Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) have announced their unaudited financial results for the third quarter of 2021.

In the financial report, the company reported a total revenue of RMB7.81 billion (US$1.21 billion) – a growth of 3% compared to last year. 

TME’s total revenues for the three months ended September 30 were RMB7.81 billion (US$1.21 billion). Non-IFRS net profit of the Company was RMB1.06 billion (US$165 million) and Non-IFRS net profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB1.02 billion (US$158 million).

— Tencent_Music (@Tencent_Music) November 9, 2021

There was a 37.7% increase in the total number of online music paying users as compared to the previous year. There are now 71.2 million paying users, which is also a 5 million increase from the previous quarter.

TME also reported a 24.3% revenue increase from online music services compared to the previous year. A revenue of RMB1.90 billion (US$295 million) was recorded from music service subscriptions, making up 30.2% of the total revenue increase.

"In the third quarter, our online music services delivered healthy growth driven by strong momentum in subscriptions as users continue to be attracted by our enhanced music streaming experience," shared Cussion Pang, Executive Chairman of TME. "While the online music industry in China is adapting to regulatory changes and facing competition for time spent from short video services, we will continue to differentiate both our online music and social entertainment services and execute our dual engine content-and-platform strategy," 

In a press release, TME also shared that they would be extending their focus to include video content.

"To better serve our users, we are strengthening our platform's capability to provide music lovers with more video-based content, share their passion for music within our community and have a more socially-engaging experience," said Ross Liang, CEO of TME.

"In this regard, we have launched several initiatives that are showing encouraging progress, including upgraded video and social features on QQ Music and Kugou Music. Moreover, our efforts to expand long-form audio content offering and features have resulted in long-form audio MAUs exceeding 140 million, growing by 89% year-over-year, as our users discover the complementary experience of music and audio streaming."

The group also plans to continue expanding its content through collaborations with platforms such as Weixin, Tencent Games, and Tencent Video.