In this piece, we will take a look at the ten biggest social media companies in Asia.
Social media is one of the biggest by products of the technology revolution. The power of the Internet has placed immense amounts of knowledge and information (including misinformation) close to every person with a smartphone and a computer. At the same, it has also allowed populations living in countries located at opposite corners of the world to interact with each other and learn more about different cultures.
Therefore, it’s unsurprising that one of the biggest and most valuable companies in the world is Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META). Set up by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends during their time at Harvard University, Meta’s main product, the social networking platform Facebook is the biggest of its kind in the world. Facebook has a whopping 3 billion monthly users as of the second quarter, and its success has made Mr. Zuckerberg one of the richest people in the world whose net worth is estimated to sit at $101.3 billion.
However, even though the biggest social media companies are American, the fact is that most of the world’s population lives in Asia. Estimates from the United Nations show that the global population surpassed 8 billion in 2022, and out of this, 4.8 billion live in Asia. This makes Asia one of the most lucrative markets in the world, a fact that is evident in the economic interest shown by both Western businesses and the media in Asia. Asia also has three of the largest economies in the world, namely India, China, and Japan.
So naturally, the potential for social media firms to earn money and expand their user bases is quite big in Asia. As a whole, the global social media market was worth $193 billion in 2022 and is expected to sit at $231 billion by the end of this year. From then until 2027, the sector is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.1% to be worth $434 billion by the end of the forecast period. Unsurprisingly, Asia Pacific was the largest market in 2022 and is expected to be the fastest growing moving forward.
Therefore, the potential for social media firms to capitalize on Asia’s potential is immense. However, it does not come without its fair share of headwinds. For instance, a large portion of Asia’s population is in China, a country known all over for its state control over media platforms. Facebook and Google do not have a presence in China and are replaced by local alternatives which the government can better monitor and control. At the same time, while India is freer when compared to China, its government is also known for making requests to social networking platforms such as X (formerly known as Twitter) to take down content that the government believes should not be disseminated to the people.
The social media industry has also been at the center of the news cycle for more than a year now. This is due to electric vehicle and aerospace billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to acquire the social networking platform X. Back then, X was called Twitter and its shares were publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker TWTR. Mr. Musk spent a cool $44 billion on his X purchase and has introduced several rather popular and unpopular changes to the platform since then. One of his most controversial moves has been to completely overhaul X’s verification mechanism. Previously, public personalities such as actors, athletes, newscasters, writers, executives, and others could ask X to provide them with a blue check to inform X’s users that the account was not an impersonation.
However, under Musk, the social network removed these criteria and allowed anyone willing to pay a subscription fee to get a blue tick. Musk argued that credit card and payment verification for the subscription purchase is an adequate method to verify a user’s identity and is necessary to reduce fake accounts and bots on X. You can also make money from X if you’re in certain regions, as the company now pays users a portion of advertising revenue and some of the more popular users have seen tens of thousands of dollars in payments made earlier this year.
As to the current social media climate in the Asian powerhouse China, here’s what the management of Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) had to say during the firm’s latest earnings call:
In the second quarter, we focused on improving operating efficiency of hot trends, as well as entertainment and consumption-related verticals in the second quarter, which further enhanced the user engagement this quarter. Next, let me share with you our progress made in product and monetization in the second quarter. On the channel front, our focus this year is to improve user acquisition capabilities through channels and boost our user scale and engagement, despite the fact that recovery of the handset shipment in the first half of this year is below our expectations. We continued to improve the efficiency of Weibo’s hot trends and social product over the core positions of handset devices in the second quarter, collaborated with manufacturers to improve targeted reach to high-quality users, optimize push mechanism and content consumption experience and improve retention of users acquired through channels.
With these details in mind, let’s take a look at some of Asia’s biggest social media companies.
Yuganov Konstantin/Shutterstock.com
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the biggest social media companies in Asia, we ranked social media firms in the region by their latest market capitalization. Russia’s VK was not included, since Russia is a transcontinental nation, and the list is not exhaustive.
10 Biggest Social Media Companies In Asia
1. Tencent Holdings Limited (OTCMKTS:TCEHY)
Latest Market Value: $401 billion (1HKD = 0.13USD)
Tencent Holdings Limited (OTCMKTS:TCEHY) is one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, the firm operates one of China’s biggest social media platforms QQ. A slowdown in the Chinese economy has harmed the firm’s financials, as it has missed analyst EPS in three out of its four latest quarters. However, on a positive note, Tencent Holdings Limited (OTCMKTS:TCEHY) has also grown its revenue consecutively for its three latest quarters and its advertising revenue also topped consensus estimates during the second quarter.
2. ByteDance Ltd.
Latest Market Value: $220 billion
ByteDance Ltd. is a private Chinese company headquartered in Beijing, China. The firm is known for operating one of the world’s biggest social media video platforms called TikTok (known as Douyin in China). ByteDance is also one of the more controversial social media companies, having been accused of surveillance and improperly accessing journalists’ private information. The latest bit on this front came in August when New York City banned TikTok across government devices, citing privacy concerns.
3. Baidu, Inc. (NASDSAQ:BIDU)
Latest Market Value: $47.32 billion
Baidu, Inc. (NASDSAQ:BIDU) is a Chinese technology company that operates a social media platform called Baidu Post. It is also one of the dominant news sharing platforms in China, and the firm has weathered the Chinese economic storm by beating analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters.
By the end of this year’s second quarter, 36 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database had bought Baidu, Inc. (NASDSAQ:BIDU)’s American Depository Receipts. The firm’s largest hedge fund shareholder in our database is John W. Rogers’ Ariel Investments since it owns 2.7 million shares that are worth $377 million.
4. Kuaishou Technology (HKG:1024.HK)
Latest Market Value: $38.1 billion (1HKD = 0.13USD)
Kuaishou Technology (HKG:1024.HK) is a Chinese social media firm headquartered in Beijing, China. Its primary social media platform is a video sharing product that is TikTok’s main competitor in China. The application is also called Kuaishou and actually predates TikTok in its development timeline.
5. Xingin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co, Ltd
Latest Market Value: $18 billion
Xingin Information Technology (Shanghai) Co, Ltd operates the Xiaohongshu image and video sharing network known for its similarities to Instagram. It is also quite controversial, having faced user criticism for excessive use of filters, fake reviews, and inappropriate images of underage girls.
6. Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB)
Latest Market Value: $2.96 billion
Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) is a Chinese social media company that operates one of the country’s largest platforms called Weibo. The firm has beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters and the stock is rated Buy on average.
Insider Monkey’s Q2 2023 survey of 910 hedge funds revealed that 21 had invested in Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB). Out of these, the firm’s largest shareholder is Len Kipp and Xavier Majic’s Maple Rock Capital since it owns 3.1 million shares that are worth $41.2 million.
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7. JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ:YY)
Latest Market Value: $2.29 billion
JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ:YY) is a Singaporean firm that operates the Bigo Live, Likee, and Hago social media platforms. While the firm’s shares are down 3.3% year to date, they have started to reverse some of these losses and are up 5.8% over the past six months.
As of June 2023, 14 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database had bought the firm’s shares. JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ:YY)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Christopher Wang’s Yunqi Capital through its $14.2 million stake.
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8. Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO)
Latest Market Value: $1.77 billion
Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO) is a Chinese company headquartered in Beijing, China. The firm operates a social networking application called Momo and other platforms such as dating applications. It has been doing quite well financially as of late, having beat analyst estimates in all four of its latest quarters.
By the end of this year’s second quarter, 17 out of the 910 hedge funds surveyed by Insider Monkey had invested in Hello Group Inc. (NASDAQ:MOMO).
9. Yalla Group Limited (NYSE:YALA)
Latest Market Value: $789 million
Yalla Group Limited (NYSE:YALA) is a UAE based company headquartered in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. It operates social gaming and chatting applications and is one of the most popular services of its kind in Dubai since WhatsApp is banned in the country.
Insider Monkey dug through 910 hedge funds for their June quarter of 2023 investments to find five Yalla Group Limited (NYSE:YALA) investors. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies is the company’s largest shareholder since it owns $2.5 million worth of shares.
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10. Hanryu Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HRYU)
Latest Market Value: $207 million
Hanryu Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HRYU) is one of the youngest companies on our list. As opposed to other firms that target users with all tastes and hobbies, the firm focuses its attention on people who love K-Pop. The company listed its shares for trading on the NASDAQ exchange in July as part of an $8.8 million IPO. Despite focusing on K-Pop, Hanryu Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:HRYU) has a global operations base and 26.6 million users as of March 2023 with 10.13% of the users concentrated in South Korea.
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