Douyu (NASDAQ: DOYU) and Huya (NYSE: HUYA), China’s two largest game livestreaming giants, reported results for the third quarter on Wednesday with both falling just short of revenue projections.
Douyu generated RMB 2.55 billion (USD 373.3 million) in the quarter, less than the company’s own projection of RMB 2.64 billion. Huya’s net revenue totaled RMB 2.81 billion (USD 414.6 million), just missing analyst expectations.
While both platforms received a significant boost from the pandemic and ensuing lockdown earlier in the year, China’s resumption of normal life has dragged users away from online entertainment into offline venues.
Game livestreaming was a huge beneficiary of behavioral changes induced by measures to control the health crisis, and in October Douyu and Huya signed a merger to create a unified industry titan backed by social and gaming giant Tencent.
“The merger of Huya and Douyu will allow the two companies to integrate all of their esports and streaming resources into a singular game viewership branch, where anything related to game streaming can be handled under a singular strategy and brand,” Tianyi Gu, an analyst from Newzoo, told KrASIA,
She added, “the combined entity will be a clear dominant force in China’s streaming scene, and Tencent will be the largest shareholder.”
During the third quarter, Douyu registered a record of 194 million average monthly active users (MAUs) while Huya’s average MAUs reached 172.9 million.
Despite the near revenue miss, Huya’s stock price closed Wednesday trading up 3.47% at USD 20.60, while Douyu shares climbed 1.40% to USD 13.80 following the announcement.