HONG KONG, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Newborn Town Inc., the leading global social entertainment company, released its unaudited operating data for the first three quarters of 2026. For the nine months ended 30 September 2026, the company's total revenue is estimated to reach approximately USD 927 million to USD 948 million, reflecting a year-on-year increase of approximately 33.8% to 36.8%, driven by growth across both its social networking and innovative businesses.
Flagship Products Continue to Grow as Global Expansion Deepens
For the nine months ended 30 September 2026, revenue from the social networking business is expected to reach approximately USD 835 million to USD 850 million, marking a year-on-year increase of 35.3% to 37.8%.
The growth was primarily driven by the company's continued global expansion, steady progress in new markets, and deeper AI integration across the business value chain, alongside increasingly sophisticated user engagement and operations strategies. These efforts have supported sustained growth across its flagship products and broader product portfolio.
According to the Global Social Entertainment Index Report (SGC 2026), Newborn Town ranked sixth in the corporate rankings of the Global Social Entertainment Composite Index. Amid intensifying competition among leading players in the global social entertainment industry, Newborn Town has emerged as a leading contender, supported by its diversified portfolio across vertical segments, continued improvements in scale and monetization.
The game-oriented social platform TopTop further cemented its leading position in the Middle East. According to SGC 2026, TopTop ranked second among social gaming apps in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a Scale Index score of 3,052.7, approximately 3.7 times that of the 3rd-ranked app (820.5). The results highlight the substantial lead TopTop has established over its competitors in the region.
While strengthening its foothold in the Middle East, TopTop has also made solid progress in expanding into high-value markets. According to Diandian Data, TopTop broke into the top 10 of Japan's iOS Top Free Games chart in early August. In a market widely regarded as having high barriers to entry, this milestone demonstrates the effectiveness of Newborn Town's strategy of replicating successful product models across international markets.
Additionally, according to SGC 2026, both TopTop and YoHo ranked among the Top 50 global social entertainment apps by composite index, showcasing Newborn Town's competitive strengths across multiple social entertainment segments.
In a recent research report, Bloomberg Intelligence identified TopTop as an emerging key growth driver for Newborn Town. The report noted that faster-than-expected expansion into high-ARPU markets such as Japan, South Korea, North America and Europe could unlock further monetization opportunities.
Innovative Business Sustains Growth, with Multiple Business Lines Making Steady Progress
Newborn Town's innovative business maintained strong growth momentum during the first three quarters of 2026. According to the announcement, revenue from the innovative business is expected to reach approximately USD 92 million to USD 98 million, reflecting a year-on-year increase of approximately 21.1% to 28.9%. The growth was primarily driven by the rapid expansion of the company's short-form drama business, an area in which Newborn Town has been actively investing amid the growing adoption of AI.
Playlet, Newborn Town's short-form drama app continues to focus on high-spending markets including the United States, Japan and South Korea, producing localized content at scale to cater to regional audience preferences. With AI increasingly integrated into content creation and production, Playlet has expanded its production capacity while unlocking greater creative possibilities.
In the first half of 2026, AI-driven improvements boosted the efficiency of bringing individual series to market by more than 60%, supporting the app's international expansion. According to Diandian Data, Playlet ranked No. 1 among free entertainment apps on Japan's iOS App Store in early July.
The quality games business continued to deliver steady performance, with flagship games maintaining long-term operations and generating stable profit contributions. As the company's development and operational expertise continues to deepen, its game development team has strengthened its ability to develop and commercialize new games.
Three new games have made solid progress in monetization and are beginning to demonstrate potential for further scale. Notably, the company's first casual game featuring a hybrid monetization model has received encouraging initial feedback following its launch, marking a promising step into the category and providing greater visibility into its commercialization potential.
The social e-commerce business continued to deepen its presence in the health services sector, further strengthening its professional capabilities and competitive barriers. In July, research on PrEP jointly by Heer Health and Tsinghua University was accepted for presentation at the 26th International AIDS Conference. Related research findings have also been published in academic journals including PLOS Medicine. Meanwhile, the company's AI-driven traffic monetization business continued to operate steadily.
AI Adoption Accelerates, Driving Efficiency Gains Across the Business Value Chain
In recent years, Newborn Town has continued to advance the application of AI technology across its businesses, expanding its use cases and exploring new opportunities. This year, Aippy, an AI gaming community incubated by the company, has grown rapidly.
From 31 July to 2 August, Aippy partnered with Qualcomm China to showcase its platform at the Snapdragon-themed pavilion at ChinaJoy 2026. During the media preview event, Aippy also made its debut as the first AI game creation platform to be opened to the media. In June 2026, Aippy completed its first funding round, raising tens of millions of US dollars.
Newborn Town's game-oriented social platform TopTop has launched "Slap Showdown", an AI-powered 3D interactive mini-game developed in collaboration with Viggle, a company specializing in physics-native world models. The launch brings world model technology into social gaming, offering users a more personalized and engaging interactive experience.
Meanwhile, the company is accelerating its investment in the AI sector, backing projects in areas including world models and AI-native game engines, as well as AI interactive games and AI advertising and marketing, further enriching its AI ecosystem.
In addition, Newborn Town continues to deepen the integration of AI into its business processes. The company has established an end-to-end AI technology framework spanning product development and R&D, operations, risk management, and marketing and advertising, driving greater operational efficiency and business value creation.
In marketing and user acquisition, the company's intelligent creative production platform Cube and intelligent advertising platform Miaomiao worked in close coordination to build an efficient, end-to-end AI-powered workflow — from identifying high-performing creatives and producing ad assets to bid optimization and campaign management — significantly improving advertising efficiency.
On the product operations front, the company's intelligent data platform Siyu AI continued to enhance its analytical capabilities, reducing processing time for certain complex analytical tasks from days to minutes. Meanwhile, intelligent design platform KIVI continued to expand its design capabilities, further improving the efficiency of producing virtual gifts and UI assets while supporting a broader range of in-app campaigns.
Alongside advancing its AI strategy, Newborn Town remained committed to enhancing shareholder returns through the cancellations of repurchased shares.
On 14 October, the company completed the cancellation of 4.942 million shares repurchased in August and September, bringing the total number of shares cancelled year-to-date to approximately 17.812 million, with aggregate repurchase consideration exceeding HK$150 million. Since July, the company has also spent nearly HK$80 million repurchasing shares to support its long-term employee incentive program.
The Board stated that these share purchases reflect its confidence in the company's business outlook and long-term prospects, and are expected to benefit the company and create sustainable value for shareholders.
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Newborn Town Revenue Expected to Increase by Over 33% in the First Three Quarters, with Share Buybacks and Cancellations Over HK$150 Million in 2026
