On an earnings call Thursday, Chinese social giant Tencent announced its Q4 2015 revenue: $4.7 billion, a 45% increase over Q4
2014.Tencent also reported its online ad revenue rose by 118% to $733 million for the fourth
quarter of 2015, as compared to the same period the previous year.
On an earnings call, Tencent president Martin Lau said the company is growing its
social advertising business in a few ways, including developing "advanced data mining look-alike and retargeting technologies" to support audience profiling and targeting capabilities, as well as
drive ad engagement and conversion.
Lau also said the company is creating new ad formats that support brand storytelling to attract a bigger share of top advertisers' online app
spend.
"Compared with traditional online advertising, social advertising is less intrusive, and if done properly, can trigger viral sharing in our social platforms," Lau said on the
call.
Also noteworthy is WeChat, Tencent's messaging app, which the company reported sees 697 million monthly users, a year-over-year increase of 39%.
The Wall Street Journal reported investors said they're "counting on Tencent’s
ability to build a lucrative ad business on top of its social platforms by taking a page from Facebook’s playbook."