(Yicai Global) Aug. 13 -- iQiyi’s shares sank despite the Chinese long-form video platform operator topping expectations for second-quarter revenue as its subscriber base was only a little larger than a year earlier.

iQiyi [NASDAQ:IQ] finished 7.3 percent lower at USD9.47 in New York yesterday, after plunging as much as 10.3 percent to a 52-week low of USD9.12.

Revenue rose 3 percent to CNY7.6 billion (USD1.2 billion) in the three months ended June 30, driven by hit original dramas, the Beijing-based company said in an earnings report released yesterday. That was better than the market consensus for USD1.14 billion. Its net loss was CNY1.4 billion, about the same as a year earlier.

"Our total revenue in the second quarter approached the high end of our guidance," said Chief Financial Officer Xiaodong Wang. “Our net loss narrowed for five consecutive quarters on a year-over-year basis as we continue to execute our disciplined investment strategy.”

But as iQiyi hiked membership fees last November, the platform’s subscriber base was 106.2 million as of June 30, or 105.2 million excluding those with trial memberships, an increase of 0.3 percent from a year earlier. “We continue to grow our subscribers and diversify our monetization channels through our premium content and massive user base,” Wang added.

To satisfy users aged between 20 and 40, the firm launched its iQiyi Lite app in 2019, and is targeting lower-tier cities in China. Users of iQiyi and iQiyi Lite are not the same people, with the latter growing quickly to over 1 million daily active users.

iQiyi predicted revenue of between CNY7.6 billion and CNY8.1 billion in the third quarter, a gain of between 6 percent and 12 percent from last year.

The anti-trust regulation does not have a major impact on iQiyi, founder and Chief Executive Gong Yu said. As for data security supervision, iQiyi has been strictly abiding by relevant national laws and regulations, and will follow up the government’s data security administration in terms of technology and management, he added.

Education is not the main business of iQiyi, Gong said regarding the supervision of the education sector.

Editor: Futura Costaglione