JOYY Announces Q1 2025 Earnings: Non-Livestream Revenue Up 25.3% Year-Over-Year

SINGAPORE, May 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYY), a global technology player, has just unveiled its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2025 – and the numbers are painting a picture of resilient growth and a strategic pivot towards diversification.

The first quarter saw JOYY’s revenue hit $494.4 million, a figure buoyed by a standout performance in the non-livestreaming segment. This area generated $123.0 million, a robust 25.3% increase year-over-year, and now represents a significant 24.9% of the company’s total revenue pie. On the profitability front, JOYY reported a remarkable surge in both its GAAP operating profit – up approximately 244.5% year-over-year to $12.2 million – and its non-GAAP¹ operating profit, which rose 24.9% to $31.0 million. This translated into operating margins of 2.5% and 6.3%, respectively, illustrating the company’s commitment to operational efficiency. Adding to the positive financial narrative, JOYY maintained a strong operating cash flow, clocking in at $58 million.

But it’s not just about profits with this company. JOYY is also actively returning value to its shareholders. During the quarter, $49.1 million was distributed in dividends. Furthermore, from January 1st through May 23rd, the company repurchased approximately $22.5 million worth of its own shares, sending a clear signal of confidence in its future prospects.

Ms. Ting Li, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of JOYY, struck an optimistic tone. “As we celebrate our remarkable 20th anniversary, we have been steadily evolving beyond a simple social entertainment platform,” she said. “Our multi-engine growth strategy is clearly paying off. Our core livestreaming business is consistently profitable, and our programmatic advertising platform, BIGO Ads, is showing strong momentum, fueled by AI. These advances are intended to fortify our competitive advantages and make the non-livestreaming businesses a key growth driver.”

First Quarter 2025 Financial Snapshots

Net revenues for the first quarter of 2025 came in at $494.4 million.
Operating income reached $12.2 million in the same period, a considerable jump from $3.5 million in Q1 2024, reflecting a 244.5% year-over-year increase.
Non-GAAP¹ operating income stood at $31.0 million in the first quarter of 2025, up from $24.8 million the previous year, illustrating a 24.9% year-over-year increase.
Net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest of JOYY totaled $45.4 million, nearly identical to the $45.3 million registered in the first quarter of 2024.
Non-GAAP¹ net income from continuing operations attributable to controlling interest and common shareholders of JOYY was $63.2 million.

Key Business Highlights – Q1 2025

Livestreaming Business

The livestreaming segment generated $371.3 million in the first quarter, with BIGO contributing a solid $351.6 million.

JOYY is taking a refined approach to user acquisition, focusing its advertising spend on higher-value users within key markets. The North American region for Bigo Live, for example, posted year-over-year growth of over 7% in its MAU (monthly active users). Paying users in this region also saw a QoQ (quarter-over-quarter) increase of about 4%.

The company’s products also activated a sequence of promotional events during Ramadan in the Middle East, which subsequently generated substantial user engagement and boosted brand recognition among the user base. Likee experienced positive QoQ growth in relation to their paying users.

Furthermore, JOYY continued to unveil upgrades to its product features which are yielding tangible benefits operationally. Enhancements to Bigo Live’s user experience included improvements to its recommendation system, boosting high-potential content creators, and overhauling the viewing interface, all of which contributed to a 4% QoQ increase in average viewing time per user. Furthermore, The VIP benefits scheme was completely revamped, further improving the gifting experience for high-value users. These adjustments led to a 3% QoQ increase in ARPPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User) amongst Bigo Live’s high-end user segment.

Likee also strengthened its content strategy by diversifying and enriching its content library, generating impressive engagement statistics over the quarter. Viewing per user jumped by 7% in comparison to the previous quarter. Similarly, total video consumption time experienced a 10% increase over the same timeframe. The adjusted approach to the management and promotion of top streamers contributed to a noticeable 3% QoQ rise in Likee’s average paying ratio.

Advertising Business

BIGO Ads saw a 27% revenue increase during Q1. Furthering this progress are the company’s comprehensive strengths, including strong local operations, a wide user base, top-tier algorithms, and a robust global network infrastructure, thus providing consistent positive profit contributions.

By pairing premium publisher traffic with the company’s own first-party traffic, BIGO Ads has developed an advertising system that helps businesses reach their best customers globally. BIGO Ads offers an intelligent, all-encompassing advertising platform, utilizing AI to enhance user insights, content creation, targeted advertising, and real-time optimization. It utilizes its wide-ranging global audience and substantial data to forge its vertical model, incorporating state-of-the-art generative AI technologies. By integrating AI, the company has improved both ad performance and financial gains, while presenting opportunities for the company’s publisher partners, creating a cycle of increased advertiser spending and more publisher traffic. This supports rapid expansion of the BIGO Ads platform.

1.This press release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the Company’s performance and the impact that these items and events had on the financial results. The non-GAAP financial measures provided above should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. For details of the non-GAAP measures, including the reconciliations of GAAP measures to non-GAAP measures, please refer to the press release titled “JOYY Reports First Quarter 2025 Unaudited Financial Results” issued by the Company on May 27, 2025.