Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Weibo Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be the question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star one and one on your telephone keypad. You will then hear an automatic message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star and one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to a speaker today, Sandra Zhang. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Welcome to Weibo's Q2 2023 earnings conference call. Joining me today are our Chief Executive Officer, Gaofei Wang, and our Chief Financial Officer, Fei Cao. The conference call is also being broadcasted on the Internet and is available through Weibo's IR website. Before the management remarks, I would like to read you a safe harbor statement in connection with today, today's conference call. During today's conference call, we may make forward-looking statements, statements that are not historical facts, including statements of, of our beliefs and expectations. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Weibo assumes no obligation to update a forward-looking statement in this conference call and elsewhere.
Further information regarding this and other risks is included in Weibo's annual report on Form 20-F and other filings with the SEC. All the information provided in the press release is occurring as of date hereof. Weibo assumes no obligation to update such information, except as required under applicable law. Additionally, I'd like to remind you that our discussion today includes certain non-GAAP measures, which exclude stock-based compensation and certain other expenses. We use non-GAAP financial measures to gain a better understanding of Weibo's comparative operating performance and the future prospects. Our non-GAAP financials exclude certain expenses, gains or losses, and other items that are not expected to result in future cash payments or are non-recurring in nature, or are not indicative of our core operating results and outlook. Please refer to our press release for more information about our non-GAAP measures.
Following management prepared remarks, we open the lines for a brief Q&A session. With this, I would like to turn the call over to our CEO, Gaofei Wang.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Weibo Q2 2023 earnings conference call. Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Weibo's Q2 2023 earnings conference call. On today's call, I will share with you highlights in Weibo's user, product, and monetization in the Q2 of 2023. On the user front, Weibo's MAUs reached 599 million, and average DAUs reached 258 million in June 2023, adding approximately 17 million and five million users year-over-year, respectively. In June, 95% of Weibo's MAUs came from mobile.
On monetization, leveraging further pickup of offline consumption and events in the Q2 , we are pleased to see our ad revenues returning to the growth track trajectory with a broad-based recovery on the entire demand side. In the Q2 , our total revenues reached $440.2 million, a decrease of 2% or an increase of 1% year-over-year on a constant currency basis. Our ad revenues reached $385.7 million, flattish year-over-year, or an increase of 7% year-over-year on a constant currency basis. 94% of our ad revenues came from mobile.
Our Non-GAAP operating income reached $153.8 million, representing a Non-GAAP operating margin of 35%, thanks to the solid execution of our efficiency initiatives over the first half of this year. While anticipating the post-pandemic challenges generated from a shift in user interest and differentiated progress in ad demand recovery across various sectors in the first half of this year, we adjusted our operational strategy in the Q1 . We shift our operating focus from pandemic-related hot topics over the past three years to the traffic recovery of vertical content, as well as cultivation of users' mindside. In the Q2 , we focused on improving operating efficiency of hot trends, as well as entertainment and consumption-related verticals in the Q2 , which further enhanced the user engagement this quarter.
…接下来我具体介绍一下微博的二季度产品运营和商业化方面的情况。
Next, let me share with you our progress made in product and monetization in the Q2 .
在渠道方面，我们今年的重点是加强渠道用户获取能力，促进平台用户规模和活跃度的提升。从上半年的情况看，尽管今年手机出货量恢复不及预期，二季度我们持续提升微博热点和社交产品在厂商核心位置的效率，同时联动厂商定向提升对高价值用户的触达，优化铺位机制和内容消费体验，提升渠道留存。二季度厂商合作带来的均活跃用户规模较一季度提升40%。[Foriegn Language]
On the channel front, our focus this year is to improve user acquisition capabilities through channels, and improve our user scale and engagement. Despite the fact that the recovery of the handset shipment in the first half of this year is below our expectations, we continued to improve the efficiency of Weibo's hot trends and social product over the core positions on the handset devices in the Q2. Collaborate with manufacturers to improve targeted reach to high quality users, optimize push mechanism and content consumption experience, and improve retention of users acquired through channels. In the Q2 , the number of average DAUs from handsets, which we collaborated with, increased 40% from the Q1 .
在社交活跃方面，去年四季度我们针对关系网络产品架构进行了调整，比如在转发，结合超话社区集中用户社交黏性，帮助用户拓展更多优质真实的社交关系，扩大用户的社交网络。同时，结合用户对垂直兴趣消费需求的增强，关系流在算法推荐上加强对优势垂直领域内容和账号的扶持。这些工作都是为了提升微博在疫情后兴趣领域的竞争力。二季度，关系流人均消费规模进一步提升，六月相比去年十二月，人均效率提升双位数，用户垂直兴趣消费也进一步提升。这些工作我们会在下半年继续强化，结合三季度暑期用户活动节点，我们会搭建更为完善的领域和博主流量扶持机制，加快对垂直兴趣领域流量的恢复。
On social attributes, let me share with you the key progress we made in our products.
In Q1 last year, we adjusted the structure of social product and reinforced the content distribution based on the social behaviors of users' social network in a relationship-based feed. On the one hand, we enhanced distribution of super, Super Topic content in the relationship-based feed to improve social thickness of users, and help the user build up high quality and real social relationships for an extended social network. On the other hand, we refined distribution mechanism to boost the traffic for content and accounts from key verticals in the relationship-based feed, given users increased demand for, content consumption on interest-based content verticals.
All these efforts we made, were made to improve Weibo's competitiveness in the interest-based, based content verticals post-pandemic. In the Q2 , the scale of, content consumption per user in the relationship-based feed grew double digits in June from last December. Users consumption in interest-based content, verticals further grew as well. We will continue to implement these efforts in the second half of this year.
By leveraging the seasonality during the summer holiday in the Q3 , we will set up a better distribution mechanism to boost traffic for vertical content and KOLs, and speed up the traffic recovery for the interest-based content verticals.
在内容生态方面，我们今年加大了在内容垂直领域的投入。在微博的优势领域，例如文娱、游戏和动漫。借助外部环境的恢复，以及持续提升我们的产品运营效率，这些垂直领域的流量和互动规模在二季度同比提升明显，从而也促进了平台整体流量和互动的增长。在文娱领域，二季度，我们以文娱盛典活动、音乐会、电影宣发等线下活动作为恢复契机，深化与明星经纪公司行业IP方的合作，扩大明星相关内容以及文娱热点的生产和讨论规模。上半年，文娱领域的流量和用户互动量较去年同期增长均超过20%。游戏、电竞赛、动漫在上半年也保持了类似的增长速度，特别是在电竞赛域，随着近年我们深耕电竞赛事，加强平台与重点电竞战队的社交合作，上半年电竞领域日均流量和互动用户规模增长明显，流量同比增长超过50%，互动用户规模增长40%，用户互动量更是增长超过100%。在动漫领域，作为二季度的机会领域，我们快速覆盖并激活了大量海内外画师的用户，迅速积累了粉丝，并促进了二次元用户的活跃规模。画师群体二季度互动用户同比增长15%，带动并加强了动漫领域对微博的用户使用心智。随着线下电竞赛事动漫活动的恢复，我们会继续加大微博在ACG领域的投入，帮助生态内合作伙伴提升影响力 和 商业价值，强化用户心智，整体提升微博对年轻用户的获取和活跃能力。
On content ecosystem, we increased our investment in vertical content this year. For Weibo's advantageous verticals such as entertainment, online gaming, and anime, the traffic and user engagement exhibited a significant year-over-year growth in the Q2 , which benefited from the recovery of market environment and our continuous effort in improving operating efficiency. As a result, Weibo's overall traffic and engagement grew rapidly. To elaborate, for entertainment vertical, we leverage offline activities such as entertainment galas, concerts and film promotion events in the Q2 to speed up vertical traffic recovery. We expand cooperation with celebrity agent and IP producers, and generate more content and discussion around celebrities and entertainment-related hot topics. In the first half of this year, both the traffic and user engagement for the entertainment vertical grew over 20% year-over-year.
The online gaming, esports, and anime verticals also delivered similar growth rate during this period. In particular, for the esports vertical, we focused on esports events over the past few years and strengthened cooperation with major esports clubs. In the first half this year, the average daily traffic and the number of engaged users of this vertical grew significantly on a year-over-year basis, with over 50% growth for traffic, 40% growth for the number of engaged users, and over 100% growth for the user engagement. For the anime vertical, we grabbed market opportunity in the Q2, and rapidly encouraged many global anime artists to verify their accounts on Weibo, which in turn quickly attracted fans and promoted consumption from ACG users on Weibo.
The number of engaged users for the anime artist community exhibited a year-over-year growth of 15% in the Q2 , which helped to increase the usage of Weibo among users interested in anime. As offline esports events and anime activities resume, we will continue to increase our investment in the ACG vertical on Weibo, help our partners within the ecosystem to enhance their influence and commercial value, cultivate users' mindset, and improve Weibo's capability in acquiring and engaging young generation users.
过去三年，一些专业垂直领域在微博也得到了加强，例如汽车、数码、医疗领域。虽然总体流量规模低于文娱和ACG，但是过去三年构建了比较完整和良性的内容商业生态，客户认可，与微博在内容和营销上持续探索共创价值。随着行业和消费的复苏，这几个领域流量和收入在二季度实现了同比增长。但还有一些用户消费内容比较多的生活领域，例如美妆、美食，受疫情和外部竞争影响，过去三年相关内容生态遇到了较大的挑战，我们仍需一定时间找到差异化运营策略，存量内容生态才能更好地支撑客户市场。
Over the past three years, some professional verticals, such as automobile, digital product, and healthcare verticals, have been strengthened. These verticals are more easily monetized, despite having less traffic scale than entertainment and ACG verticals. We have also created a more comprehensive and healthier content ecosystem in the past three years. Our customers are willing to further explore, create value, and achieve win-win situation with us in terms of content and marketing. With the recovery of industries and consumption, the traffic and revenues generated from these verticals booked year-over-year growth in the Q2 . However, for the FMCG verticals, which used to be heavily consumed by our users, such as cosmetics and food verticals, the content ecosystem had been facing challenges over the past three years due to disruption from the pandemic and external competitions.
We anticipate the resumption of these verticals will take time, as we are exploring differentiated operational strategy to reconstruct our content ecosystem, aiming to offer better support for the end market for these sectors.
头部作者的生态方面，一季度我们重点完成了对 天下秀平台 的股权增持，双方对平台核心博主体系进行改造，并完成升级上线。平台在二季度筛选出更多高影响力 和 高社交价值的头部用户，给予流量、运营以及变现的扶持，打造更健康的头部作者生态。头部作者在微博的流量、互动用户规模和商业收入在二季度持续保持增长。六月相比三月，头部作者的流量和互动用户规模继续提升，他们在微博的广告收入在二季度同比提升超过50%。产品运营对于核心头部运营作者的效率的提升，也营造了更好的商业生态环境，进一步推动微博内容生态的持续健康发展。
For our top content creators, in the Q1, we have completed the transaction to increase shareholding of Inmyshow Digital Technology. We revamped the V Task platform system together and completed various upgrades of our functions. In the Q2 , the platform selected more top KOLs with higher influence and social value, and offered support to them in terms of traffic, operations, and monetization, aiming to build a healthier ecosystem for them. As a result, the traffic and the number of engaged users of top KOLs booked double-digit growth in June versus March, and the corresponding ad revenues from V Task grew over 50% year-over-year in the Q2 . By improving the operating efficiency of top content creators, we have created a more favorable monetization environment for them, further driving the continuous and healthier development of Weibo's content ecosystem.
下面我谈一下商业化的进展。2季度伴随着线下活动的恢复，并在5.1假期和618电商节点驱动下，旅游出行和消费需求得到了集中释放，从而给广告市场需求端带来更加明显的回暖。绝大多数行业呈现复苏甚至重回增长的轨道。对微博来说，我们在2季度持续加强热点IP营销和内容营销的优势-...
帮助品牌更快速获得流量高峰和用户认知。而且在这个过程中，结合我们精准营销触达，品牌实现和消费者持续沟通，从而强化用户对客户品牌的认知。这套商业模式推向市场后，受到了很多行业和客户的认可。
Next, let me share some color on the monetization front. In the Q2 , we are encouraged to see that most industries have demonstrated solid recovery trends and returning to the growth trajectory, underpinned by a notable pickup in ad demand side, leveraging resumption of offline activities as well as pent-up travel and consumption demand during May Day holiday and the June 18th e-commerce events. We've continued to reinforce our advantages in hot trend IP and new product launch, enabling brands to build market hype and earn recognition from users more efficiently. In the process, coupled with our targeted marketing reach, brands have established ongoing communication with consumers, thereby further cultivated consumers mindset. This marketing combo has resonated greatly with numerous industries and clients after being introduced to the market.
从行业来看，汽车数码行业客户对微博的热点营销优势非常认可。这些行业客户和微博的营销合作已经进入比较深入阶段，双方不仅在广告上进行深入合作，还在产品打通内容共建上投入更多的资源，从而在内容和营销上持续地探索共创共赢。整个行业在微博的，微博上的内容和商业生态相辅相成，形成了良性循环。微博不仅成为客户新品上市的必选营销平台，同时在客户平销期，依托微博平台对于IP影响力的打造，以及客户共同促进热点生产，丰富了平销期的营销合作场景，从而加强了微博在客户平销期的预算获取能力。整体带动汽车数码在二季度仍保持较好的收入增速。例如，目前各大手机厂商今年主打影像功能，微博在二季度推出微博手机影像年活动，打造行业高指点的影像IP，挖掘用户的动人影像故事。目前已有vivo和HONOR加入，Apple和Huawei都能确定合作意向。微博和手机厂商合力影响用户对于手机影像的认知和消费心智，促进手机行业的长期发展。在奢侈品行业，得益于客户营销预算的增长，以及文娱行业的回暖，二者结合线下文娱线上活动带来的明星热点效应，来自奢侈品行业的收入同比仍保持快速增长。
From industry perspective, clients from the automobile and digital product sectors have already been highly recognized Weibo's strength in hot trends marketing. Therefore, partnership between Weibo and these clients have entered a more advanced stage, with both sides not only collaborating extensively in advertising, but also investing more resources in product integration and content co-creation. Leveraging such synergies on the content and marketing fronts, Weibo has become a must-have platform for customers' new product launches, with a virtuous cycle formed around our organic and monetization content ecosystem.
In addition, we will also strengthen its capability to capture ad wallet entering routine sales phase post the product launch, leveraging enrich the marketing scenarios by building a more influential IP and co-creating hot trends with clients. Driven by such synergies, the automobile and digital product sectors continue to deliver a decent revenue growth rate in the Q2. For instance, as major handset manufacturers were heavily promoting their photography features, in the Q2, Weibo launched the Weibo Mobile Photography Year event, aiming to create high quality photography IP and uncover compelling stories from users. By far, vivo and HONOR have already signed up for the event.
Apple and Huawei have also expressed their intent to collaborate. Through this event, Weibo and handset manufacturers are working together to influence users' perception of mobile photography and shape consumer mindset, thereby promoting the long-term growth of the handset industry. As for the luxury sector, benefiting from increased marketing budget of clients and a rebound of the entertainment sector, we leverage the celebrity and hot trend effect of offline entertainment and fashion events in the Q2 , resulting in a rapid year-over-year growth in the revenue from luxury sector.
在影视文化、鞋服、医疗健康、旅游酒店等行业，随着疫情消退，原本被抑制的线下消费需求在二季度得到释放。由于这些行业客户希望能通过加强线上品牌宣发来带来线下销售，而微博能够通过加强与相关领域的生态运营和热点，有效地唤醒和加强用户心智，从而使得这些行业对于微博的营销的认可和认知持续提升，微博获取客户预算的能力也在不断地增强。例如医疗健康领域，我们通过加强专业媒体医生在微博的活跃，加强医疗健康相关热点运营的能力，医疗健康的领域流量上半年的同比增涨近30%，带动了相关行业收入在二季度同比增涨也超30%。例如，美团买药、京东健康这些医疗服务平台，重点加强医疗健康热点下的广告投放，实现健康关注问题下与目标用户的沟通，提升了用户的品牌知名度。上半年，医疗平台带来的广告收入同比增涨超100%。
For sectors such as entertainment, apparel, healthcare as well as tourism, as pandemic receded, the pent-up consumer demand for offline consumption was unleashed in the Q2 . Clients in these sectors aim to drive offline sales through beefing up online brand promotion. In view of such marketing goals, Weibo effectively cultivated and strengthens users' mindsets through company ecosystem operation and hot trends in these sectors, leading to ongoing improvement in client recognition. Weibo has thus beefed up opportunities and the capabilities to capture higher ad wallet in these sectors. For instance, in terms of the healthcare sector, we deepened the engagement of professional media and doctors on Weibo and thus enhanced our capability in operating hot topics related to healthcare.
As a result, the traffic of healthcare vertical grew nearly 30% in the first half of this year, leading to over 30% year-over-year revenue growth for the sector in the Q2 . Medical service platforms such as Meituan, Medicine Delivery APP, and JD Health focus on placing ad under the healthcare hot topics, which facilitated them to communicate with their target users on health-related concerns, resulting in elevated brand awareness and better recognition from our clients. We are encouraged to see ad revenue from medical platforms more than doubled in the first half of this year.
[Foreign Language]
On the flip side, the cosmetic, personal care, and online gaming sector continue to show slower than expected recovery pace, dragging the overall growth of our ad revenue during the Q2 . To elaborate, some of the top multinational clients in the cosmetic and personal care sector face the headwinds from their own business operation and intensified competition in marketing, and thus slowed down their pace of new product launch. Due to such headwinds, it might take additional time for revenue from this sector to return to positive growth. As for the online gaming industry, we are encouraged to see higher number of new games released after the resumption of game license approval in the Q2 , with more mid-tier games and new games setting up their marketing cooperation with Weibo. However, due to the strategic adjustment from key gaming client...
Online gaming clients and marketing budget reduction amid cost-cutting trends, the overall revenues from online gaming industry continue our descending trend in the Q2. Nevertheless, with normalizing gaming license issuance, as well as a greater trend toward premium game clients focusing on content marketing, we will continue to beef up our competitive edge around Weibo's gaming ecosystem and facilitate the long-term growth of our clients, leveraging the strength of our hot trends and new product marketing offerings. Hopefully, we would expect to see a more meaningful recovery of ad wallet of online gaming sector in the r.
[Foreign Language]
With that, let me turn the call over to Fei Cao for a financial review.
Thank you, Gaofei, and hello, everyone. Welcome to Weibo's Q2 2023 earnings conference call. Let's start with user metrics. In June 2023, Weibo's MAU and average DAU reached 599 million and 258 million, respectively, representing a net addition of 17 million and five million users on a year-over-year basis. We are pleased with the user growth trend amid the ongoing execution of business and the channel investment strategy. Turning to financials. As a reminder, my prepared remarks will focus on non-GAAP results. All monetary amounts are in U.S. dollar terms, and all comparisons are on a year-over-year basis, unless otherwise noted. We experienced headwinds to our financials due to the volatility of foreign exchange rates this quarter. Since our business primarily operates in China, while we report our financials in U.S. dollars, our financial performance was affected by adverse currency movements.
Now, let me walk you through our financial highlights for the Q2 2023. Weibo's Q2 2023 net revenue was $440.2 million, a decrease of 2%, or an increase of 5% on a constant currency basis. Operating income was $153.8 million, representing an operating margin of 35%. Net income attributable to Weibo reached $126.4 million, a 15%, or 23%, on a constant currency basis, representing a net margin of 29%.... Diluted EPS was $0.53, compared to $0.46 last year. Let me give you more color on the Q2 2023 revenue performance.
Weibo advertising and marketing revenues for the Q2 2023 was $385.7 million, flat-ish or up 7% on a constant currency basis, with advertising business improving month-over-month. Mobile ad revenues was $363 million, contributing approximately 94% of total ad revenue. In terms of growth, we are delighted to see a solid growth trajectory of automobile, handset, and e-commerce sectors as the top largest contributors to ad revenue increase. For automobile and handset sectors, Weibo has targeted customers with strong demands of building market share and brand premium, such as customers from new energy vehicle sector and handset manufacturers with high-end product launch. Weibo's brand plus performance social ad offering resonated greatly with these customers, and helped them target high-value users.
With respect to e-commerce, underpinned by a hyper-competitive landscape, our sales team executed well in capturing higher ad budget from comprehensive e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba, as well as tapping into budget from other key market players. The ad product. Promoted feed, promoted feed ad was the largest, followed by social display, and topic, and search. Ad revenues from Alibaba for the Q2 was $26.8 million, an increase of 13% or 21% on a constant currency basis, as Alibaba reaccelerated its ad budget to capture opportunities brought by the first mega shopping festival post reopening, as well as solidify its competitive moat. Before turning to GAAP segment, let me share some preliminary color on the trend entering the second half of 2023.
On ad set, advertising market has been bottoming out month by month during Q2 , with many sectors already returning to growth trajectory. In view of tailwind from policy stimulus and gradual consumption recovery, our team will beef up sales execution and work relentlessly to capture pent-up budget releasing to the market in the second half. With momentum of new product launch picking up, we are have not been exploring market opportunities and, liquefying our monetization efficiency, leveraging our differentiated social ad playbook. That said, given that over half of advertising revenue is generated from consumption sector, a full recovery of consumption sentiment, especially in certain discretionary categories, will depend on the pace of macro economy recovery, which might be more drawn out than expected before policy stimulus, translating into consumption behavior. Value-added service.
Value-added service revenue was $54.6 million in the Q2 , a decrease of 16% or 10% on a constant currency basis. The decrease was mainly due to the recognition of one-time technology technical service fee in the same period last year, and less revenue contribution from membership service. Turning to cost and expenses. Total cost and expenses for the Q2 was $286.4 million, a decrease of 6%. Operating income in the Q2 increased by 6% to $153.8 million, representing operating margin of 35%, compared to 32% in the same period last year. Turning to income tax and the GAAP measure. Income tax expense for the Q2 was $25.5 million, compared to $17.5 million last year.
Net income attributable to Weibo in the Q2 increased to 15% or 23% on a constant currency basis, to $176.4 million, representing a net margin of 29%, compared to 24% in the same period last year. Thanks to a more focused team and a leaner cost structure, Weibo has again delivered earnings growth, outpacing the top line, demonstrating our ongoing execution of our efficiency initiatives. Turning to our balance sheet and the cash flow item. As of June 30, 2023, Weibo's cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $2.83 billion. In the Q2 , cash provided by operating activities was $142.5 million. Capital expenditure totaled $3.3 million, and depreciation and amortization expenses amounted to $14.5 million.
Before turning to the Q&A session, we are pleased to announce that we have completed the distribution of special dividends of $0.85 per ordinary share, or ADS, to our shareholders, with aggregate amount of $200 million. Looking ahead, we will continue to embrace long-term growth opportunities while focusing on financial discipline with commitment to returning value to our shareholders. With that, let me now turn the call over to the operator for Q&A session.
Thank you, dear participants. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by, we will compile the Q&A roster. This will take a few moments. Now we're going to take our first question, and the question comes from the line of Timothy Zhao from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Thank you very much for taking my question. My question is regarding the recovery outlook into the second half of this year. Could management share any color on ad spending trend in July and August to date? And how should we think about the ad revenue growth in the Q3 and Q4 this year? And we've seen the verticals that Weibo has, is there any specific verticals that we are going to see very strong recovery into the second half? Thank you.
谢谢。首先二季度来看的话，我们同比已经恢复正增长，大概环比增长13%左右，同比增长7%，这个比我们原来的预期要略好一些。一方面我们会看到是因为五一假期的这个驱动，旅游跟整个线下消费都得到了一个集中性的释放。另外，今年618后，618后疫情放开后呢，第一个大型的像电商节点，那电商和主要行业的广告主投放都比较积极，那驱动了我们广告收入的同比有一个比较明显的一个正向的增长。Go ahead.
Thank you very much for your question. So first of all, in terms of Q2, we had actually maintained a positive growth year-over-year basis. So we had a 13% growth quarter-over-quarter and 7% growth year-over-year. So this was much better than before. And also, first, there were several reasons. First of all, is that the May Day holiday came, and also you can see that, you know, we had more revenues from the verticals like the consumption and also that people's travel as well. And also the sixth, eighteenth as the one of the biggest e-commerce events taking place after the COVID, we have seen more placement and also the budget from the e-commerce sector as well.
So these are all giving us the boost. Okay.
那到七月份和八月份的情况看呢，七月份我们已经过完，七月份整体来看，比六月份其实它的增速是有一些回落的。那我想这个大家也看到，跟宏观的整个消费数据是一致的，因为毕竟我们将近三分之二的行业，这边是整体消费挂钩的。那所以说但是从八月份的情况看，比七月份的恢复速度要更好一些。我们还是会对于下半年整体的恢复的节奏，有一些信心，但是我们会更加密切，会先观察这个宏观经济的情况和各个行业恢复的速度。Go ahead.
And also turning to the July and also August. We have already finished our performance in July, so the growth rate has been a little bit down compared with that of the June, because, you know, that was still associated with the macro economy and also the consumption related performance, because two thirds of our verticals are pretty much related to consumption. And also in August, we're going to have a better recovery pace than that of the July. So overall speaking, we have the confidence over the recovery pace of the whole second half of the year. But still we have to keep an eye on the macroeconomic development of China. Okay.
下半年整个，从分行业的情况看，我首先谈一下供给端，也就是流量端的情况。今年到7月、8月，我们会看到，暑期文娱市场恢复的速度是比较快的，那微博的整体流量，我们现在看到也达到历史的一个高点，超过了疫情期间的这种高峰。整个特别是热点跟文娱，包括垂直流量均有所恢复。但是从我们自己的角度看，我们还是希望把我们的优势，抓住一些垂直领域生态恢复较快的领域，比如说汽车啊、手机啊、游戏啊这些，来增加这些行业的广告预算份额。但是实际来讲的话，我们也有一些领域，垂直领域，比如说美食啊，旅游啊这些，在疫情几年，包括外部疫情，疫情几年，包括这个外部竞争，我们这些垂直领域的流量占整个--整个流量的占比是有一些下降的，那我们下半年重心是倾斜部分我们的整个的流量资源来支撑这些垂直生态的发展。例如说在旅游行业，我们推出这个带着微博去旅行行，那今年来讲的话，往年其实这个活动已经停办3年了，那其实今年来讲的话，项目参与人数超过900万，话题阅读量超过100亿，那还是可以大幅提升我们整个在旅游行业的平台消费和内容消费的，对于带动这个行业广告收入增长，是有一定帮助的。Go ahead.
And also further, I think that for the overall half, second half of this year, in terms of the verticals. So first of all, I would like to talk to you about the supply, which is all about the traffic. So in July and also August, we have seen a very, very good recovery in terms of the entertainment and the culture as well. And of course, that talking about the overall kind of a traffic recovery, this is already better than the period during the COVID.
Still, still we're having a very good recovery, but still we have to focus on the vertical traffic and hot topics and hot trends, as well as the whole vertical of culture and entertainment. Still we have our strategies that are going to be later focus on certain verticals. For instance, we like to increase the budget spending by the verticals like automobiles and headsets, as well as the gaming as well. Also, still we have experienced some of the headwinds from the verticals like the food and the travel as well, due to the COVID situation and also the severe competition in the past. We have seen a decline of the percentage of the traffic contribution from these verticals.
However, still, you know, in the second half of the year, we have to further give more traffic support to the verticals like the food and travel, in order for them to develop. And also, so as for the travel, for instance, we have been regain the activity of, you know, Travel with Weibo, which has been stopped for about three years during the past COVID period. So, this year, still, when we are regaining this particular campaign or Travel with Weibo as an event, we've been seeing the total number of participants exceeding nine million, and also the total number of final hot topics exceeding billions or tens of billions. So these are all going to help us to have a very good recovery. Okay.
那具体到客户端的行业来看的话，因为行业比较多，我主要挑几个重点有代表性的行业来说，讲一下吧。当然，第一个就是之前大家比较关注的手机、汽车这个行业。那手机今年上半年可能，二季度同比增 长20，然后汽车同比增 长40。这两个行业的特征都是虽然，说整个的这种行业的销量可能是有一些波动的，但是这个行业都属于一个更新换代。汽车其实是，电动车要更新换到燃油车，其实电动车的占比已经超过，广告收入的占比已经超过50%。那手机来讲的话呢，也是今年上半年手机厂商对于高端手机的竞争变得更加的激烈，大家都在推出新品。那这两个行业呢，下半年我们看他们对于新品推出的节奏，特别是手机行业，应该还是会更加地，加快的，不管是华为还是苹果。所以说我们认为这两个行业，比如说还是可以保持不错的增速。当然，汽车行业可能有一个问题，就是燃油车它的这种投放确实是今年因为销量的问 题，我们会看到开始出现下降的迹象，所以说我们还在密切关注，这两个行业的一个趋势变化。
And also, I'd like to share with you some of the colors of those different verticals as our customers. So we have many different verticals, so I would just like to give you some of the representative ones. So first, two are the headset as well as the automotives. So, in the Q2 , we've been having a year-on-year growth of 20% for the headsets industry and also 40% for that of the vertical for the automotive verticals. So, that was pretty much related still to the sales trends of these two verticals.
But still, you know, there are some of the updates and, still, you know, the sales of these two verticals are fluctuated, but still we do see some of the new highlights and some of the events happening for these two verticals. For instance, there is a switch between the from the ICE vehicles to the electric vehicles, and now the electric vehicles are accounting for about 50% of our sources of the advertisement revenue. And also in the first half of the year, we have been seeing a kind of a launch or promotion of a lot of 走 向 新 的 行 业 的 一 个 趋 势 变 化. 嗯.
还有一些行业呢，可能他们本身在受这个疫情之后恢复就比较快，例如说像文娱啊，奢侈品，还有这个医疗健康、旅游，那这些基本上我们会看到二季度都有一个同比20%以上的一个增长。我预计下半年这些行业没有什么意外的话，应该也是我会对看到可以保持这样一个不错的一个增速的。Right.
Okay. And also, we have other kind of verticals as our customers that are growing pretty much beautifully. For instance, in Q2, we had over 20% of the growth witnessed for the vertical, like cultural entertainment, luxurious products and healthcare, as well as the tourism and travel. So in the second half, we're confident that without any accidents of happening, we're going to having confidence of seeing the continuous momentum. Okay.
另外，其实就是我们，我们之前也提过了，像刚才James也说过了，像美妆和游戏这些行业，其实本身客户市场里面的新品的节奏较低，同时来讲的话，客户可能陷入一些价格战这方面。那这方面我们的预算其实就会受到比较大的压力，对于我们这部分呢，虽然像美妆618期间有所恢复，但是比我们原初预期的恢复的速度还是要低很多的。那下半年来讲的话呢，我预期降幅会有所缩窄，但是我们对于短期内客户投放其实可以保持正向增长，还是保持比较谨慎。Right.
... And also, next to the gaming and also the cosmetics and personal care, for instance, we've been seeing a very hotly the case of the new product launch in the first half of the year, and also most of those brands in these two verticals are involved or engaged in the price war. So we have still some of the pressures in gaining the budgeting from these two verticals. We have been seeing a slight recovery of the beauty and personal care and cosmetics in the industry in the eighteenth of June of event, but still, you know, this particular recovery trend or recovery pace was still lower than our expectation. So in the second half of year, still there are some of the headwinds coming in, so we still have to be precautious over the recovery pace of these two industries. OK.
站在微博整体的这个年中一个时间节点看呢，就是我们会看到今年这个不同行业确实差异比较大，但是对于微博整体的策略，我们认为今年核心，除了这些收入之外，我们更关注两点，第一个是我们整体流量的恢复，特别是我们高ARPU用户的流量的恢复。另外一个就是我们的一些垂直领域生态的恢复。因为疫情三年，这个微博的及时性和讨论性的特征，我相信大家都感觉得到，通过这个疫情的一些新闻报道得到了充分的发挥，虽然让我们在社会热点方面获得了用户增长和整个影响力的提升，但是也相对而言压制了微博一些垂直领域的用户心智和内容占比，例如说跟生活消费相关的一些美食啊、美妆啊、旅游啊、摄影这些，它们相比疫情前占微博的这个整个流量的一个占比，是有一个不小的跌幅的。所以说今年的重心一个是恢复整体流量，大家刚才我也提到了，在700亿的流量应该已经恢复到了历史的高点。然后第二个来讲的话呢，就是我们把这些流量向我们的垂直领域做倾斜，让我们的这些垂直领域的内容生态跟商业生态尽快恢复，这样才能推动我们 在这些行业里面的收入可持续的一个快速的恢复。谢谢。
And also, as a whole, you know, standing on this particular time point, I think that there are varied and heterogeneous, you know, recovery pace of different verticals. So apart from still focusing on the revenue and also the budgeting gain from those verticals, we have another two additional focuses of this year, for the rest of this year. First is that, so we have to pay attention to the recovery, of the overall traffic, and also second is that laser focusing on those traffic supported to each and different verticals, so that it's all about the traffic, for the verticals.
So you can, you can see that so, in the first half of the year, we have been seeing some of the, nature of Weibo, for example, the, it is a great and popular place for people to discuss upon topics, and so we do see actually more users, and also the influential power of Weibo as a social platform was also enhancing. However, still, you know, this brought to some of the, pressure or some of the, you know, suppression on the, lifestyle and also local service related consumer revenues. For instance, like used to be, I know we had a lot of, I know traffic, related to topics like the food and travel and photography, etc., etc.
Our, our focus, for the rest of the year is first of all, you know, still overall pay attention to the recovery of the whole traffic, for all kinds of different, you know, sectors and also topics. And second is that we are going to give a laser focus support to the give the traffic laser focus support to those verticals, so that, you know, they are going to have a very good recovery, and also we can gain the momentum from the recovery of those all kinds of different verticals that we are working with. OK.
谢谢。
All right. Thank you very much.
Excuse me, Timothy, do you have any further questions?
That's it. Thank you.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. And then the question comes from the line of Miranda Zhuang from Bank of America Securities. Your line is open, please ask your question.
Hey, Gil, 感谢管理层接受我的提问。那刚才就是最后也提到，就是说其实今年更关注整体流量的恢复，还有就是要去扶持更多的这个垂直流量。那所以我的问题是想跟进一下，那可不可以分享一下对于下半年一个用户增长的一个展望，然后以及我们在用户流量，然后我们的垂直领域的内容生态的一个运营策略。啊，那我感谢一下我的问题，谢谢。So, thanks, I want to follow up management's comment on this year's strategy, which is to increase the overall traffic and also to beef up support for the verticals traffic. So my question is, can you share your outlook for the, you know, user growth in the second half, and also your operational strategies to boost the user traffic and then the vertical content areas?
Thanks。
谢谢。那从一个是从用户，用户规模角度来看的话呢，大家就也知道，就今年手机的出货量其实是不及预期的，同比应该有一个10%多一些的下降，那相应的来讲的话，我们的市场容量消费也做了下降。那在这样的情况下，其实我们的重心更多是提升，一个是我们用户的 一个流量的效率，再一个是提升我们高APP用户，也就是说，直接一点，就是我们的iPhone或者说是华为用户的这种流量的效率，作为我们上半年一个工作的重点。过了。
...Okay, thank you for your question. So, first, let's talk about the scale of user. So, first of all, you know, everybody is aware that the shipment of the headset in the first half of year experienced a decline of about 10% year-on-year, and also as a result, the marketing expenses relevant to that was also decreasing. So, our focus for this will be, first of all, increase the efficiency of the traffic, and second of all, focus on those high output value clients, especially the traffic supporting those iPhone users and Huawei smartphone users as well. Okay.
另外，从整个流量角度恢复来讲的话，核心其实还是我们讲我们的新闻热点跟文娱作为一个主要的两个，热点领域的一个流量恢复。那二季度来看的话呢，在文娱方面，特别是文娱方面，随着整个文娱活动，包括演唱会啊、电影啊、综艺节目的一个恢复，那整个，热点的流量是有一个同比明显的提升的。那七月、八月，其实大家也能感受到，整个微博的流量提升会更明显，主要还是得益于整个暑期或者整个文娱市场的一个恢复的一个大的一个情况吧。那今年上半年来看，整体来看的话，文娱流量和互动用户同比提升都超过20%，跟疫情前相比，提升超过50%。那这些流量恢复也可以比较好地支撑我们很多垂直领域的一些领域内容生态的一个重新的一个恢复。
And also, still, we are going to focus on the recovery of the traffic, especially from two areas.
One is culture and entertainment, the other is the news and hot trends. So in Q2, especially talking about the activities of the culture and entertainment industry, we've been seeing more activities organized, for instance, the movies and theaters and also variety shows, as well as the concerts, etc. So we had a very clear trend of the recovery and increase of the traffic in July and also August as well. This was mainly due to, for instance, you know, more activity in the entertainment industry, in the summer holiday season and also, in the first half of this year as a whole, we've been seeing over 20% of the growth for the interactive users number in the entertainment industry, and also a 50% growth versus the pre-COVID period. So that, you know, we are going to have a very good, you know, trend getting from that particular industry. Okay.
那么说，下半年我们的重心更多的一个是继续保持这样一个整体流量的一个效率的提升，同时更关键的是去扶持我们讲的，垂直领域的流量的恢复。我们，如果分类型来看的话呢，我们有一些领域，比如说刚才也是手机跟汽车，那这些垂直领域的流量占比，其实二三年看，过去一年都持续地保持着投入。那二三年目前的它的整个占流量的占比大概是疫情前的将近一倍左右。那这样相应带来的也就是说是我们在这些行业里面的商业影响力和商业收入都可以跑赢了整个大盘的，同时在市场上里面有更强的竞争力。对的。
In the second half of the year, we're going to focus first on the overall recovery of the traffic efficiency, and also second is that give more support to those different vertical contents and verticals as well. I've been already sharing with you some of the colors related to headset industry and also the vertical of automotive, which we had a great investment of traffic for the past one and two years. And so in 2023, we have been seeing that, you know, the overall percentage or the traffic contribution to our total traffic from the headset and also the automotive industry, has already been doubled versus the pre-COVID period.
So that, you know, because of this, a very good trend and also a better kind of a revenue commercial revenue and also influential power increased, we are going to see more and more significance of the headset and also automotive vertical, so that we can give more vertical support, traffic support to these two verticals. Okay.
同时我们也会看到有些垂直领域，比如说我们的美妆、时尚、旅游这些领域，一个是在疫情这三年，用户在微博上的消费的需求就明显下降的；另外一个来讲的话，也有外部竞争的压力所在。所以说我们看在疫情刚过去的时候，这些领域其实在我们整个流量的占比，其实已经跌到疫情前可能不到一半左右了。那，呃，所以说今年上半年我们也做了一些这方面的倾斜性的流量运营的工作，我们会看到时尚其实现在已经恢复到疫情前的占比，那相应地我们一方面也看到它对应的行业，奢侈品行业，它的收入也是保——开始保持一个同比的一个正向的一个增长。但是像美妆这些，旅游这些行业，可能它的占比还是没有恢复到疫情前，还是有比较大的gap，这就相，相应的这些行业的收入，特别是像美妆行业的收入，我们的同比的收入肯定是下降的，那这也是我们下半年其实最大的一个工作的重心，如何去恢复这些受疫情和外部竞争影响的这些流量，它在整个公司流量里面的一个流量结构，只有这些恢复了，我们的影响力和我们的商业化才能够比较顺利地得以开展和竞争吧。好，谢谢。
Also, next thing I would like to talk about are the verticals of beauty, the cosmetics, and personal care, and fashion industry, as well as the vertical of travel. So, you know, before the COVID period or during the COVID period, people's or users actually demand over these different products of these verticals actually decline. And also we had experienced a severe competition during the COVID period. So when the COVID control policy was just alleviated, we can see that the kind of a performance and also the traffic contribution percentage from these kind of industries are accounting for only half of the total traffic contribution percentage before the COVID period.
So in the first half of the year, we had already, you know, we have already done something to actually support the operation from these to these different verticals. And also, now, a very good trend is that the fashion vertical have already, you know, recovered their traffic percentage contribution to our overall traffic to the period before the COVID. And also, in terms of the luxury industry, the revenue from this luxury industry actually was increasing and to a positive trend. And also for the cosmetics and also the travel, still we have been seeing a gap if we're comparing with the situation before the COVID.
So as a result, you can see that, you know, the overall, kind of revenue from the verticals of, the, cosmetics had a year-on-year decline. So these will be still the verticals that we are gonna lay the focus on our operation support in the second half of the year. And also, because when we had a very good recovery from those, you know, less than expected growth, verticals, it is going to give us more influence, and also we are going to optimize the total structure in terms of the traffic, contribution to our overall traffic, so that we can regain to a positive momentum of growth. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. The next question comes from the line of Daisy Chen from Haitong International. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
AIGC. I'll translate myself. Thanks, management, for taking my question. My question is about the AIGC. Can management share more color about the deployment, application scenarios, and the product planning in AIGC? And what is the current stage of the development? Thank you.
[Foreign Language]
Okay, thank you for this question. So I think that during the last quarter earnings conference call, we had already answered part of this question. So AIGC of Weibo has two functions. First is that we are going to enhance the production speed and productivity of those individualized contents by those key accounts on our platform or the big accounts on our platform, and also help them to enhance the stickiness and customer relationships. And also second is that it could help us to really, you know, supplement and also regain some of those medium to long tail accounts on Weibo.
So you can see that, for Weibo, in terms of the content creation, we have a characteristic, which is that the ecosystem for the top accounts or top ranking accounts is pretty much optimized and also, but still, pretty much weaker for those medium to long tail accounts. So AIGC is going to be very much a supplementary in helping with those, you know, medium and long tail accounts in terms of the content generation. Okay.
[Foreign Language]
Okay. Thank you for this question. So I think that during the last quarter earnings conference call, we had already answered part of this question. So AIGC of Weibo has two functions. First is that we are going to enhance the production speed and productivity of those individualized contents by those key accounts on our platform or the big accounts on our platform, and also help them to enhance the stickiness and customer relationships. And also, second is that it could help us to really, you know, supplement and also regain some of those medium to long tail accounts on Weibo.
So you can see that, for Weibo, in terms of the content creation, we have a characteristic, which is that the ecosystem for the top accounts or top ranking accounts is pretty much optimized and also, but still, pretty much weaker for those medium to long tail accounts. So AIGC is going to be very much a supplementary in helping with those, you know, medium and long tail accounts in terms of the content generation. Okay.
[Foreign Language]
... And also second thing is that, you know, we really believe that it is going to be very important for giving us a further supplementation of the vertical traffic and also vertical content, especially in terms of the travel and also the food, et cetera. So because, you know, the top accounts, of course, are creating very good content and, in these two areas, but still we are lack of the good quality content for those medium-level accounts and also medium-level, you know, users. So, I think that the AIGC is going to be of great help and support in this particular area, so that, you know, the efficiency of operation of those medium-level accounts could be pretty much enhanced. Okay. Another two areas.
First of all, in Q2, we've been seeing a more and more, you know, high efficient interactions created and generated because of the AIGC. For those kind of quite professional and also specific topic-oriented accounts, like for the romantic relations and, you know, finance and zodiacs, et cetera, et cetera. So because it does require a lot of very professional and also very much a style-oriented, you know, answers. So, we are using AIGC to offer those, you know, very professional answers. And also, the capability of AI chat can also help these accounts of increasing their stickiness with their users and followers as well. And also thus generating certain revenue and income for those accounts.
The second part is that, you know, some of the medium levels of celebrities are actually using and utilizing the capability of AIGC in generating images through images, and also the function of AI chat as well. So, most of those medium-level celebrities are already using this capability to enhance their daily operation. So in starting from September of this year, we are gonna see more and more top-level celebrities of trying and using this capability. Okay.
Okay. Thank you.
Excuse me, Daisy, any further questions? Thank you, Daisy. The speakers are now for the questions, and I would like now to hand the conference over to Sandra Zhang for any closing remarks.
Thanks, operator. This concludes our conference call today. We will see you next quarter. Thank you.
Thank you very much for participating. You may now all disconnect.