Tencent QQ 2009q3: 1B accounts, .4B active, 75MM online

Ahead of Skype worldwide is Tencent (HK:0700), a diversified Chinese online empire with the QQ instant messaging service at its core. Building on free IM, QQ makes money with "Online Media, Wireless Internet Value-Added Services, Interactive Entertainment Service, Internet Value-added Service, E-commerce, and Online Advertising Service." Tencent had another record quarter.

QQ now has more than a billion (1057MM) user accounts. Active accounts in the last two weeks of the quarter are just shy of half that at 484.9MM. Peak concurrent users rose to 75.5MM. Twice as many accounts and nearly four times as much dialtone as Skype.

QQ's "Dialtone Density" (quarterly peak accounts online as a percent of the number of active accounts online) shows customers are spending more time connected with the QQ network.

Tencent explains their growth as "driven by the popularity of our SNS [Social Network Service] applications which enhanced user engagement and activity through cross-platform integration, as well as increased usage of our IM services through mobile devices."

Tencent has an adjacency strategy, adding businesses that complement their core QQ service and sharing common usernames.

So they have casual gaming, MMO games, FPS games, desktop games, enterprise IM, mobile, email, feedreader, security, media player, download manager, pinyin authoring, news and community portal, search, mobile games, mobile QQ, mobile music and ringtones, blogging, dating, facebooking, online fashion, live video, music sharing/streaming, ecommerce shopping and payment services. They all make money, either through premium services and virtual currency, or through a huge advertising network.

Tencent can deploy service after service because QQ runs on a massive centralized infrastructure. Skype will have to package core capabilities through APIs before they can speedily build new services and let partners build on the Skype network.

See also:

• Watch out, Skype. Tencent steps out from China. Skype Journal, September 2009.
• Tencent QQ continues growth, profitability. Skype Journal, August 2009.
• Tencent's QQ IM triples Skype's dialtone.  Skype Journal, March 2009.
• Tencent's QQ: 45 Million Simultaneous Online, Skype Journal, November 2008

tags: tencent, qq, qqim, performance, stats, dialtone, dialtone density, trends, charts

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