Douyu files for US IPO: How China's answer to Twitch is really not like the US game-streaming service at all

Douyu, China’s biggest video game live streaming platform, plans to raise up to US$500 million in US listing

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Counter Strike: Go Offensive being played on Douyu, one of China’s live-streaming platforms. Handout.

Published: 6:00pm, 23 Apr 2019Updated: 6:00pm, 23 Apr 2019

Douyu International Holdings Limited, China’s biggest gaming-focused live streaming platform, has filed to go public in the US as it seeks to fund efforts to gain more eyeballs from the country’s younger generation.

The Tencent Holdings-backed company on Monday filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, with plans to raise up to US$500 million to invest in e-sports content, R&D, and marketing, according to its prospectus. The filing comes almost a year after its closest rival Huya Inc, also backed by gaming giant Tencent, raised US$180 million in the US.

Douyu booked US$531.5 million in net revenue for 2018, up 94 per cent year on year, thanks in large part to its 6 million paying users. Its net loss widened from 2017’s US$91 million to US$127 million during the same period. Overall, Douyu has attracted nearly 160 million monthly active users across its platforms, compared with Huya’s 120 million.

While Douyu has often been dubbed “China’s Twitch”, a closer examination reveals the Wuhan-based company’s business model is actually quite different to the Amazon-owned game streaming service.

For one thing, Douyu’s revenue stream is highly dependent on its users, who buy virtual gifts ranging from toy rockets to fish balls to tip their favourite streamers. In 2018, live streaming revenue kept growing to contribute 86 per cent of Douyu’s total net revenue for the year, according to its IPO prospectus.

San Fransico-based Twitch, owned by e-commerce giant Amazon, makes money through various channels including tipping, subscription and advertising. In 2017, ads generated 58 per cent of the platform’s gaming video content revenue, according to an estimate by research firm SuperData.