Earnings call transcript: Phoenix New Media Q2 2025 results show revenue growth

Phoenix New Media Limited (FENG) released its Q2 2025 earnings report, revealing a mixed financial performance with a significant revenue increase but a widening net loss. Despite the financial challenges, the company highlighted strong growth in paid services and strategic international partnerships. The stock saw a slight decline of 2.65% following the earnings announcement, closing at $2.26. According to InvestingPro data, the company maintains a strong balance sheet with more cash than debt, and its liquid assets exceed short-term obligations, providing financial stability amid challenging market conditions.

Key Takeaways

• Total revenue increased by 11.2% year-over-year.
• Paid services revenue surged by 148.5%.
• Net loss widened to RMB 10.4 million.
• Stock price fell by 2.65% post-earnings.
• Strategic international partnerships expanded.

Company Performance

Phoenix New Media reported a robust revenue performance in Q2 2025, driven by a substantial increase in paid services. However, the company faced challenges with a widening net loss compared to the previous year. The advertising market remained flat, impacting net advertising revenues, which saw a slight decrease. Despite these challenges, the company maintained a stable advertising business through client-focused strategies.

Financial Highlights

• Total revenues: RMB 187.15 million, an 11.2% increase from the previous year.
• Net advertising revenues: RMB 153.3 million, slightly down from last year.
• Paid services revenues: RMB 33.8 million, a 148.5% increase year-over-year.
• Operating loss: RMB 7.2 million, improved from RMB 8.9 million last year.
• Net loss: RMB 10.4 million, increased from RMB 5.4 million last year.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Phoenix New Media’s stock price decreased by 2.65%, closing at $2.26. The stock has faced volatility, with a 52-week range between $1.28 and $3.55. The market reaction reflects investor concerns over the widening net loss and challenges in the advertising sector. InvestingPro analysis suggests the stock is currently undervalued, trading at a remarkably low Price/Book multiple of 0.17. Discover more insights about undervalued opportunities at Most Undervalued Stocks.

Outlook & Guidance

Looking forward, Phoenix New Media projects revenue in the range of RMB 203.4 million to RMB 218.4 million for the next quarter. The company expects net advertising revenues between RMB 168.4 million and RMB 178.4 million, with paid services revenues forecasted at RMB 35 million to RMB 40 million. These projections indicate continued growth in paid services.

Executive Commentary

CEO Yu Sheng Sun emphasized the company’s commitment to innovation and responsible media practices, stating, "In an increasingly complex world, we remain committed to our role as a responsible and innovative media company." CFO Edward Lu highlighted the company’s role as a trusted media outlet, saying, "Even in today’s fragmented media landscape, we still play a strong role as a trusted mainstream outlet."

Risks and Challenges

• Flat advertising market: Continued stagnation could impact revenue growth.
• Widening net loss: Financial losses may affect investor confidence.
• Sector performance: Slower growth in auto, alcohol, and real estate sectors could impact advertising revenues.
• Economic conditions: Macroeconomic pressures may affect consumer spending and advertising budgets.
• Competitive landscape: Intense competition in the media sector could challenge market share.

Phoenix New Media’s Q2 2025 earnings report highlights both growth opportunities and challenges, with a focus on expanding paid services and strategic partnerships to drive future performance. With a current ratio of 2.92 and an Altman Z-Score of 7.81, InvestingPro data indicates strong financial stability. For comprehensive analysis including 5 additional ProTips and detailed financial metrics, explore the Pro Research Report, available for FENG and 1,400+ other US stocks on InvestingPro.

Full transcript - Phoenix New Media Ltd (FENG) Q2 2025:

Moo Zhiko, Moderator/Translator, Phoenix New Media: Thank you, Amber. Welcome to Phoenix New Media’s earnings conference call for the 2025. Today’s call will begin with an overview of our quarterly results, followed by a Q and A session. Our quarterly financial results and the webcast of this conference call are available on our website at ir.ifeng.com. Before we continue, please note the Safe Harbor statement in our earnings press release, which applies to any forward looking statements made during this call.

Unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned are in RMB. Joining me today are our CEO, Mr. Yu Sheng Sun and our CFO, Mr. Edward Lu. I will now pass the call to Mr.

Sun for his opening remarks. I will provide translation as needed. Thank you all for joining today’s call. The past quarter has been marked by several challenges, but we managed to maintain steady momentum. Our team remained focused on a few key priorities, enhancing the depth and impact of our content, while also exploring more diversified opportunities for collaboration and monetization.

We are pleased to see these efforts gradually translating into tangible results reflected in positive user feedback and business growth. In particular, during the second quarter, we made meaningful progress in content dissemination, social responsibility and brand influence. These achievements have laid a solid foundation for our next phase of development. Now I’ll hand over to Edward for a more detailed update on our business progress and financial results.

Edward Lu, CFO, Phoenix New Media: In the past quarter, amid a rapidly evolving global geopolitical and economic landscape, we continue to strengthen our leadership in global Chinese language media through high quality original content and innovative business initiatives. In recent months, events such as the India Pakistan Air Conflict, US China tariff tensions, and the Israel Iran hostilities captured global attention. We responded with timely, professional, and in-depth reporting, helping our users make sense of the geopolitical forces behind this development. For example, our column published seven original deep dive articles on the Israel Iran conflict with several pieces, surpassing 100,000 reads on WeChat. Our military channels live broadcast US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities demonstrated our expertise in analyzing global flash points and garnered over 10,000,000 views across platforms.

During the Indian Pakistan conflict, our Phoenix insight series was reposted by leading academic platforms, highlighting our credibility as a professional media voice. Meanwhile, our finance channel stood out in coverage of U. S.-China trade friction with 43 articles on WeChat, each surpassing 100,000 rates, solidifying our position in the top tier of the industry. These achievements not only boosted user engagement, but also laid a solid foundation for future monetization. Our content reach continued to grow steadily.

The Phoenix news video account surpassed 5,000,000 followers, with annual views exceeding 2,000,000,000 and projected revenue growth approaching 50 percent. Our tech channels video account also grew to over 3,000,000 followers, with commercial revenue tripling year over year, fueled by signature programs like Fink’s Auto Lab and Unexpected Manufacturing, which have emerged as popular and influential series in the hard tech space. Over the past two years, we sharpened our focus on international content dissemination and the brand marketing. In 2024 alone, we helped our clients boost brand visibility at major global events, including the Paris Olympics, CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin, Paris Fashion Week, and both the French and Australian Open. At the same time, we showcased this brand’s overseas achievements to Chinese consumers and investors, creating a powerful two way communication loop.

Building on that momentum, in June 2025, we hosted the twenty twenty five China Enterprise Global Expansion Summit, citing a new industry benchmark. The event featured addressed by former UN Secretary General, Ben Kim Moon, and WorkTogether industry leaders and global investors for in-depth dialogue. Regional breakout sessions focus on The Middle East and Asia Pacific, building a policy business capital ecosystem. On the content side, our integrated strategy of live streams, special features, and the trending topic engagement live to impressive visibility. 40 trending chart appearances, nine separate Weibo hot search, and a dedicated Douyin Clopedia entry created for the summit.

The event significantly expanded our industry influence and marked our transformation from a content creator to a full fledged resource integrator. Our international partnerships are also growing. At the twenty twenty five AIM Global Summit in The UAE, we signed a strategic agreement with the Organizing Committee of the China International Investment and Trade Fair, CIIE. As our flagship in China initiative, CIIE will draw on our global communication network and integrated service capability to evolve from our regional platform into a global hub for investment and innovation. For us, this collaboration enables deeper connection with global enterprises, leveraging our Chinese speaking users across the globe.

300,000,000 social media followers and regional resources to help international brands connect with Chinese audiences and establish a strong foothold in the market. In an increasingly complex world, we remain committed to our role as a responsible and innovative media company. We will continue to leverage our strengths as a global leader in Chinese language media rooted in professional journalism and guided by an international perspective to deepen integration across content and commerce and drive sustainable development amid uncertainty. This concludes our CEO, Mr. Sun’s prepared remarks.

I will now walk you through our financial performance for the 2025. All features mentioned will be in RMB. Our total revenues were million, representing 11.2 increase year on year from 8,300,000.0. Specifically, net advertising revenues were CNY 153,300,000.0 compared to CNY 154,700,000.0 in the same period of last year. Paid services revenues were 33,800,000.0, representing a 148.5% increase year on year from 600,000.0, primarily driven by revenue generated from our digital reading services offered through mini programs on third party applications.

Cost of revenues decreased by 7.6% to 95,100,000 from 102,900,000.0 in the same period of last year. Total operating expenses were million, reflecting a 33.5% increase year on year from CNY74.3 million. This increase was primarily due to higher sales and marketing expenses incurred for the digital reading services mentioned earlier. Loss from operations was $7,200,000 compared to $8,900,000 in the same period of last year. Net loss attributable to iPhone was $10,400,000 compared to $5,400,000 in the same period of last year.

Moving on to our balance sheet. As of 06/30/2025, the company’s cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, short term investments and restricted cash totaled $982,300,000 or approximately US137.1 million dollars Finally, I’d like to provide our business outlook for the 2025. We forecast total revenues to be between 203,400,000.0 and 218,400,000.0. For net advertising revenues, we projected between 168,400,000.0 and 178,400,000.0, while for paid service revenues, we projected between 35,000,000 and 40,000,000. This forecast reflects our current and preliminary view, which is subject to change and the substantial uncertainty.

This concludes the prepared portion of our call. We are now ready for questions. Operator, please go ahead.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now take our first question from the line of Alice Tang from First Shanghai. Please go ahead, Alice.

Alice Tang, Analyst, First Shanghai: Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. My question is regarding recent industry reports showing that the overall advertising market remained relatively flat for the first half of the year. How would that affect the company? Could you please share your views and outlook on this core business segment, please?

Edward Lu, CFO, Phoenix New Media: Okay. Thank you, guys. Yes, of course, the overall ad market wasn’t very strong in the first half of the year. Actually, in the second quarter, many of our advertising clients stayed cautious, pretty much the same trend we saw in the first quarter. Looking at different client sectors areas such as entertainment, tourism, and retail performed well.

But auto and alcohol real estate kept slowing down. For us, we were able to keep our ad business relatively stable in the second quarter. That’s mainly because we have spent the past few years diving deep into understanding what our clients really need and using our strengths to support them. Right now, many brands are trying to create new demand at home. While also looking to grow overseas.

Even in today’s fragmented media landscape, we still play a strong role as trusted mainstream off light, which gives us an edge in brand credibility. Wider through our content, events or international marketing efforts, we’ve built solid reputation with clients. One good example is our Global Expansion Summit in June, which received a lot of positive feedbacks. And the end of the day, it’s about focusing on what we are good at. That’s what helps us stay competitive even in a tough market.

Okay. Thank you, Alice.

Moo Zhiko, Moderator/Translator, Phoenix New Media: Thank you.

Conference Operator: Thank you. I’m showing no further questions. I’ll now turn the conference back to Moo Zhiko for her closing comments.

Moo Zhiko, Moderator/Translator, Phoenix New Media: Thank you. This concludes our Q and A session and conference call for today. If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Thank you for joining us today. Have a great day.

Conference Operator: Thank you for your participation in today’s conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect your lines.

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