(Yicai Global) March 23 -- Chinese game-centric livestreaming giants Huya and Douyu International Holdings both logged losses in the fourth quarter last year as an increasing number of online video platforms muscle in on the game streaming sector.

Huya posted a net loss of CNY312.7 million (USD49.1 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, a far cry from the profit of CNY253.2 million it realized in the same period in 2020, according to the Guangzhou-based firm’s latest financial report released yesterday.

Douyu recorded losses of CNY193.2 million for the period, which was nevertheless an improvement on the same period a year earlier, narrowing 15 percent, according to its statement released on March 15. The Wuhan-based company has now lost money for five consecutive quarters.

Video sites Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, Kuaishou and Bilibili are competing with Huya and Douyu for market share in the gaming livestreaming sector, said an analyst from consulting agency iiMedia Research. The video sites' huge number of users and diversified customer structure enables them to have low customer acquisition costs. They can also challenge the more established game-centric livestreamers through the strength of their own capital, he added.

Last year was a difficult year for Huya and Douyu, which are both backed by internet giant Tencent Holdings. Their planned merger was derailed in July after regulators ruled that the move would give Shenzhen-based Tencent too much control over the new entity.

Huya posted a 6.1 percent fall in revenue for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021 to CNY2.8 billion (USD439 million), largely due to a big drop in paying subscribers and the amount spent per user, it said. The number of subscribers dropped by 400,000 in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to 5.6 million although its mobile MAUs jumped by 7.4 percent to 85.4 million.

It did, however, manage to turn a profit over the course of the year at CNY583.5 million (USD91.6 million), although this was a fall of 35 percent from a year earlier. Revenue for the year was up 4 percent to CNY11.3 billion.

Douyu recorded a 2.6 percent gain in revenue in the fourth quarter from the year before to CNY2.3 billion (USD365 million). For the year 2021, Douyu ran up a deficit of CNY620.2 million (USD97.3 million), compared with profit of CNY404.7 million in 2020, and revenue dropped 4.5 percent to CNY9.2 billion. The number of paying users declined 300,000 year on year to 7.3 million, although its mobile MAUs jumped 7.2 percent to 62.4 million.

Editor: Kim Taylor