarter of last year, Douyu reported a net loss of CNY62.2 million, compared with a net profit of CNY41.8 million a year earlier. Revenue plunged 23 percent to CNY1.3 billion.

Advertising and other revenues increased 227 percent to CNY275.2 million (USD38.8 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31 from the same period a year before, primarily driven by other revenues generated through new innovative business, Douyu said.

Fourth-quarter livestreaming revenues declined 36 percent to CNY1 billion because the soft macroeconomic environment and reduced revenue-generating promotions led to a decrease in quarterly average paying users.

Douyu’s revenue sharing fees and content costs fell 30 percent to CNY885.3 million in the period, with the decline being partially offset by an increase in copyright costs due to the acquisition of the rights to broadcast the League of Legends World Championship tournament.

Sales and marketing expenses sank 32 percent to CNY84 million in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, while research and development expenses dropped 27 percent to CNY59.1 million in the period.

Editor: Futura Costaglione