Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the 36Kr Holdings Inc. 2026 first-half earnings conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to management to begin. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Hello everyone, and welcome to 36Kr Holdings first-half 2026 earnings conference call. The company's financial and operational results were released earlier today and have been made available online. You can also read the earnings press release by visiting the IR section of our website, ir.36kr.com. Participants on today's call will include our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng, and our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Xiang Li. Mr. Feng will start the call by providing an overview of company's and the performance highlights of first half in Chinese, followed by English interpretations. Mr. Li will then provide details on the company's financial results before opening the call for your questions. Before we continue, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements made under the Safe Harbor Provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties.
As such, the company results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding those and the other risks and uncertainties is included in company's prospectuses and other public filing ourselves with the U.S. SEC. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under the applicable law. Please note that 36Kr's earnings press release and this conference call includes discussion of unaudited GAAP financial measures as well as unaudited non-GAAP financial measures. 36Kr earnings press release contain reconciliations of unaudited non-GAAP measures to the unaudited GAAP measures. Please note that all amount numbers are in RMB. I will now turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Dagang Feng. Dagang, please go ahead.
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Thank you. Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining 36Kr first-half 2026 earnings conference call.
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In the first half of 2026, in the continued macroeconomic uncertainty, the company sustained its profitability trend and maintained solid results across all operating metrics. The key takeaway from this period's results is that our profitability is not a product of short-term financial adjustment, but sustainable commercial value built on the interplay of three strengths: content influence, industrial service capabilities, and technological application prowess.
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Total revenue was RMB 124 million in the first half of 2026, up 33.7% year-over-year. Gross profit was RMB 82.68 million, up 33.1% year-over-year, with a gross profit margin of 66.4%. Net income was RMB 15.37 million, while cash reserve continued to increase, providing ample liquidity to support ongoing operations and strategic investments.
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Those operating results stem from our longstanding strategy of being the picks and the shovels player in the technology industry. Rather than going all in on a single technology or industry cycle, we draw our sharp insight into technology and innovation trends. Backed by years of expertise and robust assets.
To consistently capitalize on opportunities unlocked by successive waves of industry transformations, from artificial intelligence and embodied intelligence to emerging industries such as nuclear fusion, quantum computing, and brain-computer interfaces. Whatever the next wave of technological innovation emerges, 36Kr leverages its visionary content layout and commercial service capabilities to engage with the business, capital, technology, and local industrial stakeholders across the value chain. The 36Kr Industry Future Initiative is a primary example of this capability. By consistently providing forward-looking insights into the latest technology trends, we strengthen the competitive barriers around our content ecosystem, enhance our operating reliance across technology cycles, and deliver long-term sustainable growth in the commercial value in the waves of technological evolution.
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Let's take a closer look at our major business progress for the period in the three areas: content ecosystem, commercialization and industrial service, technology and product.
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First, content ecosystem. We consistently strengthened our content ecosystem during the period, maintaining 36Kr's content influence across China's new economy and technology innovation sectors. We continue to expand our footprint across various channels, crafting a comprehensive circulation matrix encompassing major new media platforms like Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Toutiao, Zhihu, Bilibili, Douyin, and Kuaishou, among others. Both channel exposure brought us wider overall distribution and higher visibility of our premium content. At the end of June 2026, we had approximately 36.52 million followers.
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Meanwhile, we stayed attuned to trends and remained focused on enhancing content quality, consistently delivering high-caliber work while maintaining the influence of our flagship channels, including 36Kr and 36Kr Pro. We ramped up our efforts to spotlight the Emergence of Intelligence. Our AI-focused account, covering the latest developments from AI industry giants, including ByteDance's Seed team, DeepSeek, Tencent's Hunyuan, and Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen, built on a content model combining exclusive access to information with in-depth interviews. The channel has established a strong industry footprint in AI coverage. In addition, Hardcore KR sharpens its focus on the embodied intelligence value chain, differentiating itself through first-to-report coverage of startup funding and in-depth founder interviews. Its followers increased by approximately 27%, attracted by coverage spanning key segments across the value chain, including brain chips, tactile sensors, robot-assisted manufacturing, and on-device computing power.
Its Hardcore KR Conversation series offered in-depth perspectives from founders on their technology roadmap and strategic choices, building a differentiated content mode in hardcore technology coverage. Our other high-quality, vertical-specific accounts like 36Kr Auto, Future Consumption, 36Kr Games, 36Kr Finance, and 36Kr Industry Futures also continued to build momentum, building a balancing board coverage with tips off experts in specialized domains to provide users with invaluable insights into industry trends and evolving business dynamics.
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Beyond graphic and text content, we continue to diversify our content formats by delivering premium content across short and long form videos, audio, live streamings and short plays.
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In short videos, our exceptional content creation capabilities earned us wide visibility and rave reviews from users. Our video followers reached 96.3 million. In the first half of 2026, we produced a total of 75 short videos, including a blockbuster on Douyin that garnered over 8.4 million views. On other video platforms, we consistently create in-depth pieces that generate more than one million views each. On the commercial video side, we continue to produce high quality content, working closely with companies in support of clients' digital and intelligence transformations, garnering a notable 230 million total exposure with a single breakout video.
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For live streaming, we made full use of our existing content-specific account assets to actively develop live streaming products and explore new avenues for growth and innovation. At China Appliance and Electronics World Expo 2026, held from March 12 and 15, 36Kr launched the Anthony AI live stream, conducting live on-site coverage from eight of the most popular brand pavilions and profiling 10 leading brands in depth, giving audiences a first-hand look at the latest real-world applications of AI technologies. Broadcast simultaneously across device platforms, the live stream garnered 1.358 million total views and racked up over 18 million impression network wide. During this year's World Artificial Intelligence Conference in July, 36Kr served as an ecosystem partner and special supporting media partner, joining hands with the organizing committee to launch the KrTalk Future League studio.
The live stream contained expert panels, live exhibition coverage, video highlights, and in-depth interviews with companies, garnering 51.8 million total views and engaging 61,000 viewers across the 36Kr live stream matrix.
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In terms of event IP, we further elevated 36Kr's role from that the observer of industry trends to facilitator for industry collaborations. On May 19 to 20, 2026, we hosted the 2026 AI Partner Summit in Beijing. It was themed "Take AI to the Front Line." The summit focused on shifting AI from technical discussion to practical implementations, featuring a main forum and an AI+ industry matchmaking meeting that connected technology providers with businesses holding real industry demands. Over the two-day event, we facilitated more than 100 rounds of in-depth closed-door matchmaking sessions, helping companies identify potential areas of cooperation around specific scenarios. Our 2026 AI Partner Summit gathered approximately 120 million waves and attracted over 1,000 on-site attendees.
In addition, from June 16 to 17, 2026, we hosted Wave 2026 in Panyu, Guangdong, themed "This Middle Summer." This summit gathered a great generation of investors, industry leaders, scientists, and emerging entrepreneurs for 15 in-depth roundtable discussions and dozens of talks covering core topics such as AI, hardcore technology, embedded intelligence, going global, healthcare, and youth innovation. The event also featured the Challenge for Intelligent Youth and the National AI+ Scenario Application Competition Finals. It focused on three tracks: AI agents, embedded intelligent hardware, and lightweight one-person entrepreneurship, providing young innovators and their projects with a platform for exposure, evaluation, feedback, and industry connections. Wave 2026 garnered 118 million waves and attracted more than 2,000 on-site attendees.
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Harnessing our robust content influence and extensive content distribution channels, 36Kr has developed a highly effective customer service system. This has enabled us to achieve commercialization breakthrough in this unprecedented wave of technological innovation.
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In the first half of 2026, thanks to our consistent investment in our content ecosystem and our early positioning in key sectors such as AI and hardcore technology, our customer base grew significantly. New customers working with 36Kr for the first time accounted for approximately one-third of our total customer base in the period. AI and the foundation models, robotic and embedded intelligence were the primary source of our new customers. We also acquired new customers in the consumer goods, healthcare, travel and mobility, education and training sectors. This underscores 36Kr's leadership in new economic communication and our outstanding customer service capabilities.
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In terms of commercialization of online results, we generated RMB 104 million in revenue from online advertising services in the first half of 2026, up approximately 40% year-over-year. Our flagship channels, including 36Kr and 36Kr Pro, maintained industry-leading commercial value. At the same time, the influence of our subvertical media channels, such as the Emergence of Intelligence, Hardcore KR, 36Kr Auto, Future Consumption, Tide, and [All Use], continued to expand, emerging as another key driver of our revenue growth. Short video also achieved a commercialization breakthrough in the first half of 2026, with revenue approximately doubling year-over-year. Furthermore, we launched the 36Kr Pro, a new WeChat channel content offering that meaningfully enriched our product line and enabled more differentiated pricing. This broader range of product options helped propel the continued growth in our revenue from online advertising service.
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In institutional and entrepreneur service, we continue to optimize our business structures, establishing a dual engine growth model driven by our submit and ranking alongside content communications. As the primary market gradually recovered, institutional demands for communication services surged, with content focused on institutional fundraising and the portfolio company financing growth rapidly, driving revenue to nearly double year-over-year. We fully leverage the vertical accounts such as width and the 36Kr Industry Futures to connect the content, enterprise, capital, technology and local industry resource, further unlocking their commercial value.
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In terms of industrial service commercialization, in addition to hosting large-scale events in key regions, we continue to advancing recurring day-to-day industrial service, while our three-year strategic operations project with Hangzhou Qiantang New Area, including the Chinese Enterprise International Service Center operation project and the AI Phenomena Community Operation Service project, continued to progress steadily during this period. In the first half of the year, we focused primarily on key industrial parks, including the Qiantang Embedded Intelligence Industrial Park, delivering a diverse range of operational activities built around brand exposures, resource connections and enterprise service. This initiative effectively enhanced the park's industry profile, supporting investment inflows and industry services. Building on this project, we continue to deepen our industrial service capabilities in the Yangtze River Delta, laying the foundation of replication across the region.
Furthermore, at this year's Wave event, we showcase the Yangtze River Delta industrial resource for Great Bay Area entrepreneurs and investors continues to bridge technological innovation and real-world industry applications. Our industry service and progressively shifting from one-off events towards ongoing operation and deeper customer partnership.
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In applying AI technologies, we continue to pursue a dual-track strategy, improving internal efficiency while productizing our AI capabilities for external stakeholders.
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In the first half of 2026, we hosted the KR Star AI Application Challenge internally to deepen adoption of AI tools across our operations. The initiative focused on identifying practical, replicable, and high-value use cases for improving productivity with AI. Frustrating a culture where everyone knows how to use AI can be applied everywhere, and AI is consistently used to improve efficiency. The competition brought improvement across customer sales process, video and image optimization, internal process management, and more, while cultivating a company-wide atmosphere of learning and knowledge sharing.
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We also continue to optimize our 36Kr project recommendations product. Using foundation model technology, we enable online AI-conducted interviews to dig deeper into projects and automatically generate project recommendations based on the interview content. In the first half of 2026, our 36Kr project recommendations product helped entrepreneurs secure coverage and connection for 1,117 projects, increasing the conversion rate by nearly 80% year-over-year. On the product side, 36Kr and Soften jointly launched the 36Kr Pro with Omni Intelligence, WeChat mini programs aimed at retail investors. It delivers the sentiment analysis reports for public companies and experts that help users make more informed decisions in stock market and other investment markets. Cumulative users have reached 55,200, including more than 10,000 subscribers, up 50.8% and 61.7%, respectively, from 33,600 users and 6,187 subscribers at the end of 2025, and have more than doubled year-over-year.
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Our AI review hub at ai.36kr.com was launched at the end of 2025. It is positioned as a Dianping of AI tools, a community platform combining AI tools discovery and authentic user reviews, primarily serve individual and enterprise users seeking guidance in selecting AI tools. Anchored in professional review content and powered by product capability upgrades, our AI review segment continued to grow across user scale, ecosystem development, and commercial value. On the content side, we continue to scale volume while improving quality, publishing a cumulative 4,096 AI review articles, nearly ten times the 560 articles published as of the end of 2025. Content appeal and user engagement are raising. In fact, ecosystem appeal also continue to strengthen, with 42 companies voluntarily listing their products on our AI review hub, reflecting both market recognition of our positioning as a Dianping of the AI application segment.
We also comprehensively expanded our review network, adding 260 new reviewers and launching our campus ambassador initiative, building a crowd tracker review network spanning both professional and student users. Meanwhile, we continue to broaden our external content distribution channels with a diversified content dissemination ecosystem steadily tracking sharp. At the product capability levels, we completed upgrades to core modules such as promotional placement, a new community framework, leaderboards, and the product database. We also rolled out an AI review agent with blended testing capabilities, creating an end-to-end AI-powered workflow from conversations to review to content postings. Commercially, we achieved a meaningful breakthrough on the strength of our team in deep product review content. We secured a paid commercialization partnership with Kling and Pressure AI, validating our closed-loop model from professional review content to commercial monetization.
In short, our AI review segment continued to progress rapidly, made by growing industry influence, gather ecosystem breadth and depth, and the expanding monetization capabilities.
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To sum up, in the first half of 2026, we maintained a solid financial position while steadily advancing our content innovation, commercialization upgrade, and AI industry application. We will continue to build depth in emerging industry and technology verticals, become a trusted authority on value, capitalize off industry growth, a facilitator of resource connections, and a contributor to shaping industry standards in the AI era.
With that, I will now turn the call over to our CFO, Mr. Xiang Li, who will discuss our key financial results. With that, go ahead, Xiang.
Thank you. Thank you for joining today's presentation. We will now review the first half of 2026 financial performance. Please note that all amounts are in RMB, unless otherwise stated. Our company's total revenue increased by 33.7% to RMB 124.6 million in the first half of 2026, from RMB 93.2 million in the same period last year. Online advertising services revenues increased by 38.9% to RMB 103.5 million in the first half of 2026, from RMB 74.5 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to surging demand from the AI sector for our advertising solutions. Enterprise value-added services revenue increased by 25.4% to RMB 15.3 million in the first half of 2026, from RMB 12.2 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily driven by our ongoing refinement of service offerings aimed at margin improvements.
Subscription services revenue was RMB 5.8 million in the first half of 2026, compared to RMB 6.4 million in the same period last year. The decrease was primarily due to a strategic shift in the segment's customer composition. Cost of revenues was RMB 41.9 million in the first half of 2026, a slight decrease of 1.4% from RMB 42.5 million in the same period last year. The decrease was primarily driven by the company's strict cost control measures. Gross profit increased by 63.1% to RMB 82.7 million in the first half of 2026, from RMB 50.7 million in the same period last year. Gross profit margin was 66.4% in the first half of 2026, representing an increase of 12 percentage points from 54.4% in the same period last year.
The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by higher margin from our online advertising services within the AI sector and a significant increase in related revenues, alongside slight payroll-related costs resulting from our strategic workforce management. Operating expenses increased by 6.6% to RMB 59.6 million in the first half of 2026, from RMB 55.9 million in the same period last year. Sales and marketing expenses was RMB 29.2 million in the first half of 2026, remaining flat year-over-year, reflecting our disciplined approach to sales spending. General and administrative expenses were RMB 24.1 million in the first half of 2026, an increase of 20.5% from RMB 20 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily related to the increase in allowance for doubtful accounts and the payroll-related expenses.
Research and development expenses were RMB 6.4 million in the first half of 2026, remaining flat year-over-year, primarily reflecting our continued focus on R&D efficiency and strategic programs prioritizations. Share-based compensation expenses recognized in cost of revenue, sales and marketing expenses, research and development expenses, as well as general and admin expenses totaled RMB 19.7 thousand in the first half of 2026, compared to RMB 89.6 thousand in the same period last year. Other expenses were RMB 7.7 million in the first half of 2026, compared to RMB 0.4 million of other income in the same period last year. The change was mainly due to the increase in long-term investment loss. Income tax expenses were RMB 27,000 in the first half of 2026, compared to RMB 4,000 of income tax credit in the same period last year.
Net income was RMB 15.4 million in the first half of 2026, compared to a net loss of RMB 4.8 million in the same period last year. Non-GAAP adjusted net income was RMB 15.4 million in the first half of 2026, compared to a non-GAAP adjusted net loss of RMB 4.7 million in the same period last year. Net income attributable to 36Kr Holdings Inc.'s ordinary shareholders was RMB 15 million in the first half of 2026, compared to a net loss attributable to 36Kr Holdings Inc.'s ordinary shareholders of RMB 5 million in the same period last year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS was RMB 0.370 and RMB 0.369 respectively in the first half of 2026, compared to a basic and diluted net loss per ADS of RMB 2.307 in the same period last year. Certain balance sheet items.
As of June 30th, 2026, the company had cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments of RMB 124.2 million, an increase of 6.9% from RMB 116.1 million as of December 31st, 2025. The increase was mainly attributable to positive cash inflow from operating activities. Well, this concludes all our prepared remarks today. We will now open the call to questions. Operator, please go ahead.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star then two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask a question. The first question will come from Lingyi Zhao with SWS Research. Please go ahead.
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Good evening, [Foreign language], good evening, management team. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. My first question is, compared with other media outlets, what are 36Kr's key differentiators in AI content coverage? Why do advertisers choose 36Kr over specialized AI media outlets? My second question is, looking ahead, what are the key growth engines for the company? How does management plan to balance increased investment in content and technology to drive growth with maintaining healthy profitability and solid cash flow? Thank you.
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That's a great question. The differentiation advantage in AI content coverage come down to three key areas.
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First, our broad-based platform reach. Our content metrics spans AI, hardcore technology, going global, consumer goods, automotive, gaming, healthcare, and other verticals. We have 36.52 million followers across a diverse reach of mainstream media platform, including Weibo, Xiaohongshu, Toutiao, Zhihu, Bilibili, Douyin, and Kuaishou, among others. This allows advertisers on our platform to reach not only the AI industry audience, but also upstream and downstream business and cross-sector users simultaneously. Something s pecialized AI media outlets cannot easily deliver.
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Second, our content model is built on exclusive information access combined with in-depth content output. At 36Kr, we hold ourselves to extremely high standards for content quality. We do not simply follow the latest trends, we insist on real depth. We consistently offer extensive original perspectives on industry development and sector analysis, providing users with invaluable insights into industry trends and evolving business dynamics.
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Third, our end-to-end industrial service. Advertisers choose 36Kr not only for our professional content, but more importantly, for our comprehensive service capabilities. For example, at this year's AI Partners Meet, we facilitated more than 100 rounds of in-depth, closed-door matchmaking sessions centered on real-world AI implementation scenarios, effectively connecting technology providers with companies looking for practical solutions. This demonstrated the strong capabilities we build in connecting the full industrial value chains. With 36Kr, advertisers get more than brand exposure. They can also access industrial resources and business partnership opportunities, an integrated value proposition that specialized media outlets cannot easily provide.
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For the second question, regarding growth engines, I see four areas gaining traction. In the near term, AI customer growth will be a key driver. Over the first half of the year, approximately 40% of our new customers came from the AI sector, and we continue to see strong momentum in this segment. In the medium term, three other areas will drive growth. First, we will deepen the commercialization of our top vertical content matrices. Our content, such as The Emergence of Intelligence and Hardcore KR, have achieved significant follower growth, which is now unleashing their commercial value. Second, we will scale the monetization of AI products. Our AI review hub, ai.36kr.com, secured paid commercialization partnerships with Kling and DeepSeek, and the user base of the 36Kr Corporate Early Intelligence has doubled year-over-year. Third, we will replicate our industrial service model across regions.
With the Qiantang model now validated, we can roll it out in other regions.
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In terms of balancing investment and profitability, our philosophy is clear: we invest where we see a clear path to returns. Our financial results over the first half reflected this discipline. Gross profit margin continued to improve due to our ongoing efforts to control costs and optimize our customer mix. We place a high priority on financial health and continually improve operating efficiency while keeping our cost base lean. At the same time, we continue to invest in content. This is a core strength that will continuously build and reinforce the resilience and sustainability of our business operations. We will never pressure growth at the expense of profitability. Every investment must have a clear business rationale and a clear path to returns. Thank you, Lingyi.
The next question will come from Rui Yin with Sealand Securities. Please go ahead.
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Thank you, Rui Yin. Our strategy positioning in AI era is crystal clear. We have always been the picks and shovel supplier, even in technology industries. No matter how technology evolves, enterprise demands for building, industry insights and access to industry resources and the connections will remain strong. As AI adoption accelerates, the demand is only increasing. Our content influence, industrial service and technological application capabilities, working concerns to form a closed loop.
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As for the mix between the two, content advertising remain our business foundation and our traffic gateway, while industrial service are our growth engine and the driver of margin expansions. The relationship between them is a flywheel, not a substitution. Our content influence builds customer trust and strengthen our ability to connect to industry resources. In turn, our industrial service deepen our content and industry insights, ultimately attracting more advertising customers.
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In terms of how the balance will evolve, we expect the share of industrial service to increase steadily. In the first half of the year, we continue to deepen our three-year strategic cooperation projects with Hangzhou Qiantang area, and our 2026 AI Partners Meet in Beijing also strengthen our ecosystem influence. Our industrial service and gradually evolving from one-off events towards ongoing operations. That said, content advertising will remain foundational to our revenue base. In the first half of this year, our flagship channels contribute nearly half of online advertising revenues, and both Short video and institutional communication revenues doubled year-over-year. With both growth engine gaining momentum, we are confident in our future trajectory. Thank you.
There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to hand the call back over to management for any closing remarks. Please go ahead.
Okay. Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact 36Kr investor relationship through the contact information provided on our website.
This does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.