Zhihu posts third-quarter revenue growth with growing user base

China's biggest online question-and-answer website, Zhihu, posted a revenue growth of 115 percent in the third quarter, with its monthly active user base exceeding 100 million for the first time, the New York-listed firm said on Tuesday.

In the third quarter, the company's revenue reached 823.5 million yuan (US$128.7 million), a 115.1 percent increase from a year ago. The net loss was 270 million yuan in the quarter with expanding market cost.

Its growth came from increased monthly active users and business diversification.

The Quora-like Zhihu depends on a "content-centric ecosystem", which benefits from various income sources such as online advertising, business content services, paid memberships, and online education and e-commerce, said Zhou Yuan, Zhihu's chief executive.

The monthly active user base in the quarter hit 101.2 million, a 40.1 percent growth from last year. The average paid user base reached 5.5 million, a 109 percent increase from a year ago.

Zhihu will continue investment in its content community and integration of video, text, and picture content, the company added.