The organization reported a substantial 47% year-over-year increase in its profit attributable to shareholders, reaching a noteworthy 53.23 billion yuan (equivalent to approximately $7.37 billion). This figure notably exceeded the LSEG estimate of 46.18 billion yuan for the corresponding quarter.
Tencent's revenue grew by 8% annually to 167.19 billion yuan, slightly below the analyst forecast of 167.82 billion yuan.
Gaming continued to be a key driver for the company, with domestic revenue rising 14% year-on-year to 37.3 billion yuan, while international gaming revenue increased by 11% to 14.5 billion yuan on a constant currency basis.
The company highlighted the "evergreen potential" of both existing and new games.
Revenue from marketing services, previously known as online advertising, surged by 17% year-on-year to 29.99 billion yuan, making it one of the fastest-growing segments outside of gaming. Tencent attributed this growth to strong advertiser demand for its short videos, mini programs, and search functionalities within its messaging app, known as Weixin in China and WeChat internationally.
The global monthly average users of the messaging app increased by 3% year-on-year, reaching 1.38 billion in the third quarter.
Increased advertising spending from gaming and e-commerce more than compensated for declines in revenue from real estate and the food and beverage sectors.
Additionally, the company emphasized the advantages of its self-developed artificial intelligence tools, amidst a global surge in AI technology:
"We are increasingly witnessing the tangible benefits of integrating AI into our products and operations, including marketing services and cloud solutions, and we will continue to invest in AI technologies, tools, and solutions that support our users and partners," Tencent stated in its earnings release.
The company reported an increase in commercial queries and click-through rates within the Weixin app, attributed to the capabilities of large language models.
In June, Tencent enhanced an advertising feature that leverages AI to select or assist in creating targeted ads embedded in articles and videos within its messaging platform. This enhancement resulted in a nine-fold rise in the number of accounts utilizing the feature compared to the previous year, surpassing 200,000 users, as stated by the company.
Tencent has been focusing on expanding its short video accounts and mini-program e-commerce services to compete with ByteDance's Douyin, the domestic counterpart of TikTok, as well as leading online shopping platforms.
In the third quarter, Tencent announced that the gross merchandise value of mini programs—an industry benchmark for sales over time—grew by "high teens" percentage from the previous year, exceeding 2 trillion yuan, as users turned to the app for assistance with food orders, electric vehicle charging, and medical services.