Q3 2025 Zhihu Inc Earnings Call

November 25, 2025

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Zhihu Q3 2025 financial results conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference is being recorded and webcast. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Yolanda Liu, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Ma'am.

Speaker #1: After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. Today's conference is being recorded and webcast. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Yolanda Liu, Director of Investor Relations.

Speaker #1: Please go ahead, Ma'am.

Yolanda Liu: Thank you, Operator. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Zhihu's Q3 2025 financial results conference call. Joining me today on the call from the senior management team are Mr. Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Wang Han, Chief Financial 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 US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today. Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in our public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the actual law.

Speaker #2: Thank you, Operator. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Zhihu's Q3 2025 financial results conference call. Joining me today on the call from the senior management team are Mr. Zhou Yuan, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer, and Mr. Wang Han, chief financial officer.

Speaker #2: 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.

Speaker #2: These statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. As such, actual results may be materially different from the views expressed today. For information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties, please refer to our public filings with the U.S.

Speaker #2: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required under the actual law.

Yolanda Liu: Additionally, the discussion today will include both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purposes only. For reconciliation 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. This quarter, Zhou Yuan's AI agents will once again deliver the prepared remarks in English on his behalf. Zhou Yuan is due in training, so we appreciate your patience as he continues to improve. Zhou Yuan, please go ahead.

Additionally, the discussion today will include both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purposes only. For reconciliation 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. This quarter, Zhou Yuan's AI agents will once again deliver the prepared remarks in English on his behalf. Zhou Yuan is due in training, so we appreciate your patience as he continues to improve. Zhou Yuan, please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Additionally, the discussion today will include both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures for comparison purposes only. For reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier today.

Speaker #2: In addition, a webcast replay of this conference call will be available on our IR website at ir.zhihu.com. This quarter, Victor Zhou, Zhou Yuan's AI agents, will once again deliver the prepared remarks in English on his behalf.

Speaker #2: Victor is due in training, so we appreciate your patience as he continues to improve. Victor, please go ahead.

Zhou Yuan: Thank you, Yolanda. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Zhihu Q3 2025 earnings call. I am Victor Zhou, and I am pleased to deliver today's opening remarks on behalf of Mr. Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zhihu. Q3 marked another meaningful step toward our goal of achieving non-GAAP break-even on a full-year basis. As our structural optimization initiatives continue to take effect, we further refined our service offerings and balanced commercialization with community health. We also maintained disciplined cost control and improved operating efficiency. As a result, our non-GAAP operating loss narrowed by 16.3% year-over-year in Q3. At the same time, our community ecosystem continues to strengthen. User mix and engagement improved, while MAUs increased modestly from Q2. Daily time spent continued to trend higher year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter.

Victor Zhou: Thank you, Yolanda. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Zhihu Q3 2025 earnings call. I am Victor Zhou, and I am pleased to deliver today's opening remarks on behalf of Mr. Zhou Yuan, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Zhihu. Q3 marked another meaningful step toward our goal of achieving non-GAAP break-even on a full-year basis. As our structural optimization initiatives continue to take effect, we further refined our service offerings and balanced commercialization with community health. We also maintained disciplined cost control and improved operating efficiency. As a result, our non-GAAP operating loss narrowed by 16.3% year-over-year in Q3. At the same time, our community ecosystem continues to strengthen. User mix and engagement improved, while MAUs increased modestly from Q2. Daily time spent continued to trend higher year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Yolanda. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Zhihu's Q3 2025 earnings call. I am Victor Zhou, and I am pleased to deliver today's opening remarks on behalf of Mr. Zhou Yuan, founder, chairman, and CEO of Zhihu. The Q3 marked another meaningful step toward our goal of achieving non-GAAP breakeven on a full-year basis.

Speaker #3: As our structural optimization initiatives continue to take effect, we further refine our service offerings and balance commercialization with community health. We also maintain disciplined cost control and improved operating efficiency.

Speaker #3: As a result, our non-GAAP operating loss narrowed by 16.3% year over year in the third quarter. At the same time, our community ecosystem continues to strengthen; user mix and engagement improved, while MAUs increased modestly from the second quarter.

Speaker #3: Daily time spent continued to trend higher year over year and quarter over quarter. Our users and creators remain highly active, supporting improved core user retention and a steady stream of reliable, high-quality content on the platform.

Zhou Yuan: Our users and creators remain highly active, supporting improved core user retention and a steady stream of reliable, high-quality content on the platform. With our high-quality content, expert network, and AI capabilities working in greater synergy, we are accelerating our agentic AI upgrades to deliver trusted and differentiated experiences to users both within and beyond the community. As the AI industry enters a new phase of real-world integration and accelerated deployment, Zhihu, as a trusted source of high-quality content and data upstream of Chinese LLMs and AI applications, is gaining prominence, creating expanding opportunities for collaboration. With rising high-quality content, a highly active base of professional creators, and accelerating AI integration, our community ecosystem radiates vitality. Our competitive moat of trusted content continues to strengthen.

Our users and creators remain highly active, supporting improved core user retention and a steady stream of reliable, high-quality content on the platform. With our high-quality content, expert network, and AI capabilities working in greater synergy, we are accelerating our agentic AI upgrades to deliver trusted and differentiated experiences to users both within and beyond the community. As the AI industry enters a new phase of real-world integration and accelerated deployment, Zhihu, as a trusted source of high-quality content and data upstream of Chinese LLMs and AI applications, is gaining prominence, creating expanding opportunities for collaboration. With rising high-quality content, a highly active base of professional creators, and accelerating AI integration, our community ecosystem radiates vitality. Our competitive moat of trusted content continues to strengthen.

Speaker #3: With our high-quality content, expert network, and AI capabilities working in greater synergy, we are accelerating our agentic AI upgrades to deliver trusted and differentiated experiences to users both within and beyond the community.

Speaker #3: As the AI industry enters a new phase of real-world integration and accelerated deployment, Zhihu, as a trusted source of high-quality content and data upstream of Chinese LLMs and AI applications, is gaining prominence, creating expanding opportunities for collaboration.

Speaker #3: With rising high-quality content, a highly active base of professional creators, and accelerating AI integration, our community ecosystem radiates vitality. Our competitive moat of trusted content continues to strengthen.

Zhou Yuan: In Q3, daily creation of high-quality content increased by over 25% year-over-year, with professional AI-focused content up by more than 30% compared to the same period last year. As AI technologies and applications rapidly advance in China, Zhihu remains a go-to platform for frontline engineers and researchers for sharing and lively discussions. AI-focused content covers a range of subjects, including deep technical analysis, innovative product applications, emerging industry trends, personal growth, career development, and a growing array of emerging topics driven by rapid AI adoption, from the technical debates between Minimax and Moonshot AI over efficient attention, which sparked heated discussions on Zhihu and highlighted China's diverse approaches to LLM innovation, to the in-depth engineering analysis of new models shared by leading companies. Zhihu has become a trusted source for authentic first-hand exchanges. These discussions have made our platform a place where AI innovations are first interpreted, validated, and shared.

In Q3, daily creation of high-quality content increased by over 25% year-over-year, with professional AI-focused content up by more than 30% compared to the same period last year. As AI technologies and applications rapidly advance in China, Zhihu remains a go-to platform for frontline engineers and researchers for sharing and lively discussions. AI-focused content covers a range of subjects, including deep technical analysis, innovative product applications, emerging industry trends, personal growth, career development, and a growing array of emerging topics driven by rapid AI adoption, from the technical debates between Minimax and Moonshot AI over efficient attention, which sparked heated discussions on Zhihu and highlighted China's diverse approaches to LLM innovation, to the in-depth engineering analysis of new models shared by leading companies. Zhihu has become a trusted source for authentic first-hand exchanges. These discussions have made our platform a place where AI innovations are first interpreted, validated, and shared.

Speaker #3: In the third quarter, daily creation of high-quality content increased by over 25% year over year, with professional AI-focused content up by more than 30% compared to the same period last year.

Speaker #3: As AI technologies and applications rapidly advance in China, Zhihu remains a go-to platform for frontline engineers and researchers for sharing and engaging in lively discussions. AI-focused content covers a range of subjects, including deep technical analysis, innovative product applications, emerging industry trends, personal growth, career development, and a growing array of emerging topics driven by rapid AI adoption.

Speaker #3: From the technical debates between Minimax and Moonshot AI over efficient attention, which spark heated discussions on Zhihu and highlight China's diverse approaches to LLM innovation, to the in-depth engineering analysis of new models shared by leading companies, Zhihu has become a trusted source for authentic first-hand exchanges.

Speaker #3: These discussions have made our platform a place where AI innovations are first interpreted, validated, and shared. Meanwhile, we continue to strengthen our trustworthy content ecosystem through ongoing improvements to content governance mechanisms and recommendation algorithms.

Zhou Yuan: Meanwhile, we continue to strengthen our trustworthy content ecosystem through ongoing improvements to content governance mechanisms and recommendation algorithms. Professional creators are a vital force in our community. In Q3, daily active high-tier creators increased significantly on both a year-over-year and sequential basis. The number of verified, honored creators also grew by 29% year-over-year. Engagement among AI-focused creators also continues to strengthen. Zhihu now brings together more than 60 million continuous learners, 3.56 million proficient creators in science and AI, and 150,000 ecosystem builders. These contributors not only add consistent, high-quality input to our AI content ecosystem, but also show significant potential as future service providers for enterprises. Beyond the science and AI, creator activity in humanities and social sciences also remains strong across the platform.

Meanwhile, we continue to strengthen our trustworthy content ecosystem through ongoing improvements to content governance mechanisms and recommendation algorithms. Professional creators are a vital force in our community. In Q3, daily active high-tier creators increased significantly on both a year-over-year and sequential basis. The number of verified, honored creators also grew by 29% year-over-year. Engagement among AI-focused creators also continues to strengthen. Zhihu now brings together more than 60 million continuous learners, 3.56 million proficient creators in science and AI, and 150,000 ecosystem builders. These contributors not only add consistent, high-quality input to our AI content ecosystem, but also show significant potential as future service providers for enterprises. Beyond the science and AI, creator activity in humanities and social sciences also remains strong across the platform.

Speaker #3: Professional creators are a vital force in our community. In the third quarter, daily active high-tier creators increased significantly on both a year-over-year and sequential basis.

Speaker #3: The number of verified honored creators also grew by 29% year over year. Engagement among AI-focused creators continues to strengthen. Zhihu now brings together more than 60 million continuous learners and 3.56 million proficient creators in science and AI.

Speaker #3: And 150,000 ecosystem builders, these contributors not only add consistent, high-quality input to our AI content ecosystem but also show significant potential as future service providers for enterprises.

Speaker #3: Beyond science and AI, creator activity in the humanities and social sciences also remains strong across the platform. In September, we launched the co-benefit co-creation initiative Gongyi Gong Chong Jihua in collaboration with leading institutions such as the Alibaba Foundation, Tencent Charity Foundation, One Foundation, and Greenpeace, alongside psychologists, medical experts, and writers.

Zhou Yuan: In September, we launched the Co-benefit Co-creation Initiative (Gongyi Gongchong) in collaboration with leading institutions such as Alibaba Foundation, Tencent Charity Foundation, One Foundation, and Greenpeace, alongside psychologists, medical experts, and writers. This initiative generated a wide range of high-quality content across disability rights, mental health, environmental protection, and more, drawing over 80 million views. We also hosted the 2025 Zhihu Humanities Season Zhihu Renwenji event, which brought creators together through a blend of online and offline engagement. The campaign attracted nearly 30 influential creators, driving a 7.5% Q2 increase in creator activity in the humanities category and generating 5.82 million topic views, reinforcing Zhihu's professional influence and cultural relevance. To better support professional creators, we continue to enhance the content creation and distribution experience. Our ideas support knowledge-based expression from high-tier creators, and enable more diverse short-form content creation among mid-tier creators.

In September, we launched the Co-benefit Co-creation Initiative (Gongyi Gongchong) in collaboration with leading institutions such as Alibaba Foundation, Tencent Charity Foundation, One Foundation, and Greenpeace, alongside psychologists, medical experts, and writers. This initiative generated a wide range of high-quality content across disability rights, mental health, environmental protection, and more, drawing over 80 million views. We also hosted the 2025 Zhihu Humanities Season Zhihu Renwenji event, which brought creators together through a blend of online and offline engagement. The campaign attracted nearly 30 influential creators, driving a 7.5% Q2 increase in creator activity in the humanities category and generating 5.82 million topic views, reinforcing Zhihu's professional influence and cultural relevance. To better support professional creators, we continue to enhance the content creation and distribution experience. Our ideas support knowledge-based expression from high-tier creators, and enable more diverse short-form content creation among mid-tier creators.

Speaker #3: This initiative generated a wide range of high-quality content across disability rights, mental health, environmental protection, and more, drawing over 80 million views. We also hosted the 2025 Zhihu Humanities Season, Zhihu Renwenji event, which brought creators together through a blend of online and offline engagement.

Speaker #3: The campaign attracted nearly 30 influential creators, driving a 7.5% quarter-over-quarter increase in creator activity in the humanities category and generating 5.82 million topic views, reinforcing Zhihu's professional influence.

Speaker #3: And cultural relevance. To better support professional creators, we continue to enhance the content creation and distribution experience. Our idea supports knowledge-based expression from high-tier creators and enables more diverse short-form content creation among mid-tier creators.

Zhou Yuan: As a result, average daily content volume and interactions increased by 21.7% and 33.1% in Q2, respectively. Our Circles product also continues to serve as a focused space for users with shared interests to gather and interact, with average daily views more than tripling sequentially during Q4. We also continue to advance our agentic AI upgrades across the community. From a product perspective, Zhihu Zhida evolved into the agentic mode at the end of September, delivering more accurate and smarter search results. Most notably, Zhihu Zhida now serves as a helpful partner for deep thinking and creativity, capable of understanding user intent, performing multi-step reasoning, and synthesizing information across research, learning, and content creation. Our advancements in agentic AI are also amplifying the value of our creators.

As a result, average daily content volume and interactions increased by 21.7% and 33.1% in Q2, respectively. Our Circles product also continues to serve as a focused space for users with shared interests to gather and interact, with average daily views more than tripling sequentially during Q4. We also continue to advance our agentic AI upgrades across the community. From a product perspective, Zhihu Zhida evolved into the agentic mode at the end of September, delivering more accurate and smarter search results. Most notably, Zhihu Zhida now serves as a helpful partner for deep thinking and creativity, capable of understanding user intent, performing multi-step reasoning, and synthesizing information across research, learning, and content creation. Our advancements in agentic AI are also amplifying the value of our creators.

Speaker #3: As a result, average daily content volume and interactions increased by 21%, 7%, and 33.1% quarter-over-quarter, respectively. Our Circle's product also continues to serve as a focused space for users with shared interests to gather and interact, with average daily views more than tripling sequentially during the quarter. We also continue to advance our agentic AI upgrades across the community.

Speaker #3: From a product perspective, Zhihu Zhida evolved into the agentic mode at the end of September. Delivering more accurate and smarter search results, most notably, Zhihu Zhida now serves as a helpful partner for deep thinking and creativity, capable of understanding user intent, performing multi-step reasoning, and synthesizing information across research, learning, and content creation.

Speaker #3: Our advancements in agentic AI are also amplifying the value of our creators. By strengthening the attribution of content to trusted creators across the knowledge base and the search, AI-generated responses now cite verified knowledge during the reasoning stage, significantly reducing hallucination and improving trust.

Zhou Yuan: By strengthening the attribution of content to trusted creators across the knowledge base and the search, AI-generated responses now cite to verify the knowledge during the reasoning stage, significantly reducing hallucination and improving trust. This strengthens creator influence within the generative AI landscape and gives Zhihu a distinct advantage as a trusted content provider in an emerging AI ecosystem. Now, moving on to commercialization. In Q3, our commercialization continued to recover on a healthier base, with total revenues reaching RMB 658.9 million in Q3. We also made notable progress in exploring new monetization avenues by leveraging our core strengths. Let's take a closer look at our performance by business unit. In Q3, marketing services revenue was RMB 189.4 million. Notably, the year-over-year decrease narrowed, indicating the bottoming out of our adjustment cycle. We expect marketing services revenue to begin growing on a sequential basis in Q4.

By strengthening the attribution of content to trusted creators across the knowledge base and the search, AI-generated responses now cite to verify the knowledge during the reasoning stage, significantly reducing hallucination and improving trust. This strengthens creator influence within the generative AI landscape and gives Zhihu a distinct advantage as a trusted content provider in an emerging AI ecosystem. Now, moving on to commercialization. In Q3, our commercialization continued to recover on a healthier base, with total revenues reaching RMB 658.9 million in Q3. We also made notable progress in exploring new monetization avenues by leveraging our core strengths. Let's take a closer look at our performance by business unit. In Q3, marketing services revenue was RMB 189.4 million. Notably, the year-over-year decrease narrowed, indicating the bottoming out of our adjustment cycle. We expect marketing services revenue to begin growing on a sequential basis in Q4.

Speaker #3: This strengthens creator influence within the generative AI landscape and gives Zhihu a distinct advantage as a trusted content provider in an emerging AI ecosystem.

Speaker #3: Now moving on to commercialization, in the third quarter, our commercialization continued to recover on a healthier base with total revenues reaching RMB 658.9 million. In the third quarter, we also made notable progress in exploring new monetization avenues by leveraging our core strengths.

Speaker #3: Let's take a closer look at our performance by business unit. In the third quarter, marketing services revenue was RMB 189.4 million. Notably, the year-over-year decrease narrowed, indicating the bottoming out of our adjustment cycle.

Speaker #3: We expect marketing services revenue to begin growing on a sequential basis in the fourth quarter. During the quarter, we made solid progress in both optimizing our client mix and upgrading our advertising products.

Zhou Yuan: During Q4, we made solid progress in both optimizing our client mix and upgrading our advertising products. We continue to optimize client mix by deepening our focus on high-value accounts, with our brand power and expanding commercial IP driving strong uptake from enterprise clients, particularly in technology and other high-value verticals. In late September, we hosted the TechCloud Conference, bringing together AI experts and some of the most influential tech creators from the Zhihu community to explore the latest developments and future applications of AI. The event showcased the technology's transforming role in everyday life and our unique ability to connect professional content with meaningful brand engagement, further expanding our high-value client base. Through the Zhihu platform, leading companies such as Gree, China Mobile, Huawei, and iFlytek further strengthened their brand positioning in technological innovation and product excellence.

During Q4, we made solid progress in both optimizing our client mix and upgrading our advertising products. We continue to optimize client mix by deepening our focus on high-value accounts, with our brand power and expanding commercial IP driving strong uptake from enterprise clients, particularly in technology and other high-value verticals. In late September, we hosted the TechCloud Conference, bringing together AI experts and some of the most influential tech creators from the Zhihu community to explore the latest developments and future applications of AI. The event showcased the technology's transforming role in everyday life and our unique ability to connect professional content with meaningful brand engagement, further expanding our high-value client base. Through the Zhihu platform, leading companies such as Gree, China Mobile, Huawei, and iFlytek further strengthened their brand positioning in technological innovation and product excellence.

Speaker #3: We continue to optimize our client mix by deepening our focus on high-value accounts, with our brand power and expanding commercial IP driving strong uptake from enterprise clients, particularly in technology and other high-value verticals.

Speaker #3: In late September, we hosted the Tech Club Conference, bringing together AI experts and some of the most influential tech creators from the Zhihu community to explore the latest developments and future applications of AI.

Speaker #3: The event showcased the technologies transforming their role in everyday life, and our unique ability to connect professional content with meaningful brand engagement, further expanding our high-value client base.

Speaker #3: Through the Zhihu platform, leading companies such as Gree, China Mobile, Huawei, and iFlightTech further strengthened their brand positioning in technological innovation and product excellence.

Zhou Yuan: Backed by the credibility of our brand and strong commercial efficiency created by professional discussions across our community, we made solid progress in acquiring new clients across diverse sectors such as automotive, consumer, and healthcare. This Q4, we also further upgraded a wide range of our commercial products by integrating AI more deeply across our portfolio. Our dual ecosystem optimization and product efficiency engines drove a significant increase in positive feedback from clients. For example, we launched the upgraded CCS for idea scenarios and introduced the product to more clients. By offering this short content plus precise scenarios format, it bridges authentic experiences and purchase decisions for brands and merchants. At the same time, it makes content consumption and the decision-making for users substantially more efficient. We're also seeing rising demand from clients to improve brand and product presentation in AI-generated answers.

Backed by the credibility of our brand and strong commercial efficiency created by professional discussions across our community, we made solid progress in acquiring new clients across diverse sectors such as automotive, consumer, and healthcare. This Q4, we also further upgraded a wide range of our commercial products by integrating AI more deeply across our portfolio. Our dual ecosystem optimization and product efficiency engines drove a significant increase in positive feedback from clients. For example, we launched the upgraded CCS for idea scenarios and introduced the product to more clients. By offering this short content plus precise scenarios format, it bridges authentic experiences and purchase decisions for brands and merchants. At the same time, it makes content consumption and the decision-making for users substantially more efficient. We're also seeing rising demand from clients to improve brand and product presentation in AI-generated answers.

Speaker #3: Backed by the credibility of our brand and strong commercial efficiency, created by professional discussions across our community, we made solid progress in acquiring new clients across diverse sectors such as automotive, consumer, and healthcare.

Speaker #3: This quarter, we also further upgraded a wide range of our commercial products by integrating AI more deeply across our portfolio. Our dual ecosystem optimization and product efficiency engines drove a significant increase in positive feedback from clients.

Speaker #3: For example, we launched the upgraded CCS for idea scenarios and introduced the product to more clients. By offering this short content, plus precise scenarios format, it bridges authentic experiences and purchase decisions for brands and merchants.

Speaker #3: At the same time, it makes content consumption and decision-making for users substantially more efficient. We're also seeing rising demand from clients to improve brand and product presentation in AI-generated answers.

Zhou Yuan: Leveraging our trusted content and high citation rate across the internet, we launched our new GEM marketing solution in early November. This new solution provides core insights, such as visibility across AI platforms and citation analytics. Leading technology clients we have worked with include Lenovo, iFlytek, Vivo, and Proya. We have received a positive endorsement as we help enhance both their SEO and geo-performance for brands and new products. Looking ahead, with a healthier ecosystem, stronger client base, and more robust service offerings, we will continue to leverage AI to drive a steady recovery and long-term growth in our marketing services business. For our paid membership business, in Q3, average monthly paid members increased by 8.1% sequentially to 14.3 million, with revenue reaching RMB 386 million. Our efforts to boost member retention and upward through diversified initiatives continue to generate positive feedback from both creators and users.

Leveraging our trusted content and high citation rate across the internet, we launched our new GEM marketing solution in early November. This new solution provides core insights, such as visibility across AI platforms and citation analytics. Leading technology clients we have worked with include Lenovo, iFlytek, Vivo, and Proya. We have received a positive endorsement as we help enhance both their SEO and geo-performance for brands and new products. Looking ahead, with a healthier ecosystem, stronger client base, and more robust service offerings, we will continue to leverage AI to drive a steady recovery and long-term growth in our marketing services business. For our paid membership business, in Q3, average monthly paid members increased by 8.1% sequentially to 14.3 million, with revenue reaching RMB 386 million. Our efforts to boost member retention and upward through diversified initiatives continue to generate positive feedback from both creators and users.

Speaker #3: Leveraging our trusted content and high citation rate across the internet, we launched our new GEM marketing solution in early November. This new solution provides core insights such as visibility across AI platforms and citation analytics. Leading technology clients we have worked with include Lenovo, iFlightTech, Vivo, and Proya.

Speaker #3: We have received a positive endorsement as we help enhance both their SEO and geo performance for brands and new products. Looking ahead, with a healthier ecosystem, stronger client base, and more robust service offerings, we will continue to leverage AI to drive a steady recovery and long-term growth in our marketing services business.

Speaker #3: And now, for our paid membership business, in the third quarter, average monthly paid members increased by 8.1% sequentially, to 14.3 million, with revenue reaching RMB 386 million.

Speaker #3: Our efforts to boost member retention and output through diversified initiatives continue to generate positive feedback from both creators and users. The Yanyan story long-form writing marathon came to a successful close in late October after a six-month campaign.

Zhou Yuan: The Yanyan Story long-form writing marathon came to a successful close in late October after a six-month campaign, generating tens of thousands of submissions in Q3 alone. This initiative opened up new development pathways for aspiring creators and provided a steady pipeline of content for our library and future IP development. At the same time, voice live streaming saw a further improvement in paid conversion rates. We also unlocked further commercial potential for our IP adaptations in China and overseas. During Q4, revenue from IP licensing maintained its triple-digit growth rate year-over-year, and generated high double-digit growth Q4 over Q4. Year-to-date, revenue has nearly doubled compared with the same period last year. In mid-October, Yanyan Story debuted at the Frankfurt Book Fair, showcasing Chinese digital literature on the global stage for the first time.

The Yanyan Story long-form writing marathon came to a successful close in late October after a six-month campaign, generating tens of thousands of submissions in Q3 alone. This initiative opened up new development pathways for aspiring creators and provided a steady pipeline of content for our library and future IP development. At the same time, voice live streaming saw a further improvement in paid conversion rates. We also unlocked further commercial potential for our IP adaptations in China and overseas. During Q4, revenue from IP licensing maintained its triple-digit growth rate year-over-year, and generated high double-digit growth Q4 over Q4. Year-to-date, revenue has nearly doubled compared with the same period last year. In mid-October, Yanyan Story debuted at the Frankfurt Book Fair, showcasing Chinese digital literature on the global stage for the first time.

Speaker #3: Generating tens of thousands of submissions in the third quarter alone. This initiative opened up new development pathways for aspiring creators and provided a steady pipeline of content for our library and the future IP development.

Speaker #3: At the same time, voice live streaming saw a further improvement in paid conversion rates. We also unlocked further commercial potential for our IP adaptations in China and overseas.

Speaker #3: During the quarter, revenue from IP licensing maintained its triple-digit growth rate year over year and generated high double-digit growth quarter over quarter. Year to date, revenue has nearly doubled compared with the same period last year.

Speaker #3: In mid-October, the Yanyan story debuted at the Frankfurt Book Fair, showcasing Chinese digital literature on a global stage for the first time. It also drew coverage from the UK magazine, The Bookseller, which noted the new growth paths for Chinese short-form digital literature in the international markets.

Zhou Yuan: It also drew coverage from the UK magazine, The Bookseller, which noted the new growth path for Chinese short-form digital literature in international markets. By the end of October, Yanyan Story licensed more than 100 titles for publication across major Asian markets, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. A number of works have also been adapted into short dramas for overseas markets and performed well, reflecting the growing popularity of Chinese short-form content abroad. Meanwhile, Yanyan Story has established partnerships with international platforms such as Mobile Reader and GoodNovel to translate works into English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai, Indonesian, and other languages, further expanding its international reach. Going forward, we will pursue a diversified set of initiatives to improve member retention and upward. By enhancing content supply, membership benefits, and personalized experiences, we aim to strengthen long-term member value.

It also drew coverage from the UK magazine, The Bookseller, which noted the new growth path for Chinese short-form digital literature in international markets. By the end of October, Yanyan Story licensed more than 100 titles for publication across major Asian markets, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. A number of works have also been adapted into short dramas for overseas markets and performed well, reflecting the growing popularity of Chinese short-form content abroad. Meanwhile, Yanyan Story has established partnerships with international platforms such as Mobile Reader and GoodNovel to translate works into English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai, Indonesian, and other languages, further expanding its international reach. Going forward, we will pursue a diversified set of initiatives to improve member retention and upward. By enhancing content supply, membership benefits, and personalized experiences, we aim to strengthen long-term member value.

Speaker #3: By the end of October, Yanyan Story licensed more than 100 titles for publication across major Asian markets, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Speaker #3: A number of works have also been adapted into short dramas for overseas markets and have performed well. Reflecting the growing popularity of Chinese short-form content abroad, meanwhile, Yanyan Story has established partnerships with international platforms such as MobileReader and GoodNovel to translate works into English, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai, Indonesian, and other languages, further expanding its international reach.

Speaker #3: Going forward, we will pursue a diversified set of initiatives to improve member retention and output. By enhancing content supply, membership benefits, and personalized experiences, we aim to strengthen long-term member value.

Zhou Yuan: As AI enables more efficient content creation, the potential for IP development and commercialization will expand, unlocking new growth opportunities for our membership business. Starting this Q4, we are simplifying our revenue breakdown and will begin reclassifying vocational training revenue into other revenues to align with our overall strategy. Other revenues were RMB 839 million, of which we will continue to adjust our vocational training business with a focus on improving operational efficiency and prioritization. Although our vocational training business has been reclassified, we continue to build on its creator-driven foundation with the development of our Column product. Designed primarily to serve Zhihu creators, Column is intended to enhance the creator ecosystem rather than act as a new commercial growth driver. During Q4, we enhanced the product by rolling out a PC version and AI tools that help creators generate column descriptions and cover designs.

As AI enables more efficient content creation, the potential for IP development and commercialization will expand, unlocking new growth opportunities for our membership business. Starting this Q4, we are simplifying our revenue breakdown and will begin reclassifying vocational training revenue into other revenues to align with our overall strategy. Other revenues were RMB 839 million, of which we will continue to adjust our vocational training business with a focus on improving operational efficiency and prioritization. Although our vocational training business has been reclassified, we continue to build on its creator-driven foundation with the development of our Column product. Designed primarily to serve Zhihu creators, Column is intended to enhance the creator ecosystem rather than act as a new commercial growth driver. During Q4, we enhanced the product by rolling out a PC version and AI tools that help creators generate column descriptions and cover designs.

Speaker #3: As AI enables more efficient content creation, the potential for IP development and commercialization will expand, unlocking new growth opportunities for our membership business. Starting this quarter, we are simplifying our revenue breakdown and will begin reclassifying vocational training revenue into other revenues to align with our overall strategy.

Speaker #3: Other revenues were RMB 839 million, of which we will continue to adjust our vocational training business with a focus on improving operational efficiency and prioritization.

Speaker #3: Although our vocational training business has been reclassified, we continue to build on its creator-driven foundation with the development of our column product. Designed primarily to serve Zhihu creators, the column is intended to enhance the creator ecosystem, rather than act as a new commercial growth driver.

Speaker #3: During the quarter, we enhanced the product by rolling out a PC version and AI tools that help creators generate column descriptions and cover designs.

Zhou Yuan: This enhancement drove sequential growth in both the number of leading column creators and creator user engagement. Monetization models for column creators is also becoming more diversified, with overall GMV more than doubling compared with last Q4. Going forward, we will continue to operate with discipline, maintaining stability while investing prudently for sustainable growth. With the ongoing enhancements in efficiency and steady cost optimization, we are confident in achieving our full-year profitability target. Building on this foundation, we will continue to invest with a long-term view to strengthen our AI capabilities and improve the efficiency of our core operations. Deeper AI integrations will drive greater synergies across content creation, distribution, and monetized on Zhihu. Meanwhile, we will further refine our product and marketing strategies to capitalize on new growth opportunities from high-quality users and enterprise clients.

This enhancement drove sequential growth in both the number of leading column creators and creator user engagement. Monetization models for column creators is also becoming more diversified, with overall GMV more than doubling compared with last Q4. Going forward, we will continue to operate with discipline, maintaining stability while investing prudently for sustainable growth. With the ongoing enhancements in efficiency and steady cost optimization, we are confident in achieving our full-year profitability target. Building on this foundation, we will continue to invest with a long-term view to strengthen our AI capabilities and improve the efficiency of our core operations. Deeper AI integrations will drive greater synergies across content creation, distribution, and monetized on Zhihu. Meanwhile, we will further refine our product and marketing strategies to capitalize on new growth opportunities from high-quality users and enterprise clients.

Speaker #3: This enhancement drove sequential growth in both the number of leading column creators and creator user engagement. Monetization models for column creators are also becoming more diversified, with overall GMV more than doubling compared with last quarter.

Speaker #3: Going forward, we will continue to operate with discipline, maintaining stability while investing prudently for sustainable growth. With the ongoing enhancements in efficiency and steady cost optimization, we are confident in achieving our full-year profitability target.

Speaker #3: Building on this foundation, we will continue to invest with a long-term view to strengthen our AI capabilities and improve the efficiency of our core operations.

Speaker #3: Deeper AI integrations will drive greater synergies across content creation, distribution, and monetization on Zhihu. Meanwhile, we will further refine our product and marketing strategies to capitalize on new growth opportunities from high-quality users and enterprise clients.

Zhou Yuan: With a healthier operating structure and ongoing innovation, we are well-positioned to thrive in this next stage of high-quality growth. With that, I will hand the call over to our CFO, Wang Han. Han, please go ahead. Now, I will review the details of our Q3 financials. For a complete overview of our Q3 2025 results, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier today. In Q3, we maintained disciplined cost management and drove further improvements in operational efficiency. As a result, our non-GAAP operating loss narrowed by 16.3% year-over-year. We continue to invest in areas that reinforce our long-term growth potential, striking a healthy balance between efficiency and investment. Our total revenues for Q4 were RMB 658.9 million compared with RMB 845 million in the same period of 2024.

Speaker #3: With a healthier operating structure and ongoing innovation, we are well positioned to thrive in this next stage of high-quality growth. With that, I will hand the call over to our CFO, Han Wang.

Speaker #3: Han, please go ahead.

Wang Han: Now, I will review the details of our Q3 financials. For a complete overview of our Q3 2025 results, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier today. In Q3, we maintained disciplined cost management and drove further improvements in operational efficiency. As a result, our non-GAAP operating loss narrowed by 16.3% year-over-year. We continue to invest in areas that reinforce our long-term growth potential, striking a healthy balance between efficiency and investment. Our total revenues for Q4 were RMB 658.9 million compared with RMB 845 million in the same period of 2024.

Speaker #2: Now I will review the details of our third-quarter financials. For a complete overview of our third-quarter 2025 results, please refer to our earnings release issued earlier today.

Speaker #2: In the third quarter, we maintained disciplined cost management and drove further improvements in operational efficiency. As a result, our non-GAAP operating loss narrowed by 16.3% year over year.

Speaker #2: We continue to invest in areas that reinforce our long-term growth potential, striking a healthy balance between efficiency and investment. Our total revenues for the quarter were RMB 658.9 million, compared with RMB 845 million in the same period of 2024.

Zhou Yuan: The decrease was mainly the result of our continued efforts to optimize revenue mix and focus on sustainable, high-quality growth. Notably, the year-over-year decrease narrowed for the third consecutive quarter, in line with our expectations. Our marketing services revenue for Q4 was RMB 189.4 million compared with RMB 256.6 million in the same period of 2024. This decrease was mainly driven by our proactive refining of service offerings and optimization of client mix. Encouragingly, the year-over-year decrease narrowed meaningfully, indicating that our adjustment cycle has bottomed out. Paid membership revenue was RMB 385.6 million compared with RMB 459.4 million in the same period of 2024. While the number of average monthly subscribing members fell year-over-year, they rebounded and grew 8.1% sequentially to 14.3 million. We also continued to enhance retention and upward through diversified content and membership initiatives.

The decrease was mainly the result of our continued efforts to optimize revenue mix and focus on sustainable, high-quality growth. Notably, the year-over-year decrease narrowed for the third consecutive quarter, in line with our expectations. Our marketing services revenue for Q4 was RMB 189.4 million compared with RMB 256.6 million in the same period of 2024. This decrease was mainly driven by our proactive refining of service offerings and optimization of client mix. Encouragingly, the year-over-year decrease narrowed meaningfully, indicating that our adjustment cycle has bottomed out. Paid membership revenue was RMB 385.6 million compared with RMB 459.4 million in the same period of 2024. While the number of average monthly subscribing members fell year-over-year, they rebounded and grew 8.1% sequentially to 14.3 million. We also continued to enhance retention and upward through diversified content and membership initiatives.

Speaker #2: The decrease was mainly the result of our continued efforts to optimize revenue mix and focus on sustainable, high-quality growth. Notably, the year-over-year decrease narrowed for the third consecutive quarter, in line with our expectations.

Speaker #2: Our marketing services revenue for the quarter was RMB 189.4 million, compared with RMB 256.6 million in the same period of 2024. This decrease was mainly driven by our proactive refining of service offerings and optimization of client mix.

Speaker #2: Encouragingly, the year-over-year decrease narrowed meaningfully, indicating that our adjustment cycle has bottomed out. Paid membership revenue was RMB 385.6 million, compared with RMB 459.4 million in the same period of 2024.

Speaker #2: While the number of average monthly subscribing members fell year over year, they rebounded and grew 8.1% sequentially to 14.3 million. We also continue to enhance retention and output through diversified content and membership initiatives.

Zhou Yuan: Other revenues were RMB 839 million compared with RMB 129 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the strategic refinement of our vocational training business. Our gross profit for Q4 was RMB 403.6 million compared with RMB 540.1 million in the same period of 2024. Gross margin was 61.3% compared with 63.9% in the same period of 2024. Our total operating expenses for Q4 decreased by 19.4% year-over-year to RMB 503.5 million. The decrease was primarily due to a more efficient cost structure, and disciplined resource allocation across key operating areas. Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 14.9% to RMB 330.1 million from RMB 388 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was mainly due to tighter control over promotional spending, and optimized personnel-related expenses.

Other revenues were RMB 839 million compared with RMB 129 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the strategic refinement of our vocational training business. Our gross profit for Q4 was RMB 403.6 million compared with RMB 540.1 million in the same period of 2024. Gross margin was 61.3% compared with 63.9% in the same period of 2024. Our total operating expenses for Q4 decreased by 19.4% year-over-year to RMB 503.5 million. The decrease was primarily due to a more efficient cost structure, and disciplined resource allocation across key operating areas. Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 14.9% to RMB 330.1 million from RMB 388 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was mainly due to tighter control over promotional spending, and optimized personnel-related expenses.

Speaker #2: Other revenues were RMB 839 million, compared with RMB 129 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the strategic refinement of our vocational training business.

Speaker #2: Our gross profit for the quarter was RMB 403.6 million, compared with RMB 540.1 million in the same period of 2024. Gross margin was 61.3%, compared with 63.9% in the same period of 2024.

Speaker #2: Our total operating expenses for the quarter decreased by 19.4% year over year to RMB 503.5 million. The decrease was primarily due to a more efficient cost structure and disciplined resource allocation across key operating areas.

Speaker #2: Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 14.9% to RMB 330.1 million, down from RMB 388 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was mainly due to tighter control over promotional spending and optimized personnel-related expenses.

Zhou Yuan: Research and development expenses decreased by 36.2% to RMB 114.4 million from RMB 179.3 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by continued improvements in research and development, productivity, and efficiency. General and administrative expenses were RMB 59 million compared with RMB 57.2 million in the same period of 2024. Our GAAP net loss for this Q4 was RMB 46.7 million compared with RMB 9 million in the same period of 2024. On a non-GAAP basis, our adjusted net loss was RMB 21 million compared with RMB 13.1 million in the same period of 2024. As of 30 September 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, restricted cash, and short-term investments of RMB 4.6 billion compared with RMB 4.9 billion as of 31 December 2024.

Research and development expenses decreased by 36.2% to RMB 114.4 million from RMB 179.3 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by continued improvements in research and development, productivity, and efficiency. General and administrative expenses were RMB 59 million compared with RMB 57.2 million in the same period of 2024. Our GAAP net loss for this Q4 was RMB 46.7 million compared with RMB 9 million in the same period of 2024. On a non-GAAP basis, our adjusted net loss was RMB 21 million compared with RMB 13.1 million in the same period of 2024. As of 30 September 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, restricted cash, and short-term investments of RMB 4.6 billion compared with RMB 4.9 billion as of 31 December 2024.

Speaker #2: Research and development expenses decreased by 36.2% to RMB 114.4 million, from RMB 179.3 million in the same period of 2024. The decrease was primarily driven by continued improvements in research and development productivity and efficiency.

Speaker #2: General and administrative expenses were RMB 59 million, compared with RMB 57.2 million in the same period of 2024. Our GAAP net loss for this quarter was RMB 46.7 million, compared with RMB 9 million in the same period of 2024.

Speaker #2: On a non-GAAP basis, our adjusted net loss was RMB 21 million, compared with RMB 13.1 million in the same period of 2024. As of September 30, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents, term deposits, restricted cash, and short-term investments of RMB 4.6 billion, compared with RMB 4.9 billion as of December 31, 2024.

Zhou Yuan: As of 30 September 2025, we repurchased 31.1 million Class A ordinary shares for an aggregate value of $66.5 million on the open market. Additionally, we repurchased a total of 22.5 million Class A ordinary shares for an aggregate value of $34.5 million through the trustee of the company as of the end of Q3. Looking ahead, we are on track to achieve full-year breakeven on a non-GAAP basis. We will continue to further strengthen our monetization capabilities and pursue new revenue opportunities that leverage Zhihu's strengths in high-quality content creator expertise and AI-driven innovation. Together, these efforts will reinforce our business resilience and support sustainable, long-term growth. This concludes my prepared remarks on our financial performance for this Q4. Let's turn the call over to the operator for the Q&A session. Thank you.

As of 30 September 2025, we repurchased 31.1 million Class A ordinary shares for an aggregate value of $66.5 million on the open market. Additionally, we repurchased a total of 22.5 million Class A ordinary shares for an aggregate value of $34.5 million through the trustee of the company as of the end of Q3. Looking ahead, we are on track to achieve full-year breakeven on a non-GAAP basis. We will continue to further strengthen our monetization capabilities and pursue new revenue opportunities that leverage Zhihu's strengths in high-quality content creator expertise and AI-driven innovation. Together, these efforts will reinforce our business resilience and support sustainable, long-term growth. This concludes my prepared remarks on our financial performance for this Q4. Let's turn the call over to the operator for the Q&A session. Thank you.

Speaker #2: As of September 30, 2025, we repurchased 31.1 million Class A ordinary shares for an aggregate value of $66.5 million on the open market.

Speaker #2: Additionally, we repurchased a total of 22.5 million Class A ordinary shares for an aggregate value of $34.5 million through the trustee of the company, as of the end of the third quarter.

Speaker #2: Looking ahead, we are on track to achieve full-year breakeven on a non-GAAP basis. We will continue to further strengthen our monetization capabilities and pursue new revenue opportunities that leverage Zhihu's strengths in high-quality content creator expertise and AI-driven innovation.

Speaker #2: Together, these efforts will reinforce our business resilience and support sustainable long-term growth. This concludes my prepared remarks on our financial performance for this quarter.

Speaker #2: Let's turn the call over to the operator for the Q&A.

Speaker #1: Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press *1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.

Zhou Yuan: To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and 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. Thank you. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Thank you. We will now begin with our first question. This is from Vicky Wei from Citi. Please go ahead. ??????????????????????????????????AI????????????????????????????AI???????????????????? Thanks, Management, for taking my question. Would management share some color about the AI progress of Zhihu? For example, the penetration rate of Zhihu?? and the progress of the AI integration with the Zhihu community. Thank you. Vicky, ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????15%???????????????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI????????? Thank you for the question, Vicky. This is from Zhou Yuan, Zhihu CEO.

Operator: To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and 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. Thank you. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Thank you. We will now begin with our first question. This is from Vicky Wei from Citi. Please go ahead.

Speaker #1: To withdraw your question, please press star, one, and 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.

Speaker #1: Thank you. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Thank you. We will now begin with our first question. And this is from Vicky Wei from City.

Speaker #1: Please go ahead.

Vicky Wei: [Foreign language].

??????????????????????????????????AI????????????????????????????AI????????????????????

Speaker #2: Guany否请管理层分享一下公司在AI方面的进展，比如说知乎直达最新的使用渗透率怎么样？我们在AI和社区融合的方面，近期还有哪些进展的体现？ Thanks, management, for taking my question. Would management share some color about the AI progress of Zhihu? For example, the penetration rate of Zhihu Zhida and the progress of the AI integration with the Zhihu community.

Victor Zhou: Thanks, Management, for taking my question. Would management share some color about the AI progress of Zhihu? For example, the penetration rate of Zhihu?? and the progress of the AI integration with the Zhihu community. Thank you.

Zhou Yuan: Vicky, [Foreign language].

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????15%???????????????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????

Speaker #2: Thank you.

Speaker #3: Vicky,

Speaker #3: 你好。首先先抱歉一下，我得前两天感冒了，所以今天这个傻子还没有完全恢复。也希望大家多注意身体。我来回答一下你的问题，就是直达是我们在应用层最重要的产品之一。它的整体的使用量和渗透率持续是在不断增长的。我们渗透率在三季度的时候已经超过了15%。这个是去年同期水平差不多4倍。这个说明什么呢？这个说明我们的AI能力在社区的场景下是持续得到提升的。也说明我们AI加上社区的融合升级的方向，它也获得了用户的认可。这也确实让我们有更多的信心，在更多的社区场景里面，以社区的方式继续做AI加社区的体验升级。

Yolanda Liu: Thank you for the question, Vicky. This is from Zhou Yuan, Zhihu CEO. First of all, I would like to say sorry about my weak voice because I didn't recover yet from my cold. Anyway, I will just start with your first question. As you can see, Zhihu remains one of our key products. Its overall usage and penetration rates continue to increase in Q3, with penetration rates exceeding 15%, nearly four times higher than the same period last year. This not only reflects the ongoing evolution of our foundational AI capability across the community, but also demonstrates strong user endorsement of our strategic deepening of AI+ community. This also gives us very strong confidence to continue upgrading this AI+ community experience updates across more touchpoints.

Speaker #2: Thank you for the question,

Speaker #2: Vicky, this is from Zhou Yuan, Zhihu CEO. First of all, I would like to say sorry about my weak voice because I didn't recover yet from my cold.

Zhou Yuan: First of all, I would like to say sorry about my weak voice because I didn't recover yet from my cold. Anyway, I will just start with your first question. As you can see, Zhihu remains one of our key products. Its overall usage and penetration rates continue to increase in Q3, with penetration rates exceeding 15%, nearly four times higher than the same period last year. This not only reflects the ongoing evolution of our foundational AI capability across the community, but also demonstrates strong user endorsement of our strategic deepening of AI+ community. This also gives us very strong confidence to continue upgrading this AI+ community experience updates across more touchpoints. ????????????????????????????????????11????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI???????????? Now, let me just share some recent progress and upcoming plans.

Speaker #2: Anyway, I would just start with your first question. As you can see, Zhida remains one of our key products. Its overall usage and penetration rate continue to increase in the third quarter, with a penetration rate exceeding 15%, nearly four times higher than the same period last year.

Speaker #2: This not only reflects the ongoing evolution of our foundational AI capability across the community, but also demonstrates strong user endorsement of our strategic expansion of AI plus community.

Speaker #2: This also gives us a very strong confidence to continue upgrading this AI plus community experience updates across more touchpoints. Now let

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

????????????????????????????????????11????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI????????????

Yolanda Liu: Now, let me just share some recent progress and upcoming plans. First of all, in the search scenario, by late November, Zhihu will fully augment our general AI search capability to include Zhihu-generated content for all users. Additionally, we will soon launch pilot features such as cross-topic content aggregation and community trend summaries. This will formally aggregate Zhihu from secondary entry point to a primary one, further boosting AI adoption across the entire community.

Speaker #3: 我再来说一下近期的我们一些进展和计划。首先在搜索的这个场景，我们在11月，也就是这个月底，直达会完成对我们整个综合搜索AI能力的一个补充，会为我们全量的用户提供包括直达生成的内容在内的新的搜索结果。同时AI搜索就是社区内跨主题、跨内容主题聚合，以及社区内热点趋势的总结，也会即将上线。这个也会将我们现在作为二级入口的直达，然后升级到一级入口，进一步提升AI在社区的使用渗透率。

Speaker #2: Let me just share some recent progress and upcoming plans. First of all, in the search scenario, by late November, Zhida will fully augment our general AI search capability to include Zhida-generated content for all users.

Zhou Yuan: First of all, in the search scenario, by late November, Zhihu will fully augment our general AI search capability to include Zhihu-generated content for all users. Additionally, we will soon launch pilot features such as cross-topic content aggregation and community trend summaries. This will formally aggregate Zhihu from secondary entry point to a primary one, further boosting AI adoption across the entire community. ??????????????????????????????AI Copilot?????????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI???????Copilot????????????????20%?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Second of all, on the content creation side, we are empowering professionals with strong AI Copilot. In this quarter, we launched a suite of AI assistant writing tools for our creation assistant, which includes smart headlines, grammar, and fact-checking, and lead paragraph generation. This will help creators optimize long-form, structured, and expert-level content. By the end of Q3, adoption of these new AI features had already surpassed 20%.

Speaker #2: Additionally, we will soon launch pilot features such as cross-topic content aggregation and community trend summaries. This will formally aggregate Zhida from a secondary entry point to a primary one, further boosting AI adoption across the entire community.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

??????????????????????????????AI Copilot?????????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI???????Copilot????????????????20%??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 这样就是，在创作场景上，我们现在为社区的创作者提供了更强的AI Copilot的辅助工具。我们在这个季度在创作助手上线了很多AI的辅助的创作工具，比如说智能的标题、内容的纠错、提取导语，帮他们在进行结构化写作和专业引用上面做进一步的优化和放大他们的创作能力。到这个，也就是我们这个季度末，这些AI新的辅助的Copilot功能，它在采样率均已经超过了20%。我们现在还会陆续推出更多的，比如像多模态的内容互转、智能排版、短内容辅助生成的所有等这些辅助的工具。这些工具的提供目的还是去进一步显著地降低中央部创作者的创作门槛，让更多人能够更加轻松地提升他们的创作频次，以达到提升活跃和社交互动的目的。

Yolanda Liu: Second of all, on the content creation side, we are empowering professionals with strong AI Copilot. In this quarter, we launched a suite of AI assistant writing tools for our creation assistant, which includes smart headlines, grammar, and fact-checking, and lead paragraph generation. This will help creators optimize long-form, structured, and expert-level content. By the end of Q3, adoption of these new AI features had already surpassed 20%. Looking ahead, we plan to introduce additional capabilities such as AI-powered multi-modal content conversion, intelligent formatting, short-form content generation, etc. These tools will significantly lower the barrier to entry for mid-tier creators, enabling more users to express themselves effortlessly, increase posting frequency, creation frequency, and engage more actively.

Speaker #2: And second of all, on the content creation side, we are empowering professionals with strong AI copilots. In this quarter, we launched a suite of AI assistant writing tools for our creation assistant.

Speaker #2: Which includes Smart Headlines, Grammar, and Fact Checking, and Lead Paragraph Generation. This will help creators optimize long-form structured and expert-level content. So by the end of three Q, adoption of these new AI features had already surpassed 20%.

Zhou Yuan: Looking ahead, we plan to introduce additional capabilities such as AI-powered multi-modal content conversion, intelligent formatting, short-form content generation, etc. These tools will significantly lower the barrier to entry for mid-tier creators, enabling more users to express themselves effortlessly, increase posting frequency, creation frequency, and engage more actively. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI????????@?????????????????????????????????get?????????????????????????????? In addition, on the content conception and distribution side, we are also expanding Zhihu into high-frequency conception scenarios. For example, AI-powered daily briefing on Zhihu's training topics and other vertical-specific hot topics, as well as the ability to ask mentioned Zhihu in threads or to auto-summarize discussions and surface key insights will help users quickly grasp complex conversations and participate more meaningfully. We believe this will further strengthen user engagement and community stickness. Thank you. Thank you. We'll now take the next question. This is from Lu Qingshu from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Looking ahead, we plan to introduce additional capabilities such as AI-powered multi-model content conversion, intelligent formatting, and short-form content generation, etc. These tools will significantly lower the barrier to entry for mid-tier creators, enabling more users to express themselves effortlessly to increase posting frequency, creation frequency, and engage more actively.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI????????@?????????????????????????????????get??????????????????????????????

Yolanda Liu: In addition, on the content conception and distribution side, we are also expanding Zhihu into high-frequency conception scenarios. For example, AI-powered daily briefing on Zhihu's training topics and other vertical-specific hot topics, as well as the ability to ask mentioned Zhihu in threads or to auto-summarize discussions and surface key insights will help users quickly grasp complex conversations and participate more meaningfully. We believe this will further strengthen user engagement and community stickness. Thank you.

Speaker #3: 还有一点，就是在流通和消费上，我们接下来会让直达的能力进入更多社区里的高频的用户场景，比如说之后的热搒和各个领域的热点的讨论，我们所涉及的这些AI的早报、评论区@直达进行趋势总结等等这样的互动。那么这个可以帮助用户更加快速地 get 信息参与讨论，从而进一步提升用户对社区使用的便捷度。谢谢。

Speaker #2: Innovation on the content conception and distribution side, we are also expanding Zhida into high-frequency conception scenarios. For example, AI-powered daily briefings on Zhihu's training topics and other vertical-specific hot topics, as well as the ability to, as mentioned, Zhida in threads or to auto-summarize discussions and surface key insights, will help users quickly grasp complex conversations and participate more meaningfully.

Speaker #2: We believe this will further strengthen user engagement and community stickiness. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. We'll now take the next question. This is from Lu Qingshu from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: you. Thank you.

Speaker #4: We'll now take the next question. This is from Luqing Xu from Goldman Sachs. Please go.

[Analyst] (Goldman Sachs): [Foreign language].

Speaker #4: ahead. Goldman

Zhou Yuan: ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thank you, Management, for the opportunity. My question is, how do you see the current status of Zhihu's user ecosystem? Based on that, could Management share more color on the directions for improving Zhihu's future product design, and how's the progress so far? Thank you. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thank you for the question. This is from Zhou Yuan, Zhihu CEO. We believe overall the community ecosystem is very healthy. We do not rely on any single metric to assess its health. Instead, we focus on content quality, user structure, and user quality, and whether our content creator incentives are forming a virtuous cycle. We have also deployed AI as a core product driver at the strategic level. Over the past few quarters, we have made the synergistic developments of high-quality content, multiply expert network, multiply AI capabilities as a core path for driving our ecosystem in a positive direction.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #5: Sachs, ?????????????????????????? Zhihu ???????????????????????????????? Zhihu ??????????????????????? Thank you, management, for the opportunity. So my question is, how do you see the current status of Zhihu's user ecosystem?

Victor Zhou: Thank you, Management, for the opportunity. My question is, how do you see the current status of Zhihu's user ecosystem? Based on that, could Management share more color on the directions for improving Zhihu's future product design, and how's the progress so far? Thank you.

Speaker #5: And based on that, could management share more color on the directions for improving Zhihu's future product design? And how is the progress so far?

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #5: Thank you.

Speaker #3: 谢谢你的提问。我们从整体上看，我们现在对当前社区的生态是非常有信心的。生态健康它其实也不是看单一的指标，而是内容质量、用户的结构和质量，以及创作者动力是否能够形成正向的循环。那么在过去几个季度，高质量内容乘以专家网络乘以 AI

Speaker #3: ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? AI ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thank you for your question.

Yolanda Liu: Thank you for the question. This is from Zhou Yuan, Zhihu CEO. We believe overall the community ecosystem is very healthy. We do not rely on any single metric to assess its health. Instead, we focus on content quality, user structure, and user quality, and whether our content creator incentives are forming a virtuous cycle. We have also deployed AI as a core product driver at the strategic level. Over the past few quarters, we have made the synergistic developments of high-quality content, multiply expert network, multiply AI capabilities as a core path for driving our ecosystem in a positive direction. From this perspective, our ecosystem is stable and continuously improving. This is fully in line with our expectations as well.

Speaker #2: This is from Zhou Yuan, Zhihu CEO. We believe the overall community ecosystem is very healthy. We do not rely on any single metric to assess its health.

Speaker #2: Instead, we focus on content quality, user structure, and user quality, and whether our content creator incentives are forming a virtuous cycle. We have also deployed AI as a core product driver at a strategic level.

Speaker #2: Over the past few quarters, we have made the synergistic developments of high-quality content, multiplied expert networks, and multiplied AI capabilities as a core path for driving our ecosystem in a positive direction.

Zhou Yuan: From this perspective, our ecosystem is stable and continuously improving. This is fully in line with our expectations as well. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????? First of all, the trustworthiness and professionalism of our content are very crucial. They are crucial indicators of the ecosystem health. Over the past few quarters, we have continued to strengthen our trustworthy content ecosystem and our expert network, while also cracking down on low-quality content and traffic to keep the ecosystem healthy at its core and reforce the virtuous cycle. As a result, we have delivered several consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in daily high-quality content creation. The AI category is the most reflective of this progress, with professional AI-related content regarding double-digit growth for four consecutive quarters. On this basis, users' trust in our content has also continued to increase steadily.

Speaker #2: From this perspective, our ecosystem is stable and continuously improving. This is fully in line with our expectations as well.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????????????????????????????AI????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 这里面的内容的可信度和专业性是生态健康非常重要的指标。我们在过去几个季度持续投入在内容可信度体系、专家网络建设和提升上。同时也在打击低质内容和流量，让生态的源头上保持和增强持续正向循环的动力。我们看到过去连续几个季度，每日的日均的新增高质量内容都呈现了双位数的增长。其中 AI 领域是近期最有代表性的一个领域。我们在过去四个季度连续实现了在 AI 领域专业内容的双位数增长。在这个基础之上，用户对内容的信任度也保持了稳定提升。

Yolanda Liu: First of all, the trustworthiness and professionalism of our content are very crucial. They are crucial indicators of the ecosystem health. Over the past few quarters, we have continued to strengthen our trustworthy content ecosystem and our expert network, while also cracking down on low-quality content and traffic to keep the ecosystem healthy at its core and reforce the virtuous cycle. As a result, we have delivered several consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in daily high-quality content creation. The AI category is the most reflective of this progress, with professional AI-related content regarding double-digit growth for four consecutive quarters. On this basis, users' trust in our content has also continued to increase steadily.

Speaker #2: First of all, the trustworthiness and professionalism of our content are very crucial. They are crucial indicators of the ecosystem's health. Over the past few quarters, we have continued to strengthen our trustworthy content ecosystem and our expert network while also cracking down on low-quality content and traffic to keep the ecosystem healthy.

Speaker #2: At its core, we aim to reinforce the virtuous cycle. As a result, we have delivered several consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in daily high-quality content creation.

Speaker #2: The AI category is the most reflective of this progress, with professional AI-related content experiencing double-digit growth for four consecutive quarters. On this basis, users' trust in our content has also continued to increase steadily.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language]

Zhou Yuan: Secondly, user structure and user quality have improved. From last Q4, our MAU has remained stable on a sequential basis for four consecutive quarters. On this basis, average daily user time spent, which we believe is a proxy for engagement and retention, has delivered double-digit year-over-year growth for six consecutive quarters. Our users remain mainly young and focused on learning and growth, with user age between 18 to 30 accounting for more than 65% of our total user base. Among them, frontline professionals in technology and AI have become one of the most representative groups. They have long-term professional learning, frontier exploration, and interest development needs, and contribute more content and provide stronger positive feedback to the ecosystem.

Speaker #3: ?????????????????????????? Q4???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????18 ? 30 ??????????? 65% ???????? AI?

Speaker #3: ?????????????????????????? Q4???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????18 ? 30 ??????????? 65% ???????? AI ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Yolanda Liu: Secondly, user structure and user quality have improved. From last Q4, our MAU has remained stable on a sequential basis for four consecutive quarters. On this basis, average daily user time spent, which we believe is a proxy for engagement and retention, has delivered double-digit year-over-year growth for six consecutive quarters. Our users remain mainly young and focused on learning and growth, with user age between 18 to 30 accounting for more than 65% of our total user base. Among them, frontline professionals in technology and AI have become one of the most representative groups. They have long-term professional learning, frontier exploration, and interest development needs, and contribute more content and provide stronger positive feedback to the ecosystem.

Speaker #2: Our user structure and user quality have improved, and users' needs across different scenarios have been addressed. As we can see from last Q4, our MAU have remained stable on a sequential basis for four consecutive quarters.

Speaker #2: And building on that, average daily user time spent, which we believe is a proxy for engagement and retention, has delivered double-digit year-over-year growth for six consecutive quarters.

Speaker #2: Our user base remains predominantly young and focused on learning and growth, with users aged between 18 to 30 accounting for more than 65% of our total user base.

Speaker #2: Among them, frontline professionals in technology and AI have become one of the most representative groups. They have long-term professional learning, frontier exploration, and interest development needs.

Speaker #2: And contribute more content and provide stronger positive feedback to the ecosystem.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

Zhou Yuan: ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Last but not the least, the content, equal the creator ecosystem, continues to grow and expand. Output from top-tier professional creators has remained stable over seven consecutive quarters. At the same time, by using AI tools, we are continuously lowering the creation threshold for mid-tier creators and increasing the creation frequency of the entire creator group. This makes the supply side of the community more diverse and keeps social interaction within the community growing. In summary, ecosystem health is foundational to Zhihu. Going forward, we'll continue to invest in trust content and expert network, so that as a community scales, it can maintain its professionalism, vibrancy, and trustworthiness. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AIGC?????????????????????????????????? Let me just turn to the second question you mentioned. It's about our core product going forward plan. Here we hold a few key beliefs.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 第三就是创作生态。创作生态的健康度。我们创作生态其实一直在不断地成长和扩展。头部的专业创作者，我们已经连续七个季度保持环比的不断增长。同时刚才我也提到了，就是我们会通过更多的 AI 工具不断降低中央部的创作者他们的创作门槛，然后来提升整体创作者的创作频次。也要通过这样的方式让社区的供给能够更加的多样化，互动能够不断提升。总之我想说就是整个生态健康，也就是生态第一对于整个智慧社区是根本性的。我们未来会长期在高质量内容和专家网络上持续投入。让我们在规模化增长的同时，也能够获得持续的保持我们的专业性，用户的活力和信任感。

Yolanda Liu: Last but not the least, the content, equal the creator ecosystem, continues to grow and expand. Output from top-tier professional creators has remained stable over seven consecutive quarters. At the same time, by using AI tools, we are continuously lowering the creation threshold for mid-tier creators and increasing the creation frequency of the entire creator group. This makes the supply side of the community more diverse and keeps social interaction within the community growing. In summary, ecosystem health is foundational to Zhihu. Going forward, we'll continue to invest in trust content and expert network, so that as a community scales, it can maintain its professionalism, vibrancy, and trustworthiness

Speaker #2: And last but not least, the content creator ecosystem continues to grow and expand. Output from top-tier professional creators has remained stable over seven consecutive quarters.

Speaker #2: At the same time, by using AI tools, we are continuously lowering the creation threshold for mid-tier creators and increasing the creation frequency of the entire creator group.

Speaker #2: This makes the supply side of the community more diverse and keeps social interaction within the community growing. So, in summary, ecosystem health is foundational to Zhihu going forward.

Speaker #2: We'll continue to invest in trusted content and our expert network, so that as a community of skilled professionals, it can maintain its professionalism, vibrancy, and trustworthiness.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AIGC??????????????????????????????????

Yolanda Liu: Let me just turn to the second question you mentioned. It's about our core product going forward plan. Here we hold a few key beliefs. First of all, over the next three years, people will consume more AIGC content. At the same time, human-to-human interaction will become more valuable. We believe both trends will coexist.

Speaker #3: 也第二个问题是关于我们对未来的产品形态的一些想法。这里我们有几个判断，就是第一就是如果以三年为限的话，未来三年会消费更多 AIGC 的内容。但同时人和人的交流也会变得更有价值。这个两者会同时成立。

Speaker #2: Let me just turn to the second question you mentioned. It's about our core product going forward plan. Here we hold a few key beliefs. First of all, over the next three years, people will consume more AIGC content.

Zhou Yuan: First of all, over the next three years, people will consume more AIGC content. At the same time, human-to-human interaction will become more valuable. We believe both trends will coexist. ?????????AI?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The second belief we hold here is that the stronger AI becomes, the more people will experience a sense of the diminished presence, which means the participation, social capital, and the real relationships enabled by community will become increasingly scarce and increasingly demanded. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI??????????????? The third belief here is that high-quality human-generated content and data will become extremely scarce, as well as valuable on the supply end. This supply matters on both ends. It's crucial for the advancement of AI as well as for human development. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Going forward, Zhihu will deeply integrate with our users' functional social needs.

Speaker #2: At the same time, human-to-human interaction will become more valuable. So, we believe both trends will coexist.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

?????????AI??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 第二个判断就是 AI 变得越来越强大，人类也会越来越有存在感的危机。所以社区所带来的参与感，参与感所产生的社交资本和社交关系就会变得更加的稀缺。对此的需求，需求就是用户的需求量也会不断上升。

Yolanda Liu: The second belief we hold here is that the stronger AI becomes, the more people will experience a sense of the diminished presence, which means the participation, social capital, and the real relationships enabled by community will become increasingly scarce and increasingly demanded.

Speaker #2: And the second belief we hold here is that as AI becomes stronger, more people will experience a sense of diminished presence. This means that the social capital and real relationships enabled by community will become increasingly scarce and increasingly demanded.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI???????????????

Speaker #3: 第三个判断就是高质量的，由人类产生的内容和数据会变成非常高价值和非常稀缺的供给。而这个供给它其实是两端供给，就是对于 AI 的发展和对于人的发展都很重要。

Yolanda Liu: The third belief here is that high-quality human-generated content and data will become extremely scarce, as well as valuable on the supply end. This supply matters on both ends. It's crucial for the advancement of AI as well as for human development.

Speaker #2: And the third belief here is that high-quality human-generated content and data will become extremely scarce, as well as valuable on the supply end.

Speaker #2: This supply matters on both ends. It's crucial for the advancement of AI as well as for human development.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????AI?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 所以接下来直达会深度地对智慧社区功能性的社交需求进行认可。比如说当一个用户要提出问题，寻找资料，找到帮助的这种功能性的社交需求的时候，AI

Speaker #3: 会帮助他极大地去提升效率。直达会极大地去推动社区的公鸡化。即使是第一天使用之后的新用户，也可以快速地获得很好的体验。那么在另一方面，我们会专注于用户关系性的社交需求。的重点的建设和投入。比如被认可，共同成长，身份共鸣等等。来围绕这个事情我们来打造场景和进行建设。为用户提供一个多元的、有温度的、可信赖的真人语境和文化交流的土壤。 So going

Yolanda Liu: Going forward, Zhihu will deeply integrate with our users' functional social needs. For example, when a user wants to ask a question, search, or look for resources, AI will dramatically raise efficiency. Zhihu will push the community further towards utility, enabling even a first-day user to get a meaningful experience immediately. At the same time, we will double down on the social needs that come from real human connection, things like feeling recognized, growing together, and finding people who share your identity. We want to build these things with users feeling like a sense of belonging in an environment grounded in real people, real culture, and trusted interactions.

Speaker #2: Forward, ?? will deeply integrate with our users' functional social needs. For example, when a user wants to ask a question, search, or look for resources, AI will dramatically raise efficiency.

Zhou Yuan: For example, when a user wants to ask a question, search, or look for resources, AI will dramatically raise efficiency. Zhihu will push the community further towards utility, enabling even a first-day user to get a meaningful experience immediately. At the same time, we will double down on the social needs that come from real human connection, things like feeling recognized, growing together, and finding people who share your identity. We want to build these things with users feeling like a sense of belonging in an environment grounded in real people, real culture, and trusted interactions. ??????????????????? utility ? identity ?????????????????? AI ?????????????????????? AI ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Our future product direction is built around two pillars: utility and identity.

Speaker #2: And ?? will push the community further towards utility, enabling even a first-day user to get a meaningful experience immediately. At the same time, we will double down on the social needs that come from real human connection—things like feeling recognized, growing together, and finding people who share your identity.

Speaker #2: We want to build this in a way that makes users feel a sense of belonging in an environment grounded in real people, real culture, and trusted interactions.

Zhou Yuan: [Foreign language].

??????????????????? utility ? identity ?????????????????? AI ?????????????????????? AI ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 所以总结一下未来的产品，我们就会围绕 utility 和 identity 来展开。我希望之后未来可以成为在 AI 时代高质量的人类连接层。我们既提供理解世界的 AI 工具，也成为让人找到共鸣和获得理解的社区。另外，我们也计划会把这个可信内容和专家网络建设成两层基础设施。谢谢。

Yolanda Liu: Our future product direction is built around two pillars: utility and identity. My hope is for Zhihu to become the connection layer for humans in the AI era as a place where people can use AI tools to understand the world, as well as a community where they can find renaissance and understanding from one another. At the same time, we plan to build our trusted content and expert network as two foundational layers of infrastructure. Thank you. Thank you again for your question.

Speaker #2: So our future product direction is built around two pillars: utility and identity. My hope is for Zhihu to become the connection layer for humans in the AI era, as a place where people can use AI tools to understand the world, as well as a community where they can find renaissance and understanding from one another.

Zhou Yuan: My hope is for Zhihu to become the connection layer for humans in the AI era as a place where people can use AI tools to understand the world, as well as a community where they can find renaissance and understanding from one another. At the same time, we plan to build our trusted content and expert network as two foundational layers of infrastructure. Thank you. Thank you again for your question. Thank you. We will take the next question. This is from Daisy Chen from Haitong International. Please go ahead. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thanks, Madam, for taking my question. Could Madam update the progress of the adjustments in each business line? Did you see any signs that the revenue has bottomed out or started to rebound? In particular, how do you expect the future of the advertising business? Also, could you share your outlook on the company's profitability?

Speaker #2: At the same time, we plan to build a trusted content and expert network as two foundational layers of infrastructure. Thank you. Thank you again for your.

Speaker #2: question. Thank

Operator: Thank you. We will take the next question. This is from Daisy Chen from Haitong International. Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: You. We will take the next question. This is from Daisy Chen from Haitong International. Please go ahead.

Daisy Chen: [Foreign language].

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #2: 感谢谢管理层接受我的提问。能不能请管理层分享一下各条线的调整进展？比如说是否看到收入触底反弹的迹象，特别是说对于广告业务未来如何展望？然后另外能否请管理层分享一下对公司的盈利展望？ Sales message for taking my question. Could measurement update the progress of the adjustments in each business line? Did you see any signs that the revenue has bottomed out or started to rebound?

Daisy Chen: Thanks, Madam, for taking my question. Could Madam update the progress of the adjustments in each business line? Did you see any signs that the revenue has bottomed out or started to rebound? In particular, how do you expect the future of the advertising business? Also, could you share your outlook on the company's profitability? Thank you.

Speaker #2: In particular, how do you expect the future of the advertising business? And also, could you share your outlook on the company's profitability? Thank you.

Zhou Yuan: Thank you. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 2025 ????????????? non-GAAP ????????????????????????? Q3?Q4 ??????? buffer ???????????????????????? Q3 ?????????? Thank you for your question, Daisy. This is from Wang Han, Zhihu CFO. I will just pick up your second question. Here is a quick take on our profitability outlook. After delivering solid profits in the first two quarters, we now see a very high likelihood of achieving our first full year non-GAAP profitability in 2025. With that buffer in place, we are using Q3 and Q4 as a window to keep fine-tuning and investing where needed. That's why you will see you can see a small loss in Q3, which is well within what we can comfortably take. ??????????????????????????????????????????? Q3 ????Q4 ?????????????????????????????? guidance ??????????????????????????????????? Q3 ????? Let me just walk through the adjustments across our major revenue lines. First about the marketing services.

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? 2025 ????????????? non-GAAP ????????????????????????? Q3?Q4 ??????? buffer ???????????????????????? Q3 ??????????

Speaker #3: ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????2025????????????? non-GAAP ????????????????????? Q3?Q4 ??????? buffer ???????????????????????? Q3 ??????????

Yolanda Liu: Thank you for your question, Daisy. This is from Wang Han, Zhihu CFO. I will just pick up your second question. Here is a quick take on our profitability outlook. After delivering solid profits in the first two quarters, we now see a very high likelihood of achieving our first full year non-GAAP profitability in 2025. With that buffer in place, we are using Q3 and Q4 as a window to keep fine-tuning and investing where needed. That's why you will see you can see a small loss in Q3, which is well within what we can comfortably take.

Speaker #2: Thank you for your question, Daisy. This is Wang Han, Zhihu CFO. So, I will just pick up your second question. Here is a quick take on our profitability outlook.

Speaker #2: After delivering a solid profit in the first two quarters, we now see a very high likelihood of achieving our first full-year non-GAAP profitability in 2025.

Speaker #2: So, with that buffer in place, we are using Q3 and Q4 as a window to keep fine-tuning and investing where needed. That's why you will see a small loss in Q3, which is well within what we can comfortably take.

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

??????????????????????????????????????????? Q3 ????Q4 ?????????????????????????????? guidance ??????????????????????????????????? Q3 ?????

Speaker #3: ???????????????????????????????????????? Q3 ?????Q4 ?????????????????????????????? guidance ??????????????????????????????????? Q3 ?????

Yolanda Liu: Let me just walk through the adjustments across our major revenue lines. First about the marketing services. As we mentioned last quarter, this Q3 will become the bottom, and we expect a sequential recovery starting in Q4. What we see now gives us confidence to maintain that guidance. Looking ahead to next year, our goal is for each quarter to stay above the baseline set by Q3 this year.

Speaker #2: Let me just walk through the adjustments across our major revenue lines. First, about marketing services. As we mentioned last quarter, this Q3 is well on its way to becoming the bottom.

Zhou Yuan: As we mentioned last quarter, this Q3 will become the bottom, and we expect a sequential recovery starting in Q4. What we see now gives us confidence to maintain that guidance. Looking ahead to next year, our goal is for each quarter to stay above the baseline set by Q3 this year. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? fiction ? non-fiction ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ROI ????????????????????? Second, about the pay membership, this segment is still in a transition period. As we said before, even the best libraries and bookstores separate fiction from non-fiction. The real challenge here is how to differentiate and integrate them in a way that feels natural to users. We will continue experimenting here. We cannot say pay membership revenue has hit its bottom yet.

Speaker #2: And we expect a sequential recovery starting in Q4. What we see now gives us confidence to maintain that guidance. Looking ahead to next year, our goal is for each quarter to stay above the baseline set by Q3 this year.

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????? fiction ? non-fiction ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ROI ?????????????????????

Speaker #3: ???????????????????????????????????????????????????? fanfiction ? non-fiction ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ROI?

Speaker #3: 或者是利润或者续费留存没有那么理想的部分。

Yolanda Liu: Second, about the pay membership, this segment is still in a transition period. As we said before, even the best libraries and bookstores separate fiction from non-fiction. The real challenge here is how to differentiate and integrate them in a way that feels natural to users. We will continue experimenting here. We cannot say pay membership revenue has hit its bottom yet. Even if there is some decline, it will be about products or cohorts with lower ROI, weaker profitability, or less than ideal retention.

Speaker #2: And

Speaker #2: And second, about the paid members' paid membership. This segment is due in a transition period. As we said before, even the best libraries and bookstores separate fiction from non-fiction.

Speaker #2: The real challenge here is how to differentiate and integrate them in a way that feels natural to users. We will continue experimenting here. So we cannot say membership paid membership revenue has hit its bottom yet.

Zhou Yuan: Even if there is some decline, it will be about products or cohorts with lower ROI, weaker profitability, or less than ideal retention. ????????????????????????????????????????? Others ??. Third, is about vocational training. This business is no longer a drag on our overall bottom line. Given this relatively low base or small scale, we have now reclassified it into Others. ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????. Overall, you've seen us deliver several consecutive quarters of profitability, followed by the small loss in Q3. Even so, we remain confident in achieving full year profitability. With that foundation, we are taking this period to make necessary adjustments and targeted investments. As we approach our first full year of profitability, we also want to use this moment to shed some legacy inefficiencies and to start fresh.

Speaker #2: But even if there is some decline, it will be about products or cohorts with lower ROI, weaker profitability, or less than ideal retention.

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

????????????????????????????????????????? Others ??.

Speaker #3: 然后直接教育，目前已经不亏钱了。但是因为基数也比较低了，所以我们已经合并到了 others 当中。

Yolanda Liu: Third, is about vocational training. This business is no longer a drag on our overall bottom line. Given this relatively low base or small scale, we have now reclassified it into Others.

Speaker #2: Third is about vocational training. This business is no longer a direct contributor to our overall bottom line. Given this base or small scale, we have now reclassified it into others.

Speaker #3: 所以整体上来说，大家看到了我们连续盈利了几个季度。就算我们有重新微亏，但是我们是在能够保证全年是可以实现盈利的。前期下，我们就进行了一些调整和投入，也是希望在我们首次的能够实现全年盈利的这个时机，我们可以借此机会能够卸下一些原来亚健康的一些包袱，重新出发。

Speaker #2: So overall, you've seen

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????.

Yolanda Liu: Overall, you've seen us deliver several consecutive quarters of profitability, followed by the small loss in Q3. Even so, we remain confident in achieving full year profitability. With that foundation, we are taking this period to make necessary adjustments and targeted investments. As we approach our first full year of profitability, we also want to use this moment to shed some legacy inefficiencies and to start fresh.

Speaker #2: You've seen us deliver several consecutive quarters of profitability, followed by a small loss in Q3. Even so, we remain confident in achieving full-year profitability.

Speaker #2: With that foundation, we are taking this period to make necessary adjustments and targeted investments. As we approach our first full year of profitability, we also want to use this moment to shed some legacy inefficiencies and to start fresh.

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

Zhou Yuan: ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? burn cash ????????? AI ???????????????????????????????????????????????? We have no intention of staying where we are and simply just squeezing out profits. We are now operating from a healthier foundation, getting back onto a trajectory that aligns with Zhihu's long-term development. Also, we have a solid, very solid cash position, and we are not reverting to the old model of spending aggressively just for scale. In this new AI cycle, or in this AI era, our focus is on strengthening Zhihu's position in real people, interactions, expert network, and trusted content areas. These capabilities are becoming increasingly important and carry real social value. Thank you for your question. Thank you. We will now take the next question. This is from Jingyi Huang from Guangfa. Please go ahead. Next question is from Jingyi Huang from Guangfa. Please go ahead with your question. Hello, caller, is your line on mute?

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? burn cash ????????? AI ????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? burn cash ??????????? AI ????????????????????????????????????????????

Yolanda Liu: We have no intention of staying where we are and simply just squeezing out profits. We are now operating from a healthier foundation, getting back onto a trajectory that aligns with Zhihu's long-term development. Also, we have a solid, very solid cash position, and we are not reverting to the old model of spending aggressively just for scale. In this new AI cycle, or in this AI era, our focus is on strengthening Zhihu's position in real people, interactions, expert network, and trusted content areas. These capabilities are becoming increasingly important and carry real social value. Thank you for your question.

Speaker #2: We have no intention of staying where we are and simply squeezing out profits. We are now operating from a healthier foundation and getting back onto a trajectory that aligns with Zhihu's long-term development.

Speaker #2: Also, we have a very solid cash position, and we are not reverting to the old model of spending aggressively just for scope.

Speaker #2: And in this new AI cycle, or in this AI era, our focus is on strengthening Zhihu's position in real people interactions, expert networks, and trusted content areas.

Speaker #2: And these capabilities are becoming increasingly important and carry real social value. Thank you for your

Operator: Thank you. We will now take the next question. This is from Jingyi Huang from Guangfa. Please go ahead. Next question is from Jingyi Huang from Guangfa. Please go ahead with your question. Hello, caller, is your line on mute?We cannot hear you. Once again, that's Jingyi Huang, Guangfa. If you have a question, please go ahead. Your line is open.

Speaker #2: our question. Thank

Speaker #4: You. We will now take the next question. This is from Jingyi Huang from Guangfa. Please go ahead. Next question is from Jingyi Huang from Guangfa.

Speaker #4: Please go ahead with your question. Hello, caller. Is your line on mute? We cannot hear you. Once again, that's Jingyi Huang, Guangfa. If you have a question, please go ahead.

Zhou Yuan: We cannot hear you. Once again, that's Jingyi Huang, Guangfa. If you have a question, please go ahead. Your line is open. ???????? Yes, we can. Yes, we can hear you. ????????????????????????????????????? Could Madam share some more color about the shareholder return plan and progress? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? deliver ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thank you for your question. This is from Wang Han, Zhihu CFO. We can see over the past two years, we've been one of the most active buyback companies among US-listed Chinese names. That conviction came from our confidence in reaching profitability. This year, we expect to demonstrate that, our outlook and the targets set two years ago are being delivered. Even so, Zhihu's current market cap remains significantly below the cash on our balance sheet. We believe we are super undervalued.

[Analyst] (Guangfa): [Foreign language]. ????????

Speaker #4: Your line is open.

Operator: Yes, we can. Yes, we can hear you.

Speaker #2: Yes, we ???????? Yes, we can hear you.

[Analyst] (Guangfa): [Foreign language]. ?????????????????????????????????????

[Analyst] (Guangfa): Could Madam share some more color about the shareholder return plan and progress?

Speaker #5: 好的。

Speaker #2: 好的，好的。我想请教一下，我们对之后的股东回报计划应该如何展望呢？ Could management share some more color about the shareholder return planning and progress?

Wang Han: [Foreign language].

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? deliver ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Speaker #3: 好，感谢您的问题。近两年我们一直是整个中概里面回购股份比例最显著的公司之一。因为我们之前就相信我们是可以做到盈利的，而且今年我们应该让大家看到了我们 deliver 了大概两年前的判断目标，确实可以实现能够盈利。但是之后现在的市值仍然显著地低于我们站上的现金，那在这种情况下，我们肯定是明显被低估，我们肯定会继续保持回购，且我们应该仍然会是中概里面回购比例最显著的公司之一。多谢。

Yolanda Liu: Thank you for your question. This is from Wang Han, Zhihu CFO. We can see over the past two years, we've been one of the most active buyback companies among US-listed Chinese names. That conviction came from our confidence in reaching profitability. This year, we expect to demonstrate that, our outlook and the targets set two years ago are being delivered. Even so, Zhihu's current market cap remains significantly below the cash on our balance sheet. We believe we are super undervalued. Therefore, we intend to maintain our buyback program and expect to remain one of the most active repurchase in this sector. Thank you again for your question. Thank you.

Speaker #2: Thank you for your question. This is Wenhan, Zhihu CFO. We can see that over the past two years, we've been one of the most active buyback companies among U.S.-listed Chinese names.

Speaker #2: That conviction came from our confidence in reaching profitability, and this year we expect to demonstrate that our outlook and the targets set two years ago are being delivered.

Speaker #2: Even so, Zhihu's current market cap remains significantly below the cash on our balance sheet. Therefore, we believe we are significantly undervalued. As a result, we intend to maintain our buyback program and expect to remain one of the most active repurchasers in this sector.

Zhou Yuan: Therefore, we intend to maintain our buyback program and expect to remain one of the most active repurchase in this sector. Thank you again for your question. Thank you. That concludes today's Q&A session. At this time, I will turn the conference back to Yolanda for any additional or closing remarks. 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 so much. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Speaker #2: Thank you again for your question.

Operator: That concludes today's Q&A session. At this time, I will turn the conference back to Yolanda for any additional or closing remarks.

Speaker #4: Thank you. That concludes today's Q&A session. At this time, I will turn the conference back to Yolanda for any additional or closing remarks.

Yolanda Liu: 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 so much.

Speaker #4: Thank you, once again, for your participation.

Speaker #2: Further questions, please contact our IR team directly or join us today. Christensen Advisory. If you have any questions, thank you so much.

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

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