Introduction
QQ Statistics: QQ stands as one of China’s first instant messaging platforms, while also becoming a major force in the country. Tencent developed the platform, which became available to users in 1999 as a desktop messaging service that later grew into mobile social networking, gaming, digital entertainment, and cloud services. Even though WeChat serves as a major competitor to QQ, the platform maintains its status as a vital part of Tencent’s digital ecosystem because younger users, students, and gamers use it extensively. Between 2025 and 2026, QQ maintains its active user base, which numbers in the hundreds of millions, while helping Tencent generate revenue from social networking, gaming, and digital media.
The research-based analysis provides essential QQ statistics, which include user metrics and demographics, revenue trends, engagement patterns, and market impact.
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- The active user count for QQ mobile reached 534 million in 2025, showing a decrease of 3% compared to the previous year but an increase of 2% since the previous quarter.
- Tencent reported 268 million customers who paid for its value-added services, which represents a yearly growth of 3%.
- The study found that 83.5% of QQ users access the platform through smartphones, which demonstrates that most users prefer to use mobile devices.
- Users between 15 and 24 years of age access QQ services through mobile devices at a rate of 91%.
- The platform shows cross-platform usage because 33% of users access QQ through both desktop and mobile devices.
- Users spend an average of 8.2 minutes on mobile sessions, while 56% of users open the app multiple times throughout the day.
- The platform handles 62% of its traffic through users who share videos and images, which shows that multimedia content drives platform usage.
- 71% of users within the QQ system use AI-powered recommendation systems to find content.
- The communication network of QQ handles more than 17 billion daily messages that users send through the platform.
- Text-based messages make up 73% of total messages, while 19% of messages contain multimedia elements, which include images and videos.
- Users send more than 450 million voice messages every day, and video calls increased by 22.2 % year-over-year.
- The platform distributes 3.2 billion stickers every month, while users send the most popular emoji 8.9 billion times.
- The platform shows that 68% of QQ users play at least one game on the platform, while 15% of users play games every day.
- Students make up 42.1% of QQ users, which shows that younger users strongly adopt the platform.
User Growth and Monetization Trends in WeChat and QQ Ecosystem
(Source: prnewswire.com)
- The most current operating metrics show that Tencent’s ecosystem, which includes WeChat and QQ as its main platforms, maintains increasing user engagement and revenue generation capacity.
- As of March 31, 2025, the combined monthly active users (MAU) of Weixin and WeChat reached 1.43 billion, which represents a 3% year-over-year increase from 1.359 billion in 2024 and a 1% quarterly growth from 1.385 billion in December 2024.
- The platform maintains its dominant status in social media and digital payments and super-app ecosystems through this continuous growth.
- The mobile device MAU for QQ experienced a small decline to 534 million users because of a 3% year-over-year drop from 553 million users, yet the platform showed 2% quarter-on-quarter growth, which suggests that younger users maintain their user base.
- The number of paying users who use fee-based value-added service (VAS) reached 268 million, which represents a 3% year-over-year growth and a 2% quarter-on-quarter increase.
- The company achieves revenue growth through Tencent’s digital subscription services and its gaming and premium content offerings, which support its overall platform monetization approach and user engagement strategy in China’s extensive digital market.
QQ Mobile App Engagement and User Behavior Trends
- The mobile ecosystem of QQ maintains its success through three main elements, which include strong youth engagement and mobile-first patterns of usage and digital services that work together with China’s social media platforms.
- The platform showed 534 million active users who used the service in March 2025, which proves its ongoing appeal to younger users.
- The platform shows mobile usage as its primary activity because 83.5% of users access QQ through their smartphones, which shows the increasing trend of people using mobile devices for messaging, social networking, and sharing multimedia content.
- The study shows that 91% of users aged 15 to 24 years old use mobile devices to access QQ, which shows that Gen Z considers QQ to be their main communication tool.
- The study shows that 33% of users continue to use QQ through both mobile devices and desktop computers, which shows that users engage with the platform on different devices.
- The average mobile session lasts 8.2 minutes, while 56% of users open the app multiple times daily.
- The platform reaches high user activity levels because 62% of daily website traffic comes from users who share videos and images.
- The application uses an AI-powered recommendation system that Tencent developed through its AI division, which 71% of users engage with to create customized content experiences.
- Users spend 39% of their time with QQ Music content, which comes with the app, while they spend 22.6% of their time playing mobile games that developers included in the application.
- The QQ Lite platform handles daily push notifications, which number 1.2 billion and serve 22 million users, thereby proving its capacity for extensive mobile content distribution and communication operations.
QQ Communication Ecosystem
- The digital messaging system of QQ operates as an active messaging system that uses multimedia content to connect with its extensive user base.
- According to data from Tencent, QQ users send over 17 billion messages daily, demonstrating the platform’s massive scale in instant messaging and social communication.
- The platform shows a strong preference for traditional text messaging, which makes up 73% of total messages, whereas multimedia sharing activities that include photos, videos, and files make up 19%, which shows the platform’s development as a complete media sharing service.
- Group communication is particularly important, with 41% of messages sent in group chats, and QQ allows up to 2,000 members per group, supporting communities such as schools, gaming groups, and professional networks.
- Users send over 450 million voice messages daily, while voice messaging usage increased by 12% year-over-year in 2023.
- The number of video calls increased by 22.5% between 2022 and 2023, while QQ’s video conferencing system attracts 5 million users every month.
- Engagement with expressive content remains high, with 3.2 billion stickers shared monthly, and the most popular emoji was used 8.9 billion times in 2023.
- Additionally, AI-powered translation, developed by Tencent’s AI division, is now used in 6% of all messages, enhancing cross-language communication.
- The users who show educational and workplace usage patterns represent a separate group that shows different usage patterns from the 25 % of users who join study groups in schools and the 18 % of users who use QQ for workplace communication in rural areas.
QQ Gaming Ecosystem
- The gaming ecosystem integrated within QQ represents a powerful driver of user engagement, social interaction, and digital entertainment revenue.
- Tencent operates QQ Games as a gaming platform that offers more than 1000 games to its 220 million active users who access it monthly in 2023.
- The platform shows high gaming activity because 68 % of QQ users on the platform have already played at least one game, while 15 % use the app for daily gaming activities. The game Dungeon Fighter Online attracts 9.4 million players who access it through QQ, while QQ Speed had 10.2 million daily active users during late 2023.
- The social features of the platform create stronger connections between users. 26% of group conversations on QQ are game-related, and 8.1 million users participate in game livestreams weekly.
- The monetization process shows important results because 21% of users make game purchases through QQ Wallet, and the top five games generate over ¥1 billion in monthly revenue.
- ‘The gaming ecosystem of QQ demonstrates how social media platforms, gaming communities, and digital commerce platforms are becoming more unified.
QQ User Demographics and Digital Behavior Trends
- The user base of QQ reflects a youth-driven social media ecosystem that allows users to share content and join fandom communities while they enjoy digital entertainment.
- Data shows that 42.1% of QQ users are students and 24% are employed professionals who mainly work in IT, education, and creative industries.
- The demographic distribution shows that QQ represents a strong platform for young digital natives and early-career professionals.
- User engagement levels show significant activity because 34.2% of users spend over 10 hours on the platform each week, with peak usage times occurring between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. when people watch shows and socialize online.
- Users create content-driven interactions through their online activities because more than 80% of users follow influencers or creators.
- 29% of users join fandom communities that focus on anime, music, and gaming.
- QQ Zone maintains a strong user base with 240 million monthly active users, who show 18.3% of users sharing their personal thoughts through blog-style content.
- The behavioural data shows that 39% of users have two accounts, 26% of users change their avatars every month, and 21.4% of users live in rural areas or suburban areas, which highlights the different ways users experience QQ through personalized content and social interactions.
The “Mini-World” (Xiao Shijie) Evolution
| Metric | Value | Source and context |
| QQ mobile MAU before turnaround (Sep 2023) | 558 million. | The Tencent 2023 platform update serves as a fundamental base which precedes the implementation of “Mini World” and community video features. |
| QQ mobile MAU post‑turnaround (Q3 2024) | 562 million, +0.7% YoY | The Tencent earnings materials show their first year-on-year growth after several years, which results from their product innovation and video features. |
| QQ mobile MAU as of Sep 2025 | 517 million, –8% YoY | The Tencent 3Q 2025 results show a new decline, while the platform has reached stability through its video features and its appeal to younger users. |
| Mini World positioning | Short‑form video creation, sharing, and consumption hub within QQ. | The system operates through QQ’s Dynamics and personal center as a Douyin-style feed, which users can access while they engage in messaging. |
| Gen Z short‑form video consumption (general) | 68% of Gen Z respondents watch short videos more than 1 hour/day. | The academic survey proved that Tencent developed its Gen Z engagement priorities through actual behaviour patterns found in Mini World. |
| WeChat/QQ “Channels” use frequency (2024) | 24% “very often,” 32% “often” use video‑centric “Channels” features. | The video-based discovery process has become a standard practice throughout the Tencent ecosystem, according to present observations. |
| External observation on “Xiao Shijie” | QQ’s MAU turned upward after Xiao Shijie‑driven upgrades. | External observation on “Xiao Shijie.” |
AI Integration and “QQ Sentinel” Security
| Feature | Adoption/Impact Metric | Source/Context |
| AI‑Generated Avatars (QQ Show) | Rapid traction post‑2026 relaunch; “thousand faces for a thousand people” personalization via photo upload + AI synthesis. | Hunyuan‑powered, dynamic actions (e.g., dancing avatars) integrated into chats; boosts social expression for Gen Z. |
| Smart‑Reply Features | Used by 54% of China’s Gen Z in AI social tools; drove 3% DAU growth in QQ under‑25 cohort (Q3 2024).statista+1 | Hunyuan context‑aware suggestions: summarise messages, draft replies; standard in QQ chat interface. |
| QQ Sentinel (AI Security) | Reduced fraud by 20% YoY (2025); blocks millions of malicious messages daily; 99.9% moderation uptime.ubos+1 | Hunyuan scans chats/images/videos in real time; behavioral anomaly detection; voice verification. |
| Hunyuan Integration Scope | Deeply embedded in QQ, WeChat, Yuanbao, Tencent Meeting/Docs. | Multimodal (T1‑Vision for images, Hunyuan Voice); Chinese‑centric training for accuracy. |
| QQ MAU Impact (Q1 2025) | 534 million, –3% YoY but stable Gen Z cohort. | AI features like avatars/smart replies reverse prior declines among young users. |
| Model Performance | Hunyuan upgrade improved 20%; DiT architecture for text‑to‑video/images. | Open‑sourced for enterprises; rivals Sora/OpenAI in multimodal generation. |
Conclusion
Tencent continues to operate its digital ecosystem through QQ, which maintains its status as a vital component despite the emergence of rival platforms. The platform maintains its appeal to younger users who exceed 500 million mobile users by offering messaging, gaming, multimedia sharing, and social networking services. The platform maintains its importance to China’s digital economy through its active user base, which sends billions of messages daily and maintains high mobile activity, and its complete gaming system.
The combination of artificial intelligence capabilities, security features, and video-based content development has become a key factor for
FAQ
QQ has about 534 million mobile monthly active users as of 2025.
The platform is especially popular among students and younger users, with over 42% of users being students.
Users send more than 17 billion messages daily across the platform.
About 68% of QQ users play games within the platform’s gaming ecosystem.
Yes, 83.5% of users access QQ via smartphones, showing a strong mobile-first usage pattern.
