Kuaishou Reports 1.4% Revenue Growth as AI Commercialization Surges Past RMB 850 Million
Chinese short-video platform posts RMB 35.5 billion in Q2 revenue with adjusted net profit of RMB 3.9 billion, driven by Kling AI expansion and steady marketing services growth.
Profitability Holds Steady Amid Competitive Pressures
Kuaishou Technology delivered modest top-line growth in its second quarter, with total revenues reaching RMB 35.5 billion, an increase of 1.4% year-over-year, while adjusted net profit came in at RMB 3.9 billion, representing an 11% margin (earnings call, 2026-08-19). The company's average daily active users (DAUs) on its core platform reached 412 million during the quarter.
Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO Cheng Yixiao acknowledged the "complex macroeconomic environment and industry competition" facing the company, while emphasizing continued commitment to long-term strategic AI investments (earnings call, 2026-08-19). Core commercial business revenues—comprising online marketing services, e-commerce, and Kling AI—grew 7.4% year-over-year.
Kling AI Emerges as Growth Driver
The company's AI video generation platform, Kling AI, generated revenue exceeding RMB 850 million in Q2, marking growth of over 200% year-over-year and "continuing to lead global AI commercialization" (earnings call, 2026-08-19).
Kuaishou launched Kling AI 3.0 during the quarter, introducing what the company described as "the industry's first video generation model" supporting native 4K output for cinema-grade production without complex post-production work (earnings call, 2026-08-19). The platform also released a 3.0 Turbo model focused on efficiency and cost reduction, along with Kling MCP and Kling CLI tools for workflow automation.
The technology garnered industry recognition, with works generated by Kling AI winning two gold, one silver, and two bronze awards at the 2026 Cannes Lions advertising festival (earnings call, 2026-08-19). Multiple Kling AI-created works were also selected for the Beijing International Film Festival's AIGC section.
Marketing Services Show Resilience
Online marketing services revenue reached RMB 20.6 billion, up 4.4% year-over-year (earnings call, 2026-08-19). Non-e-commerce marketing services saw particular strength in content consumption, lifestyle services, and AI applications. Short-play content drove marketing spend growth exceeding 100% year-over-year during the quarter.
The company reported that AIGC-driven marketing spend grew over 70% year-over-year in Q2, supported by scenario-based agent capabilities for generating marketing materials (earnings call, 2026-08-19). For e-commerce marketing specifically, Kuaishou's T2000 brand initiative—launched in Q4 2025—showed early traction, with brand merchant marketing spend outperforming broader e-commerce marketing.
AI Infrastructure Gains Internal Adoption
Kuaishou's internally developed AI assistant, MyFlicker, achieved adoption by over 92% of employees, with code contribution rates among R&D engineers reaching 60% (earnings call, 2026-08-19). The company also launched AgentX, an AI agent for industrial recommendation systems that autonomously handles model design, performance evaluation, and knowledge accumulation.
The platform's monthly active users (MAUs) reached 797 million in Q2, while users with mutual followers engaging in private messaging grew over 15% year-over-year (earnings call, 2026-08-19). The company leveraged major sporting events, including the World Cup, to drive engagement, generating 68.2 billion impressions and 360 million cumulative livestream views through its Kuaishou World Cup Fans Trophy initiative.
This article was generated by MarginX from the earnings call on 2026-08-19. It is not investment advice.