Mobile content platform Qutoutiao posts 84% revenue growth for 2019

SHANGHAI - Chinese mobile content aggregator Qutoutiao Inc reported steady year-on-year revenue growth of 84.3 percent in 2019, raking in 5.57 billion yuan ($793.4 million).

Revenue from advertising and marketing was 5.42 billion yuan in 2019, representing an increase of 92.4 percent from 2.81 billion yuan in the prior year, primarily due to increases in the company's user base.

Qutoutiao saw its combined average monthly active users reach 137.9 million for the fourth quarter of last year, up 46.9 percent year-on-year, with 123 million new users during the period, growing by 137.1 percent year-on-year.

"We closed fiscal year 2019 with a strong fourth quarter with all key operating metrics trending in the positive direction on a quarter-to-quarter basis," said Eric Tan, chairman and CEO of Qutoutiao, who also noted that the company will continue to make investments in technology and content that are crucial to its long-term success.

For the first quarter of 2020, the Nasdaq-listed company expects net revenues to be between 1.4 billion yuan and 1.42 billion yuan, increasing 25 percent to 27 percent year-on-year.

Launched in June 2016, the company's flagship mobile application, Qutoutiao, meaning "fun headlines" in Chinese, aggregates articles and short videos from professional media and freelancers and presents customized feeds to its 790 million users.