Weibo posts strong Q2 financial performance

A girl at a stand of Sina Weibo at an expo in Beijing, Oct 11, 2013. [Photo/VCG]

BEIJING - Chinese social media giant Sina Weibo reported strong financial performance in the second quarter (Q2) of this year thanks to booming advertising and marketing demand.

The tech firm raked in net revenue of about $253.4 million, up 72 percent year on year, according to its unaudited financial results released Wednesday.

Net income attributable to Weibo reached $73.5 million, an increase of 184 percent year on year.

Advertising and marketing services remained the major source of income, bringing in $218.3 million in Q2, a 72-percent surge over Q2 of 2016.

Weibo boasted about 361 million monthly active users as of the end of June, up 28 percent year on year, with 92 percent of them coming from mobile devices.

"These strong results give us confidence that our strategy to focus on developing a unique and expansive content ecosystem, launching engaging features like Weibo Stories, and attracting KOLs (key opinion leaders), celebrities and other influencers to increase the social and viral nature of Weibo is boding well for us," said Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei.

Weibo estimated its net revenue will be between $290 million and $300 million for the third quarter of 2017.