DLK Advisory Limited
Newborn Town Announced 2023 Annual Operating Data, Showing Continued Growth in Social Networking and Innovative Businesses

Newborn Town Inc. (“Newborn Town”; 9911. HK) announced the unaudited operating data for 2023 on 16 January 2024. This company has seen remarkable growth in both social networking and innovative businesses. 

According to the announcement, the solid growth of the social networking business can be attributable to the consolidation of BlueCity Holdings Limited and the rapid growth of newly launched social apps. 

The social networking business of Newborn Town in 2023 reached approximately RMB 2.95 billion to RMB 3.05 billion, representing a YoY increase of about 15.4% to 19.3%. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the average MAU of the business reached about 27.833 million, a QoQ increase of approximately 8.7%. 

SUGO, one of the new social apps coming to the fore in markets like MENA and SEA, has entered the list of the top 30 Chinese non-game publishers in terms of overseas revenue by data.ai for four consecutive months. 

Notably, considerable progress has also been made in Newborn Town’s LGBTQ+ social networking business. The company completed the consolidation of BlueCity last August. Since then, Newborn Town has parleyed its over ten years of overseas experience to help BlueCity improve its overseas operation and monetization capabilities.  

In January 2024, Newborn Town officially unveiled an online LGBTQ+ community app HeeSay. Based on the user base and brand influence that the international version of Blued has accumulated in different markets, HeeSay will focus on building a content ecosystem through in-depth localized operations to serve the global LGBTQ+ community better. 

Remarkable strides were also made in innovative business because of the surge in new quality game products and the steady progress in traffic monetization. Newborn Town’s innovative business gained a YoY increase of approximately 32.2% to 48.8%, reaching a revenue of about RMB 320 million to RMB 360 million.  

Alice’s Dream: Merge Island, the quality game product developed by Newborn Town, achieved 14th place in the revenue ranking of Chinese mobile games in overseas markets in November 2023. This game also saw a 149% and 902% surge in revenue and downloads last August because of its gameplay-based innovation and advertising campaigns, achieving 17th and 30th place, respectively. 

Apart from that, the newly launched games Taylor’s Secret, Sudoku, etc., also caught the public’s attention in 2023.  

Overall, Newborn Town has made substantial progress in its three core business segments while exploring opportunities for emerging technologies and developing products such as AI social apps and AIGC tools.  

And it will continue to cultivate the social entertainment realm and maintain its leading position in years to come.