Zhihu Q1 2026 Earnings Call - IP Monetization and AI Integration Drive Sequential Profitability

Yolanda, IR Manager/Host, Zhihu: Thank you, Amber. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Zhihu’s first quarter 2026 results conference call. Joining me today on the call from the senior management team are Mr. Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Zhang Rongle, our Chief Operating Officer. Before we begin, I’d like to remind you that today’s discussion will include forward-looking statements made under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, actual results may be materially different from views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in our public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under applicable law.

Additionally, the discussion today will include both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purpose only. For a consideration of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier today. In addition, a webcast replay of this conference call will be available on our IR website at ir.zhihu.com. Today, Victor Zhou, an AI agent representing Mr. Zhou Yuan, will deliver prepared remarks in English on his behalf. As Victor is still being refined, we appreciate your understanding. Victor, please go ahead.

Victor Zhou, AI Agent representing CEO, Zhihu: Thank you, Yolanda. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Zhihu’s first quarter 2026 earnings call. I am Victor Zhou, and I am pleased to deliver today’s opening remarks on behalf of Mr. Yuan Zhou, our founder, chairman, and CEO. The first quarter of 2026 marked a strong start to the year. As we advanced our high-quality growth strategy, our community ecosystem continued to thrive, fueled by a more dynamic user base, deeper social connections, and stronger engagement. Average daily time spent per DAU reached nearly 42 minutes. Our content creators remain highly active and expanded across AI and other specialized domains, further strengthening our trusted expert network. This quarter, professional, authentic, and in-depth content from real people continued to flourish across our community. Its influence extended beyond our platform and reinforced our unique competitive mode in the AI era.

We also accelerated the integration of AI capabilities across our platform and business operations, with social interactions significantly enhanced across multiple use cases. Building on this solid foundation, Zhihu has continued to gain momentum along its recovery trajectory. In the first quarter, our total revenues achieved positive sequential growth, and the year-over-year decline narrowed substantially, reflecting our healthier business ecosystem and more efficient monetization. Our core businesses are showing encouraging signs of recovery, while our new initiatives continue to gain momentum and deliver steady growth. Specifically, marketing services saw a meaningful narrowing of the year-over-year decline, signaling near-term stabilization. Revenue from IP operations delivered robust growth. Capitalizing on our premium IP library, we have significantly elevated both the production capacity and the quality of our short drama and comic drama adaptations. Multiple short dramas and comic dramas garnered billions of views and consistently topped popularity charts.

This success serves as a strong validation of the commercial potential of our high-quality IPs. Our expert data solutions have started to gain traction among key clients, with early-stage monetization opportunities gradually taking shape. Our vibrant community fosters genuine connections and deep user trust, assets that are increasingly valuable in the age of AI. This has directly fueled continued growth in user engagement on our platform. In 1Q26, average daily time spent per DAU reached approximately 42 minutes, increasing on both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis. The daily active user coverage of positive interactions also grew year-over-year. Underpinning this momentum, our content ecosystem is scaling at a healthy pace. As of the end of the first quarter, cumulative content volume reached 972 million entries, and cumulative topics grew to 4.38 million, up 8.8% and 15.7%, respectively, from the same period last year. High-quality content creation continued to gain momentum.

This quarter, daily creation of high-quality content rose 18% year-over-year, with professional AI-related content growing over 30% year-over-year. Against the backdrop of rapid AI evolution, Zhihu’s professional ecosystem and high-quality creator network continue to offer distinct differentiated value. As a hub for frontline developers, researchers, and tech professionals, Zhihu remains the premier platform where cutting-edge industry trends are first discussed, rigorously analyzed and professionally evaluated. In the first quarter, we saw heightened engagement from subject matter experts across top universities, leading internet companies, and AI labs. They actively participated in deep discussions on topics such as AI self-evolution, next generation large model development, video generation, model iteration, and open source ecosystems. From computer science scholars at institutions like Tsinghua University, to R&D leaders at tech giants and leading AI startups like Alibaba, ByteDance, and Moonshot AI, Kimi.

A growing number of professionals are sharing their frontline insights, technical reproductions, and in-depth analysis on Zhihu. A substantial cohort of core experts from top-tier labs has joined the platform and remains highly active. In addition, updates to mainstream AI products consistently spark systematic technical interpretations and professional evaluations within our community. Notably, this quarter saw substantial in-depth discussions surrounding DeepSeek’s Expert Mode, Alibaba’s new video model, Wan, and developments related to Google’s Gemma 4. This high-quality content ecosystem, continuously enriched by frontline practitioners, not only enhances Zhihu’s professional credibility, but also further solidifies our core competitive mode in the AI era. Professional creators are the core engine that powers the vitality, trustworthiness, and uniqueness of our expert network. In the first quarter, the number of verified honored creators on Zhihu grew over 10% year-over-year, reflecting our continued commitment to amplifying their industry influence.

Momentum in AI-related creator activity remains strong. We have aggregated over 19 million AI-focused creators who not only fuel our community’s high-quality content ecosystem, but also represent a robust pipeline of potential 2B service providers. We also saw a notable influx of top research teams, institutional executives, and core developers in fields like commercial aerospace and frontier technology. Their active participation has further solidified Zhihu’s standing as a hub for professional discourse on advanced tech. At the same time, in the film, entertainment, and cultural verticals, we deepened our reach and engagement among upstream IP holders, co-production teams, and dedicated enthusiasts. In May, we hosted the 12th Zhihu Xinzhi Youth Conference, Xinzhi Qingnian Dahui in Beijing. This year’s event placed a strong focus on the value of human creativity in the AI era, exploring the irreplaceable worth and core strengths of authentic creators amid rapid technological advancements.

Overall, sustained engagement of high-quality creators across diverse verticals not only strengthens our foundation of professional, trustworthy content, but also enhances the strategic value of our content assets. This ecosystem directly accelerates our AI-driven commercialization and reinforces the unique competitive advantages of our trusted expert network. Alongside deeper professional engagement, our ecosystem is also becoming increasingly social and interactive. In the first quarter, we optimized both the creation and the consumption experiences for our short-form Ideas product. This initiative effectively lowered barriers to entry while significantly boosting community vitality. Looking ahead, we will focus on deepening the synergies between Ideas and our community-based Circle product. By implementing more refined operations and expanding distribution scenarios, we aim to drive further positive momentum in core user retention and total time spent. Ultimately, this will unlock and expand a wider range of native commercial monetization opportunities.

We continue to integrate core AI capabilities across content creation, discovery, consumption, and community interactions. Through our open platform, API Shuju Kaifang Pingtai, and offline events like the AI Hackathon, we empowered developers and creators to explore AI-native content and interaction formats, further extending the practical application of AI technologies across the Zhihu community. As we embrace AI as a tool for creative efficiency, we further refined our AI-generated content governance framework to rigorously filter out low-quality machine-generated spam. Since the start of 2026, we have removed over 250,000 pieces of low-quality AI-generated content and have penalized more than 11,000 violating accounts. These efforts have meaningfully safeguarded Zhihu’s authentic atmosphere and significantly enhanced the experience for our creators and users. Now, turning to commercialization. In the first quarter, total revenues grew sequentially, and the year-over-year decline narrowed significantly, signaling a clear recovery.

Underpinned by a healthier commercial ecosystem. Our monetization efficiency continues to improve, with new growth momentum steadily materializing. Let’s take a closer look at our performance by segment. First, paid content and IP operations. Starting from the first quarter of 2026, we combined IP-related revenue previously included in other revenues with our existing paid membership revenue into paid content and IP operations revenue. This change more accurately reflects the commercialization potential of our Yan Yan story franchise. This quarter, revenue from paid content and IP operations reached CNY 402.3 million, increasing 15.8% sequentially, driven primarily by the rapid growth of our IP operations, which reflected strong momentum in unlocking the commercial value of our original content IP. Average monthly subscribing members reached 13.1 million, up 7.9% sequentially, with structural optimization.

This growth was primarily driven by seasonal content consumption during the Chinese New Year holiday and improved customer acquisition efficiency with Zhihu’s premium short-form paid content continuing to play a key role in attracting and retaining users. We maintain disciplined high ROI standards by proactively optimizing inefficient acquisition channels to drive high-quality growth in our subscriber base. Meanwhile, synergies between our AI-powered comic dramas and paid membership businesses are gradually emerging. By distributing Zhihu’s high-quality IP and adapted content beyond our community, we effectively attract new users to in-community consumption scenarios, creating a strong connection with membership benefits. This strategy expands the reach of our IP while driving conversion among potential members, improving overall acquisition efficiency, and enabling us to continuously optimize returns on our marketing spend. Revenue from IP operations delivered strong growth momentum this quarter.

The number of our IP partnerships grew more than five-fold year-over-year and more than doubled sequentially. Several of our top titles sold both film and gaming rights, and we signed additional licensing deals in verticals like science fiction. Together, these deals further validate both the depth of our IP monetization capabilities and the pricing power of our IP assets. Supported by our IP library, both the production capacity and the content quality of our short drama and comic drama adaptations remained stable in the first quarter. Multiple short dramas and comic titles achieved billions of views, consistently ranking at the top of various major platforms. Looking ahead, leveraging our strong IP pipeline, we will continue to pursue end-to-end multidimensional commercialization and further extend the life cycle of each individual IP. Moving to marketing services.

In the first quarter, marketing services revenue was CNY 191.4 million, broadly in line with the same period last year. Our disciplined execution across client mix optimization and product upgrades continued to deliver results. On client mix, ARPU rose sharply both year-over-year and sequentially in core verticals like gaming and automotive. Our industry mix also continued to improve, with commercial efficiency improving notably across gaming, travel, and transportation. This was supported by the ongoing consumption recovery and a wave of new game launches during the quarter. On commercial products, in March, we launched our technology-themed IP Tech Bytes, Tech 芝士糖, at this year’s Appliance & Electronics World Expo, with a focus on the home appliance and consumer electronics sector. At the on-site immersive exhibition zone, Zhihu creators hosted guided walkthroughs to answer consumer questions with professional technical insights.

They also shared the latest trends in home appliances and consumer electronics. At the same time, Zhihu Zhong Cai hosted an online discussion forum, helping decode industry jargon and highlight the real value behind product innovation. Turning to other revenues. In the first quarter, other revenues were CNY 57.8 million. As I mentioned earlier, we have reclassified IP-related revenue into our new paid content and IP operations segment, which better reflects how each business is developing. Within other revenues, our expert data solutions business won recognition from leading enterprise clients and began generating revenue this quarter. As a pioneer in defining and delivering high-value data solutions, we are now translating our expertise into tangible value for our clients. Our differentiated value has been firmly validated by the top-tier AI labs.

Looking ahead through the rest of 2026, we remain committed to deepening our services for key clients while expanding our footprint into new industries. To wrap up, the first quarter gave us a solid start to the year. As we move through 2026, our priorities remain clear. We will continue to strengthen operational profitability while leveraging our unique strength in the AI era to drive higher quality, accelerated growth. We believe the combined power of high quality content times extra network times AI capabilities will further set Zhihu apart in this new era. Over the next three quarters, we will continue to execute on our strategy with discipline. We expect our core businesses to show an accelerated recovery. In parallel, our AI-related new initiatives should continue to gain traction and contribute meaningfully to growth.

With that, I will hand the call over to our CFO, Wang Han, whose remarks will be delivered through his AI voice agent. Han, please go ahead.

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu: I will now go over our first quarter 2026 financials. For a complete overview of our results, please refer to our press release issued earlier today. The first quarter marked a strong start to the year, with our operations and financial performance both improving. Building on the full-year non-GAAP profitability achieved in 2025, we delivered a strong sequential return to profitability in the first quarter, supported by continued gross margin recovery, disciplined cost management, and focused resource allocation. These results reflect the cumulative impact of our multi-quarter structural optimization and provide a strong foundation for continued growth as we move through 2026. Now turning to the financial highlights of first quarter 2026.

At the non-GAAP level, we are pleased to report that adjusted net profit turned positive in the first quarter of 2026, reaching CNY 17.2 million, compared with an adjusted net loss of CNY 39.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Our total revenue for the quarter reached CNY 651.6 million, compared with CNY 729.7 million in the same period of 2025. The year-over-year decline reflects our continued efforts to optimize revenue mix and to prioritize high-quality services. More importantly, revenue grew on a sequential basis, driven by strong revenue contribution from our paid content and IP operations segment. Our marketing services revenue for the quarter was CNY 191.4 million, compared with CNY 197 million in the same period of 2025. The stabilization in marketing services reflects our proactive and ongoing refinement of service offerings, with a notably improving sequential trend.

Paid contents and IP operations revenue was CNY 402.3 million, compared with CNY 420.9 million in the same period of 2025. Average monthly subscribing members were 13.1 million, an increase of 7.9% on a quarterly basis. We continue to focus our resources on strengthening user engagement and monetization opportunities. In addition, revenue growth from our IP operations served as an earnings driver, supported by expanding IP initiatives. Other revenues were CNY 57.8 million, compared with CNY 111.8 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease was primarily due to strategic refinements of our vocational training business. Our gross profit for the quarter was CNY 388.3 million, compared with CNY 451.1 million in the same period of 2025. Gross margin was 59.6%, compared with 61.8% in the same period of 2025. Notably, gross margin improved sequentially from 53.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

This improvement was attributable to prudent cost controls across content and cloud operations. Our total operating expenses decreased by 10.4% year-over-year to CNY 451.2 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared with CNY 503.7 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease in total operating expenses was in line with revenue. Supported by management’s careful cost controls, R&D expenses fell by 22.4% year-over-year, while selling and marketing expenses also decreased by 11.1% year-over-year. Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 11.1% year-over-year to CNY 285.1 million, from CNY 320.6 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease was primarily due to more disciplined marketing spending and a decrease in personnel-related expenses. Research and development expenses decreased 22.4% year-over-year to CNY 110.1 million from CNY 141.9 million in the same period of 2025. The decrease was primarily driven by ongoing improvements in our research and development efficiency.

General and administrative expenses were RMB 56 million, compared with RMB 41.2 million in the same period of 2025. The increase was primarily attributable to an increase in the allowance for expected credit losses on trade receivables. Our net loss narrowed by 15.6% to RMB 8.5 million, from RMB 10.1 million in the same period of 2025. On a non-GAAP basis, adjusted net income increased by 147.2% year-over-year to RMB 17.2 million, from RMB 6.9 million in the same period of 2025. As of the 31st of March, 2026, the company had RMB 4.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, restricted cash and short-term investments. As of the 31st of March 2026, the company has repurchased 34.8 million Class A ordinary shares on the open market for an aggregate value of US$70.7 million on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

During the first quarter of 2026, the company repurchased 3.7 million Class A ordinary shares for a total consideration of US$4.2 million. The share repurchase program continues to deliver value back to our shareholders. Building on the solid momentum achieved in the first quarter, we expect 2026 to be a year of high-quality growth. We remain focused on strengthening operational profitability and improving execution efficiency, while further leveraging the unique advantages from our high-quality content, expert network and AI capabilities. As these three pillars continue to evolve in unison, they will further highlight our distinctive value in the AI era. Looking ahead, we will continue to execute our established strategy with discipline and focus, driving sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value. This concludes my prepared remarks on our financial performance for this quarter. Let’s turn the call over to the operator for the Q&A session.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. In the interest of time, please ask one question each time. If you have any follow-up questions, please go back to the queue. We will now take our first question. Our first question comes from the line of Xueqing Zhang of CICC. Please ask your question Xueqing, your line is open.

Xueqing Zhang, Analyst, CICC: [Foreign language] Thanks management for taking my question. My question is about AI. Could management share some of the latest strategic thinking and roadmap around AI? For example, in terms of integrating AI with the Zhihu community, what is our latest plan and progress? Thank you.

Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Zhihu: 谢谢Xueqing的提问，我是周源。社区跟AI的关系，我现在理解它既不是AI加也不是加AI。就像刚才我的agent提到的，我们的社区活跃用户的时长实现了同比比较显著的一个增长。这个变化，它首先还是来自于在过去一段时间，我们围绕高质量、可信赖的社区生态所坚持的核心策略是在不断发挥作用的。换句话说，人和人之间的讨论交流在社区里它本身就在变得更加地活跃。即使没有AI，这种活跃也依然会发生。那么因为在社区里，这个用户真正所需要的，它其实并不是AI本身，而是认知的提升、经验的分享，以及人和人之间真实的连接。所以建设一个高质量可信赖的真人社区，是知乎这个团队从创立第一天开始就在做的事情。无论经历了移动互联网时代，还是今天的AI时代，我们背后的宗旨是从来没有改变的。比起把社区看成AI的应用场景，或者把AI看成社区里的一个功能模块，我们其实更关注的是如何借助技术更好地服务于人。本质上我们服务的还是人本身。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu: Thank you for the question, Xueqing. I believe the relationship between the community is not AI plus or plus AI. As I mentioned earlier, average daily time spent per DAU increased. I reckon it mainly stems from our position core strategy over the past period, which centers on building a high-quality, trustworthy community. In other words, the interpersonal connections are becoming more active, and this vibrancy will still occur even without AI. What users truly need is not the AI itself, but rather cognitive enhancement, experience sharing and real connections. Building a high-quality, trustworthy community is what Zhihu has been doing since day one. Whether navigating the internet era or today’s AI era, our underlying mission has never changed. Therefore, rather than viewing the community as an AI application scenario, we focus on how to leverage technology to better serve people.

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: 那么就像刚刚结束的我们今年的新知青年大会，今年到现场来的人超过了8万人，这个是刷新了我们这个活动的历史记录的。现场有一百多家我们的合作伙伴，有非常多其实都是跟AI和具身智能相关的workshop、coffee chat。那其实也有大量的跟AI没有关系的活动，我们有很多的手工作坊、运动健身和美食集市。其实大家到这里来归根结底还是为了人来。新知青年大会里面的新知其实并不只是新知识，更多的是人和人之间的新认知和新连接，这个恰恰是知乎社区最核心的价值。我们也一直认为知乎的社区生态并不是一个服务浅层注意力的这么一个形成的生态。包括前面提到的用户的一些互动，还有市场的提升，它所对应的用户群体也不是模糊的所有人，而是整个中高注意力的这个用户群体的行为和活跃的变化。所以我们最核心的工作，就是持续地把知乎建设成为一个帮助人们可以提升认知、可以建立新的连接的正向反馈系统。那围绕这个目标，过去两年我们主要做了四件事情。第一就是在社区生态上持续投入。第二是在产品体验上做简化。第三是在底层的基础设施上不断地做投资。第四是在AI创新和AI高效两个方向同时推进。

Take the Xinzhi Conference as an example. This year, on-site attendance exceeds 80,000, which set a historical record. We have over 100 partners on site featuring numerous workshops and coffee chats related to AI. There’s also non-AI activities such as handicraft workshops, fitness areas, and food markets. Ultimately, people gather together for the engagement.

The meaning of Xinzhi does not merely represent the new knowledge, but the new cognition and the new connections. This is precisely the core value of Zhihu’s community. We have always believed that Zhihu’s community ecosystem is not built to serve shallow attention, and the increasing time spent corresponds not to a concept of everyone, but to the active growth of a mid to high attention user cohort. Our core priority is to continuously build Zhihu into a positive feedback system that helps people elevate the cognition and establish connections. To achieve this, we have executed four initiatives over the past two years. The first one would be the sustained investment in the community operations. Second would be the simplification of the product experience. Third one would be the long-term investment in the underlying technical infrastructure. Last one would be the advancement in AI innovation and efficiency.

Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Zhihu: 那么在刚刚说的这个第四件事，就是AI上，我们是持续地坚持一个原则，就是AI它不是目的，人才是目的。具体说一下，我们在第一个阶段，就是知乎直答。这个产品我们是希望可以把AI搜索和社区的可信内容结合起来，让答案不仅仅来自于模型，更加能够去溯源到真实的人和真实的经验。那么在今天，我们已经进入第二个阶段。一方面，我们正在建设数据平台。这个数据平台上其实沉淀着社区长期积累的，经过清洗，可信排序的高质量的数据。那目前，我们已经通过MCP和Skills等等方式开放给了开发者使用。另外一方面，我们也正在建设开放平台，这个是在数据平台的基础之上，我们在进一步地开放社区的API，把这个能力开放出去。我们其实已经举办了第一届基于这个开放平台上的黑客马拉松。这个探索我们会逐渐地把它产品化，成为一个长期开放的平台。它的目的是让更多新一代的创意工程师和创作者能够在社区上持续地创新，也能够得到反馈。所以社区跟AI的结合，其实并不是简单地把AI放在社区。我们想做的，是通过开放平台，让更多的创作者在社区的这个基础设施上能够持续地创造新价值。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Regarding AI, we have one principle: AI is not the end goal, but people are. In phase 1, for Zhihu Zhida, we aim to integrate AI search with our trustworthy community content, ensuring answers are not just generated from the models, but could be tracked back to real people and experiences. The phase 2, which is our current stage, we are advancing in two areas. Firstly, we are building on a data platform. We’re getting the high quality, long-term community data that have been cleaned and credibly ranked. It’s open to develops via MCP or Skills. Secondly, we are building an open platform, which is our community APIs, and we hosted our first open platform-based hackathon. Now it’s currently project-based, and we’re turning to product as in the long-term open platform to enable the engineers and AI creators to continuously innovate. Therefore, integrating the community and AI is not simply dropping into, it’s about to leverage open platform to empower more creators to generate new value.

Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Zhihu: 当然我们的探索也不止于此。如果说看浪平台它释放的是开发者的创造力，那么AI漫剧它其实释放的则是社区产生的IP的价值。社区的真人讨论它产生了我们的严选会员的业务，那会员大家可以理解是社区的一种溢出。会员的发展它又产生了盐故事业务。今天的盐言故事的AI漫剧，它其实是会员的一种益处。那么这个是一个比较典型的始于社区，不止于社区的过程。社区创造了内容，内容又沉淀成为了IP，IP又借助新的技术形式去触达更广泛的人群。那么我们比较相信，随着AI漫剧行业逐渐从数量增长走向质量的升级，我们相信会员体系长期积累的优质的IP价值会被进一步地释放，服务更多的消费者。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Our exploration extends further. If the open platform unlocks creativity, AI short dramas or the comics unlock the value of our IP. Our paid content in story and today’s AI dramas are all organic extensions of our authentic discussions. This exemplifies our strategy of starting form and extending beyond the community. A community create content and content generate IP, which leverages the new technologies to reach broader users. As the AI drama industry shifts from the volume growth to quality, we believe the value of our IP will further unlocked.

Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Zhihu: 那最后呢，我想说，知乎团队是一家相信长期目标的公司。过去两年我们取得了一些进展，它并不是来自于规模化的打法。我们的核心策略过去一段时间始终都没有变，那就是深耕社区，专注于人，然后利用AI创新更好地服务和赋能于人，不断地推动业务进入一个始于社区、不止于社区的正向循环。那当然，这样的变化它不会在一个季度发生，也不会在一年之内就完成。我们今天看到的结果，它是来自于我们过去两年的坚持。而我们今天所做的工作，也是在为未来三年的变化打下坚实的基础。谢谢。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Finally, Zhihu believes in long term. Our current progress is not driven by scale focus tactics. Our core strategy remains unchanged. Deeply cultivate the community and focus on people, and leverage AI innovation to better serve and empower people, and continuously drive the positive cycle of starting from the community and extending beyond it. Such transition cannot materialize within a single quarter or even a full year. Our current results stem from consistent execution over the past two years, while our ongoing efforts are laying groundwork for structural improvements in the next three years. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Thank you.

Operator: We will now proceed to take our next question from the line of Vicky Wei of Citi. Please ask your question, Vicky. Your line is now open.

Vicky Wei, Analyst, Citi: 谢谢管理层接受我的提问。我们看到公司从一季度开始，将原来的付费会员和会员相关的授权和IP衍生收入都合并到同一个分类当中。这个变化的背后，其实是不是代表着管理层对于这一个业务的市场空间和增长驱动有新的战略思考？我们应该如何看待在新的市场空间下，知乎在这一个领域的优势和机会？谢谢。

We noticed that starting from the first quarter, the company merged the original paid membership revenue with membership related copyright licensing and IP derivative revenue into a single category. Does this change reflect a new strategic rethink by management regarding the market potential and growth drivers of this business? Furthermore, how should we think of Zhihu’s advantages and opportunities within this newly defined market space? Thank you.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 感谢Vicky的提问。我是张荣乐，我来回答这个问题。确实，这个收入的分类的调整，反映了我们对付费内容和IP运营业务的一个战略思考。过去市场更多把我们的付费内容业务理解为一个会员的订阅收入，但实际上作为中文互联网最大的优质的短篇原创平台，随着知乎整个精品付费阅读，还有盐故事内容生态的持续发展，我们已经看到一个优质的故事，它的商业价值不是仅体现在前端的会员订阅，还可以进一步延伸到整个短剧、漫剧，甚至长剧的影视化，包括游戏改编等更多的一个内容形态。我们同时也在社区看到很多盐言故事的创作者已经开始从故事创作者升级为编剧，甚至是AI漫剧的创作者。因此我们从2016年第一季度开始，把原来属于其他收入的版权和IP收入，与原有的付费会员业务收入合并为新的付费内容及IP运营收入，是希望更准确地向市场展示知乎的优质原创内容和每一个故事IP它全生命周期的一个商业价值。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Thank you for the question, Vicky. This is from Zhihu COO Zhang Rongle. This revenue reclassification indeed reflects a strategic operate in how we view our paid content and IP operations. Previously, the market saw our paid content as just membership revenue. As China’s top premium short-form original platform, the growth of Yan Yan Gushi has unlocked far broader value beyond the subscriptions. Our IPs now monetize through short dramas, comics, film or TV shows, and games. Creators are already becoming writers and producers. Effective since the first quarter of 2026, the reclassification aims to better showcase the full life cycle value of our content and IP.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 这也意味着我们正在把这个业务从单一的订阅变现升级为IP全链路的运营与开发。会员订阅仍然是非常重要的，我们整个业务的基础，它在帮助我们不断地验证内容的吸引力，包括用户的付费意愿，还有这个故事IP的潜力。那在这个基础上呢，非常优质的内容可以进一步地通过整个的版权合作、剧本改编、短剧和AI漫剧等形式不断地释放它的商业价值。也就是说，我们希望形成一个从内容创作、会员消费、IP筛选，再到版权开发等多形态商业化的一个完整的闭环。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: This means it’s upgrade from a single subscription model to the full chain IP operation and development. It remains as a crucial foundation, helping us validate the content creation, the user willingness to pay, and IP potential. Building on this, content could unleash commercial value through the IP partnerships, script adaptations, short dramas, and etc. We aim to form a complete closed loop from the content to consumption, and to the IP screening and multi-format monetization.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 那在新的市场空间下，我们认为知乎在这个领域的机会和优势主要可以体现在四个方面。首先，知乎旗下的盐言故事是整个中国互联网短篇故事赛道的开创者和领跑者。盐言故事长期积累了大量的精品短篇内容，而短篇故事天然具备情节非常集中、人物关系清晰、冲突点密度高这些特点，是非常适合像短剧、漫剧等新的这些内容形态进行改编的。那相比从零开始孵化整个的内容，基于已有的这个短篇IP进行改编，它的内容的筛选效率，包括后续的商业化的转化效率都会更高。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: In this new market landscape, we believe Zhihu has four competitive advantages. Our Yan Yan Gushi is the leading player in the short story track. It has accumulated a vast library of premium short stories over time. Short stories naturally feature concentrated plots, clear character relationships, and high-density conflicts, making them highly suitable for adaptation into new content. Compared to incubating content from scratch, adapting the existing IPs delivers high efficiency in both content screening and monetization conversion.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 第二个优势还是源于我们在持续深耕的盐言故事的创作者生态。我们通过创作者大赛、激励机制，包括平台的运营，持续地在不断地挖掘和激励中坚部的优质的创作者。不仅为这些创作者提供了很多的一些文字变现的渠道，也是通过像小说创作加上剧本改编，帮助优质创作者获得更长生命周期的一个商业回报。我们也非常高兴地看到，其实创作者除了具备小说创作和改编剧本的能力以外，在AI辅助灵感激发，还有整个视频生成模型的使用上，也具备非常高的一个潜力。那在2026年的第一季度，我们的创作者的版权总收益的同比增长是达到了5.6倍，这已经说明了我们的创作者生态正在从内容供给端进一步地转化为一个IP商业化的能力。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: We continue to strengthen our creator ecosystem. Through the incentive mechanism, we discover the mid-tier creators and extend their life cycle by enabling the transition from novel writing to script adaption. Meanwhile, our creators are showing high potential in utilizing AI for content inspiration and video gen models. In Q1, total creator earnings surged 5.6 times year-over-year, further demonstrating the IP monetization.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 那第三个优势是整个AI漫剧行业的发展，促使了整个IP的变现正在进入一个加速发展的阶段。那在第一季度，我们的版权合作总量是同比增长了564%，环比增长了248%。这说明市场对知乎的优质原创内容的认可度是在快速提升的，也验证了我们整个平台内容资产的商业化深度和议价能力。我们也观察到，最近国内的一些AI漫剧行业正在发生一些变化，其实行业会更加注重整个内容和它的原创性。这个趋势其实跟我们之前的判断是一致的。我们也非常坚信AI漫剧行业的竞争最终会回归到内容本身的一个竞争。那随着行业的发展，我们也相信单个IP的生命周期的价值还有进一步打开的空间。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: AI short dramas are really speeding up our IP monetization. In the first quarter, our total IP partnerships searched like 564% year-over-year and 248% quarter-over-quarter, fully validating the commercial depth and the premium pricing power of Zhihu’s content assets. Competition will ultimately return to the quality of the content. As the industry evolves, the lifetime value of individual IPs will be further unlocked.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 第四点，就是AI整个给行业带来的生产效率和利润率的一个提升。因AI的出现，极大增加了整个AI漫剧的产能。我们看到一个市场的情况是，市场存量的长篇的内容，其实消耗比例已经非常高了，而短篇的这个形式天然适合漫剧的改编，它的内容吸出率更高。随着我们后续更全面地参与到它的改编、制作和发行的链条，并结合AI在分镜、角色设定、画面生成、脚本辅助这些制作效率上的提升，内容侧的整个的生产成本有望进一步地得到优化，利润率也会有机会达到一个更好的水平。换句话说，AI不是简单地在增加整个内容的产量，而是能够帮助到我们知乎的这些创作者，能够更高效地把他们的优质IP转化为多形态的一个商业价值。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: AI has increased the production capacity. Our short-form IPs offer a natural high yield advantages for adoption. As we deepen our participation at leveraging AI for storyboarding, image generation, scripting, and distribution, we anticipate the lower cost and higher margin. Ultimately, AI doesn’t just increase output, it empowers creators.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 整体来说，这次收入分类的调整不是一个简单的会计口径的变化，主要是反映了我们对盐言故事，还有知乎原创IP它的商业价值的重新定义。那未来我们也会继续围绕整个原创内容和创作者生态，推动知乎的付费内容、版权授权、短剧、AI漫剧等更多IP开发形态的整体发展，不断地提升每个IP的生命周期的价值，并把整个的付费内容和IP运营打造为知乎新的增长引擎之一。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Therefore, the revenue reclassification isn’t just an accounting adjustment, it reflects how we redefine the commercial potential of in-story and our original IPs. Going forward, we will drive deeper synergies across paid content, IP licensing, short dramas, AI comics, and other formats. This allows us to maximize the LTV of each IP, and turning the paid content and IP operation into a growth driver.

Zhang Rongle, Chief Operating Officer, Zhihu: 我的回答就到这里，谢谢。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We will now proceed to take our next question from the line of Lincoln Kong, Zhou of Goldman Sachs. Please ask your question, Lincoln Kong, your line is open.

Lincoln Kong Zhou, Analyst, Goldman Sachs: 感谢管理层给的提问机会。我的问题主要是关于公司在AI方面的投入，想了解一下公司在AI方面的投入具体是有哪些方向，以及公司将如何平衡这些新业务的投入和整体的盈利目标。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Thanks management for the opportunity. My question is regarding the AI investment. Can management elaborate more on the specific areas of allocation of your AI investment? How do you plan to balance those new investments with the group’s long-term overall profitability goals? Thank you.

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu: 感谢您的提问，我是王涵。我们肯定是把AI会融入到公司的各个业务当中，但是我感觉您可能和市场最关心的还是我们什么时候能有AI驱动的收入，能让我们重新增长，对吧？所以我们目前仍然坚持之前的判断，就是在AI短剧、漫剧和AI数据这两个里面。原因还是一样，因为这两个呢，前者可能是用户最愿意付费的AI生成的内容，后者是给AI行业的发展卖水卖场子。所以等下您如何平衡新业务投入和盈利的情况，这两个选择应该是所有的AI业务里面可能cash flow最健康的之一，而且是知乎还最有优势的两个。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Thank you for the question, Lincoln Kong. This is from Zhihu CFO Han Wang. We are certainly integrating AI into all aspects of our operations. However, I understand that the market is likely most concerned about when AI-driven revenue will accelerate our growth. We maintain our previous strategic focus, specifically targeting two fields: the AI short dramas, comic dramas, and the expert data solution. The former represents the AI-generated content that users are most willing to pay for, while the latter serves as the selling water and shovels to the AI industry. Therefore, regarding how we balance new business investments with profitability, these two selections represent some of the healthiest cash flow profiles among all AI verticals, and Zhihu holds a distinct competitive advantage here.

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu: 当然这两业务各自也都有各自的挑战，从行业竞争、市场环境都还是需要我们有中长期的视角来进行投入的。但请大家放心的是，我们肯定不会烧钱换增长的那种路线，投入也会主要是如何能够 fundamentally 做出更好的东西来构建中长期的能力。多谢。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Of course, there’s challenges ranging from industry competition to the macro environment, which require a medium to long-term perspective. However, we will not pursue a strategy of burning cash to chase growth. Our investments will focus on building core long-term capabilities to deliver fundamentally superior products. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We will now proceed to take our next question from the line of Daisy Chen of Haitong International. Please ask your question, Daisy, your line is open.

Daisy Chen, Analyst, Haitong International: [Foreign language] Thanks, management for taking my question. Zhihu’s profit has shown a significant improvement in Q1. Does management have any update to the shareholder return plan, such as the methods, and the payout scale? Thank you.

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu: 好，很感谢Daisy的提问。简单说我们会坚持大规模的回购不变。再次重申，大家也看到，这两年我们一直是中概中回购力度最大、执行最坚决的公司之一。从2022年起，公司在公开市场累计回购了6350万的A类普通股，共花了1.13亿美金。2026年初到现在，公司的主体已经累计回购了461万的A类普通股，花了506万美金，占已发行普通股的1.74%。其中我们在2026年的Q1已经回购的372万的A类普通股已经完全注销。Yeah。

Wang Han, Chief Financial Officer, Zhihu0: Thank you for the question, Daisy. We remain firmly committed to our share repurchase. We believe Zhihu has been one of the most active Chinese ADRs in terms of buyback intensity over the past two years. Since 2022, the company has repurchased a cumulative 63.5 million Class A ordinary shares in the open market with a total cost of $130 million. Year to date in 2026, the company has repurchased 4.61 million shares for over the cost of $5.06 million, representing 1.74% of total shares outstanding. Shares repurchased during the first quarter of 2026 have all been fully canceled. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. That concludes today’s question and answer session. At this time, I’ll turn the conference back to Yolanda for any additional or closing remarks.

Yolanda, IR Manager/Host, Zhihu: Thank you once again for joining us today. If you have any further questions, please contact our IR team directly or Christensen Advisory. Thank you. Thank you all.

Operator: The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.