Mr. Yu Gong, founder, director, and CEO of iQIYI, commented the Q3 performance was a 'softer than expected top-line performance'.
According to iQIYI's financial announcement for the third quarter of 2021:
- The total revenues achieved CNY 7.6 billion (USD 1.2 billion), showing a 6% increase from the same period last year.
- The operating loss was CNY 1.4 billion (USD 212.3 million) and the operating loss margin was 18%.
- The net loss attributable to iQIYI was CNY 1.7 billion (USD 268.4 million), compared to CNY 1.2 billion in the same period last year.
- As of September 30, 2021, the total number of paid subscribers of iQIYI was 103.6 million, or 103.0 million excluding individuals with trial memberships.
- Membership service business continued to be the largest business pillar with the revenue increased by 8% and accounting for 57% of the total revenue.
- Online advertising revenue decreased 10% year-over-year to CNY 1.7 billion primarily due to less premium content launched during the quarter and the challenging macroeconomic environment in China.
- The content distribution revenue achieved a 68% growth on year over year basis to CNY 627.1 billion, which was primarily driven by more content distributed to other platforms during the quarter.
- For the fourth quarter of 2021, iQIYI expects total net revenues to be between CNY 7.08 billion and CNY 7.53 billion, representing a 5% decrease to 1% increase year-over-year.