‘China’s Twitch’ Huya surpasses 100 million monthly active users despite Beijing’s content crackdown
- Huya CEO says the game live-streaming company will establish a subsidiary focusing on e-sports
Huya, China’s answer to the game-streaming site Twitch, has exceeded 100 million monthly active users (MAU) as the platform continues to grow despite Beijing’s crackdowns on online content.
The Guangzhou-based, New York-listed company surpassed the 100 million MAU benchmark by the end of 2018, up from 99 million in the third quarter, Huya chief executive Dong Rongjie said on Saturday during an annual gala.
That figure reinforces six-year-old Huya’s position as one of China’s most popular game streaming sites, putting it ahead of peers like its parent firm YY and Longzhu.com. By comparison, Amazon.com-owned Twitch is estimated to have 140 million monthly unique viewers.
Huya generated US$8.3 million in net income in the three months ended September, compared with a US$4.3 million loss in the year-earlier period.
The popularity of video gaming, game live-streaming and e-sports is a worldwide phenomenon, feeding into each other as professional players make a living commenting on or hosting other players in streaming sessions. More than a million people are tuned at any one time to Twitch, and the top streamers are celebrities in their own right.
China is home to the world’s biggest user base of live streaming, with the industry revenue expected to grow from US$5.5 billion in 2017 to US$16.5 billion by 2022, according to figures Huya quoted in a filing to the US securities regulator. Total revenue of the country’s game streaming market is expected reach US$4.9 billion by then.