JOYY Q2 2025 Results: Ad Tech Drives Non-Livestreaming Revenue Up 25.6% YoY

SINGAPORE, Aug. 26, 2025 – JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYY), a global tech player, just unveiled its Q2 2025 financials, and the numbers are painting a picture of diversified growth.

Revenue hit $507.8 million, a modest 2.7% bump quarter-over-quarter, but the real story lies beneath the surface. While livestreaming revenue saw a marginal increase of 1.1%, JOYY’s non-livestreaming ventures surged, boasting a 25.6% year-over-year growth and now constituting a healthy 26.1% of total revenue. The company’s non-GAAP EBITDA reached $48.2 million, up a solid 25.7% year-over-year and 19.3% quarter-over-quarter, hinting at improved operational efficiency. GAAP net profit climbed roughly 16.8% year-over-year to $60.8 million, with non-GAAP net profit rising 3.9% to $77.0 million. Operating cash flow clocked in at $57.6 million. And let’s not forget the $3.3 billion in net cash sitting pretty on the balance sheet, a fortress signaling stability and future investment potential.

JOYY is showing commitment to shareholders. Between January 1 and June 30, 2025, the company deployed $135 million in dividends and share buybacks.

Keep an eye on this: JOYY has committed to a three-year quarterly dividend policy totaling roughly $600 million and a share repurchase program allowing them to buy back up to $300 million of shares between 2025 and 2027.

“Our multi-engine growth strategy paid off, big time, with BIGO Ads showing impressive revenue growth,” said Ms. Ting Li, Chairperson and CEO of JOYY. “We’re seeing expansion, increased advertiser demand, and improved algorithm performance. We believe this is only the beginning of a powerful, self-reinforcing cycle. Our infrastructure and ecosystem puts us in a great position to become a major player in the ad tech industry, while driving long-term shareholder value.”

Second Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights

• Net revenues reached $507.8 million.
• Operating income jumped to $5.8 million, a 155.4% year-over-year gain.
• Non-GAAP EBITDA hit $48.2 million, a 25.7% year-over-year increase.
• Net income from continuing operations attributable to JOYY was $60.8 million, up 16.8% year-over-year.
• Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations attributable to JOYY was $77.0 million,representing a 3.9% year-over-year increase.

Second Quarter 2025 Business Highlights

Livestreaming Business

Livestreaming revenue reached $375.4 million, with BIGO livestreaming contributing $355.3 million, showcasing growth in the livestreaming sector.

Fueled by ROI-driven initiatives and improved user experience, JOYY’s average mobile MAUs resumed sequential growth in Q2, hitting 262.5 million. Bigo Live saw MAUs increase by 2.3% quarter-over-quarter. The company’s instant messenger is showing strong organic user growth thanks to enhanced features. In Q2, MAUs of the IM increased by 3.4 million, with average daily user time spent up by 12.8% year over year. A large, engaged user base is a solid foundation for monetization across livestreaming and advertising.

JOYY’s content and user experience improvements are showing positive feedback driving higher user engagement. Bigo’s overall livestreaming paying users grew 3.7% quarter-over-quarter. Optimized cross-regional content distribution algorithms and real-time AI translation have improved global content consumption. Bigo Live’s Streamer Academy offers training and tools to improve streamer quality and reach, fueling a 1.6% quarter-over-quarter increase in the number of streamers on Bigo Live. Bigo Live introduced refined incentives and exclusive privileges, leading to a 13% quarter-over-quarter increase in premium paying users. Bigo Live’s livestreaming revenue in developed countries, including Europe (up 6.5% QoQ) and Southeast Asia (up 3.9% QoQ), indicates a return to growth.

Advertising Business

JOYY’s advertising business is becoming a second growth engine. Non-livestreaming revenue is now a considerable 26.1% of total revenues. BIGO’s non-livestreaming business, primarily BIGO Ads, grew approximately 29% year-over-year, underlining its growing strategic significance.

BIGO Ads traffic extends to some 262.5 million users through its own social apps and is integrated across multiple channels. BIGO Ads has scaled its third-party BIGO Audience network traffic through integrations with AppLovin MAX and Unity LevelPlay. Publisher SDK adoption has driven nearly 80% traffic growth versus the second half of 2024. New integrations with multi-channel platforms further expanded its traffic reach, including CTV.

BIGO Ads achieved growth across IAA, IAP, and Web-based channels with double-digit gains in Web-based lead generation verticals. IAA advertising experienced double-digit QoQ growth.

North America achieved approximately 24.2% growth versus the second half of 2024. In Europe, revenue grew by a high single-digit percentage quarter-over-quarter.

JOYY’s proprietary user data asset helps improve profiling and targeting. Synergies across JOYY’s business segments, including accumulated vertical insights, data assets and established algorithm capabilities, have given BIGO Ads a head start in developing specialized models. JOYY’s global network infrastructure and tech capabilities, originally built for its social entertainment businesses, offer significant cost advantages.

BIGO Ads has emerged as JOYY’s second growth engine, promising long-term opportunities for the company. The company is focused on data, algorithms, and establishing competitive advantages in various markets and verticals.

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 Second Quarter 2025 Unaudited Financial Results” issued by the Company on August 27, 2025.