NetEase today released its first quarter financial report as of March 31, 2024. The data shows that the company's net revenue reached 26.9 billion yuan, a steady growth of 7.2% year on year. In terms of net profit, the company achieved 7.6 billion yuan, showing a steady growth compared with 6.6 billion yuan in the previous quarter and 6.8 billion yuan in the same period last year. If not included in the U.S. GAAP, the net profit reached 8.5 billion yuan, higher than 7.4 billion yuan in the previous quarter and 7.6 billion yuan in the same period last year.
Specifically, NetEase's net revenue structure has been adjusted in this quarter, but it remains stable as a whole. As the core business of the company, games and related value-added services contributed 21.5 billion yuan in net revenue, with a significant year-on-year growth. Among them, the net revenue of online game operations accounted for the vast majority, about 95.2%, and mobile games contributed 78.6% of the net revenue of online game operations.
In addition, NetEase Youdao, as an important layout of the company in the field of education, also achieved a net revenue of 1.4 billion yuan in this quarter, slightly lower than the previous quarter, but still growing year-on-year. Cloud music business maintained a stable net revenue of 2 billion yuan. For innovation and other businesses, although the net revenue of this quarter decreased compared with the previous quarter, it still increased year-on-year, which shows the company's active exploration and effectiveness in diversified business layout.
Ding Lei, CEO of NetEase, said that in 2024, NetEase will continue to strengthen its research and development capacity, focus on polishing products and content, open up markets through innovation and category expansion, and create value together with global talents and partners.
In terms of AI, NetEase said that NetEase continued to explore a new link of content production with in-depth integration of AI+games. The self-developed AI tools have supported high time consuming links in traditional game development, such as scene modeling, motion capture animation, and served more than 100 game products in total. Based on Netease Fuxi's multi-mode AI big model of "Yi Sheng Zhu Xiang", "Cold Against the Water" mobile game, based on a series of AI game playing methods such as intelligent NPC, AI character pinching face, AI poetry, AI virtual newspaper system, is the industry's first new play method of "crew mode". Players can complete AI corner selection, scene selection and shooting with one click in the game, and can generate film and television blockbusters by typing.
In the fields of education, advertising and music assisted creation, AI commercialization and scene based landing have made new progress. Driven by AI technologies such as "Ziyue", the first education model in China, NetEase Youdao's three high growth potential businesses have developed rapidly. The gross profit rate of digital content services has exceeded 70% for three consecutive quarters, the net income of online marketing has increased by 126% year on year, and the sales of AI subscription services has increased by 140% year on year. The one-stop AI music creation tool NetEase Skytone has recently opened its entrance to all NetEase Cloud music users, providing AI music creation full process auxiliary functions, including words, songs, editing, singing, and mixing, to help music lovers create music at a low threshold.