Photo Credit: NetEase Cloud Music
NetEase Cloud Music has reported modest overall growth – and a more than 20% subscription-revenue expansion – for 2024.
The 12-year-old streaming service posted its full-year financials today, with rival Tencent Music set to shed light on its own 2024 showing next month. All told, NetEase Cloud Music generated $1.10 billion (CNY 7.95 billion) last year, per the breakdown.
(One external customer, seemingly unnamed in the earnings analysis, accounted for almost $110 million/CNY 797.59 million of Cloud Music’s 2024 revenue.)
Though that figure rose just 1.1% YoY, revenue from the core online music services category jumped 23.1% YoY to a cool $737.85 million (CNY 5.35 billion), the document shows.
Cloud Music chalked up the spike largely to paid subs, revenue from which is said to have improved 22.2% YoY to $614.45 million (CNY 4.46 billion). (Technically, given H1 2024’s larger subscription-revenue hike, the still-solid 22.2% increase implies a slight slowdown during the year’s latter half.)
Also looking to capitalize on the podcast craze, the 1,331-employee operation reported a 35.8% YoY boost in users’ average consumption time for long-form content.
Shifting, then, to the streaming-adjacent social entertainment side (which includes livestream concerts and more), Cloud Music acknowledged a 26.2% YoY revenue falloff to $357.67 million (CNY 2.60 billion).
“The decline was primarily attributed to a more prudent operational approach for our social entertainment services,” the company summed up here, “along with a focused emphasis on our core music business.”
Notably, said business benefits from music tie-ups involving NetEase Games and from Cloud Music’s direct interests in certain works.
While a government crackdown put the kibosh on straight streaming exclusives in China, platforms still possess stakes in (and therefore have incentives to promote) various tracks.
To be sure, Cloud Music’s “in-house studios successfully produced and popularised” efforts including “Follow,” “Hai Shi Hui Xiang Ni,” and a multi-language rendition of “Dehors” on the year, the publicly traded (HKG: 9899) company said.
And as of 2024’s end, Cloud Music had “773,500 registered independent artists” aboard, with about 4.4 million total tracks to their credit, according to the report.
Overall, the savings-minded business trimmed expenses in multiple areas en route to achieving $215.71 million (CNY 1.57 billion) in 2024 profit, up north of 113% YoY, the earnings text shows.
Lastly, Cloud Music opted against providing an update on its SM Entertainment licensing talks. The two, having closed out January with a last-second “preliminary agreement” to keep SM’s catalog on the platform, are presumably still engaged in renewal discussions.
But Cloud Music did emphasize its 2024 pacts with other K-pop giants like JYP Entertainment, Kakao Entertainment, and CJ ENM.