06:38 AM EDT, 03/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Tencent Music Entertainment ( TME ) reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue on Tuesday as the company saw double-digit gains in music subscription sales.

The Chinese music and audio entertainment platform company's non-IFRS earnings came in at 1.47 renminbi ($0.20) per American depositary share for the December quarter, up from 1 renminbi the year before, surpassing the FactSet-polled consensus of 1.25 renminbi. Revenue advanced 8.2% year over year to 7.46 billion renminbi, topping the Street's view for nearly 7.3 billion renminbi.

Monthly active users for Tencent's online music business decreased 3.5% year over year to 556 million, while mobile MAUs in its social entertainment business dropped 21% to 82 million.

"2024 was a year of solid progress for (Tencent), marked by strong performance in our online music business driving overall revenue growth and expanding profit margins," Executive Chairman Cussion Pang said in a statement. "We closed fourth quarter with advancements across key areas of online music business, laying a stronger foundation for future growth and innovation."

Tencent's American depositary receipts rose 3.3% in premarket activity.

Revenue from online music services jumped 16% to 5.83 billion renminbi, driven by gains in music subscription and advertising. Sales from music subscriptions climbed 18% to 4.03 billion renminbi, as the number of paying users increased about 13% to 121 million driven by membership privileges, among other factors, the company said.

Social entertainment services and other revenue fell 13% to 1.63 billion renminbi, impacted by adjustments to certain live-streaming interactive functions and the implementation of stricter compliance procedures. Social entertainment's paying users slipped 3.8% to 7.7 million.

Cost of revenues moved down 1.1% from last year to 4.21 billion renminbi, primarily due to a decline in revenue-sharing fees as a result of lower social entertainment service sales. Total operating expenses fell to 1.17 billion renminbi from 1.27 billion renminbi in the prior-year quarter.

"Looking ahead to 2025, we aim to harness the power of (artificial intelligence) to personalize our services and bring more new experiences to users," Chief Executive Ross Liang said.