Yuewen's new path for IP is underway: derivative product GMV has doubled.
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Author | Huang Yu
While the content industry is anxious about whether "AI will replace creators," China Literature has offered a new solution to the problem.
On March 17th, China Literature (00772.HK) released its full-year 2025 financial report, which shows that over the past year, this "IP King" has been striving to transform from a "literature platform" to a "global IP factory" amid deep industry adjustments, by deeply integrating AI technology with the whole industry chain.
Data shows that in 2025, China Literature achieved operating revenue of 7.37 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.3%. Despite some fluctuations in revenue due to the cold environment in film and television, the “second growth curve” hidden in the segmented data shows an amazing burst of energy: AI comic revenue surpassing 100 million, and IP derivative product GMV doubling.
Against the backdrop of revenue fluctuation, China Literature’s profitability was also impacted by non-recurring factors.
In 2025, China Literature reported a loss of 776 million yuan. However, this was mainly due to a goodwill impairment loss related to New Classics Media amounting to 1.8 billion yuan. Excluding such impacts, China Literature’s Non-IFRS net profit attributable to shareholders was 860 million yuan.
In terms of revenue structure, online business contributed 4.05 billion yuan to China Literature last year, remaining basically unchanged from 2024. Although copyright operations revenue dropped to 3.19 billion yuan due to project delays, there is a qualitative change happening within—the proportion of new business formats, such as mini-series, comics, and derivatives, is rising.
This reflects an industry consensus: In an era of stock competition, pure traffic monetization has hit a ceiling. How to deeply mine the marginal value of a single IP is the true "life or death line" for long video and digital publishing giants.
Under the guidance of the "IP+AI" strategy, China Literature’s AI comic business achieved a breakthrough start last year. Since its launch in the second half of 2025, nearly a thousand AI comic works have gone online, among which twelve works, including "The Distinguished Son-in-law of Ming Dynasty" and "Weird Life Patterns," have surpassed 100 million views, quickly driving business revenue to exceed 100 million yuan.
Meanwhile, China Literature’s IP derivative business continued its rapid growth, with annual GMV successfully breaking through 1.1 billion yuan, more than double that of 2024, setting a record high.
To accelerate IP monetization, China Literature’s IP derivative business saw a systemic explosion in 2025.
Driven by four major engines—product, channel, operation, and ecosystem—IP derivatives saw annual GMV surpass 1.1 billion yuan last year, more than twice that of 2024, a record high. The main IPs "The King's Avatar" and "Lord of the Mysteries" continue converting their traffic into real earnings.
According to the financial report, the deep application of AI technology has also become a "super accelerator" for China Literature’s overseas market expansion. By the end of 2025, China Literature’s WebNovel had accumulated more than 17,000 AI-translated works, contributing to more than one-third of the platform’s total revenue.
For future development, CEO and President Hou Xiaonan of China Literature spelled out three core strategies for 2026 in a recent internal letter: “Evergreen content, IP+AI, globalization.”
He believes that the faster AI develops, the more precious original content becomes; the value of great stories will be amplified. China Literature’s goal is to not only produce hits, but also to extend the IP lifecycle through film sequels, spin-off trendy toys, and other means, creating “evergreen IP.”
On the road to maximizing IP value, China Literature still faces challenges from industry cycles. Unavoidable questions remain for management, such as how to maintain the “premium quality” standard in the high-growth mini-series track, and how to balance technological efficiency with literary originality in the AI wave.
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